Residential PV

pv magazine’s Quality Roundtable at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo, took place in front of a packed audience. It discussed current problem areas in the India solar industry; how solar developers and solution providers can improve the quality of PV installations; and innovative financial instruments to reduce the cost of debt and scale up infrastructure investment.

The Italian Revenue Agency has clarified that the purchase and installation of a residential storage system linked to a rooftop PV system may also take advantage of the 50% of Irpef deduction, an indirect incentive that has played a major role in driving solar growth in the residential and commercial segments over the past years.

Around 40 billion kWh of clean electricity will be generated by PV systems in Germany during the first nine months of the year. According to calculations by the German Solar Industry Association, the total generation figure from last year will soon be reached.

The investigation will be carried out by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research on behalf of the national enterprise agency and at the request of PV association Holland Solar and Uneto-VNI, the country’s installers’ association.

This year’s version of Berkeley Lab’s Tracking the Sun report saw residential installs fall 6% to $3.50 / W, small business fall 11% to $2.90 / W and large business fell 5% to $2.20 /W in 2017, with light changes in early 2018. However, these averages cover wide price variances in different markets.

Cheaper modules for its PV development activity boosted profits in the first half but, with no mention made of Beijing’s May 31 bombshell, it is notable 98.1% of revenue came from its domestic market.

The funds will be used to finance the Battle for Solar Power Programme, a loan scheme for households and businesses willing to install rooftop PV under net metering or net accounting mechanisms.

The EU-funded research project has presented its first results. Its goal is to examine different regulatory frameworks for prosumers with photovoltaic systems in eight European countries.

A new study from the University of New Brunswick confirms that homeowners are more likely to install a residential PV array if they live in areas with a high concentration of rooftop solar power generators. Investments from public entities installling rooftop solar, according to the study’s authors, can indirectly promote renewable energy just by making it more visible to people.

Chinese PV manufacturer, Trina Solar today launched its TrinaHome product in New Delhi. It is India’s first solar residential home kit. While it is currently imported from China, the goal is to assemble it locally, in the coming months.