The road to decentralization
Energy transition: Germany continues to be a leading market for installed PV capacity, and the market for domestic storage systems is booming. This raises the question of just how distributed the energy world of tomorrow will be. The debate over this question is a conflict that holds lessons for other countries as well.
The Wild Wild West of US solar
Solar rush: Favorable market conditions are converging on the solar industry in the U.S., prompting investors and developers to loosen the purse strings and dream big as the pioneering spirit of the Wild Wild West shines on Americas PV industry.
A race to lock in alternative suppliers
Interview: A gas leak at Dowa Hightechs manufacturing facilities in January has caused knock-on effects through the silver paste supply segment. Andreas Liebheit, head of the photovoltaics business of Heraeus, met with pv magazine in Berlin to discuss the implications.
US firms drive index lower
NYSE Bloomberg Solar Energy Index: SunEdison restructures and net metering battles wage on as the U.S. solar industry shapes the global index.
A gathering storm
Module prices: Fresh clouds are gathering on the PV horizon as difficult market conditions for modules persist, exacerbated by an unwieldy, if well-intentioned, take-back and recycling scheme.
Wholesale benefits for the US energy market
Demand response: The U.S. Supreme Court demand response ruling, on FERC Order 745, will prove pivotal in spurring the nations transition to a low carbon society, writes Jon Wellinghoff, partner at law firm Stoel Rives LLP.
Aliso Canyon gas leak: a damaging catastrophe
Aliso Canyon: In the hills above Hollywood and downtown LA, a storage well leaked natural gas for close to four months, silently and invisibly pumping dangerous volumes of emissions into the California air. Already the leak has set the states GHG reduction goals back ten years, so how was this ecological disaster handled?
Batter up: Storage ready to play hardball
U.K. storage: In the aftermath of drastic subsidy cuts for the U.K.’s renewable energy sector, and what amounted to a specific solar-focused attack, the U.K. PV sector has developed its first set of antibodies in the form of energy storage. pv magazine delves into the British energy policy discourse and maps the first tentative steps of its energy storage journey.
Holidays in the sun
Off-grid solar: Utilizing solar PV to power off-grid hotels in Mozambiques glorious wilderness reaps a number of benefits, including cost, convenience and efficiency. But solars ability to nurture a good, clean image one that proves attractive to holidaymakers should not be underestimated, write GIZs Franziska Kohler and independent technical advisor Harald Olk.
Just in time or not
Production materials: Has a fatal accident at the worlds largest manufacturer of silver powder put the concept of just in time production to the test for the PV supply chain?
