Magazine Archive 05-2010

NREL laboratories: Over the years, scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have made many important breakthroughs in their PV laboratories. However, making those breakthroughs, commercial projects has often proven to be painfully slow. They are hoping their newest facility will help close that gap by integrating the best scientific precision measuring devices into a simulated industrial production line.

Interview: Where is the PV industry today in terms of automation and standardization? How much can they lower costs? pv magazine spoke with Jörg Walther, Head of the installation technology department in the Linear Motion and Assembly Technologies Division at Bosch Rexroth AG of Stuttgart.

The story of solar electricity: The eleventh part of our series of chapters from John Perlin’s book From Space to Earth is the continuation of the Chapter “Father Verspieren Preaches the Solar Gospel”, about a Catholic priest who initiated a PV water pumping program for Mali that became the model for the developing world.

Solar Energy & Technologies Fair: Turkey has experienced hard times in the photovoltaics market. However, it retains enormous potential – as the blooming Istanbul solar fair demonstrates.

France: After a slow start, the French PV market enjoys the status of being the fourth largest connected power market in Europe. Below is an overview of the main procedures and administrative approvals necessary when setting up a photovoltaic installation in mainland France or French overseas territory.

Korea: South Korea has become one of Asia’s most attractive photovoltaics markets. Yet now, given that the government is not extending its financial assistance, the industry will have to reckon with a bitter setback. One could sense the apprehensive mood at South Korea’s largest trade show, the Green Energy Expo in Daegu.

CEO interview: Worldwide competition in photovoltaics is increasing. What are the strategies of producers for expanding their global market share, reducing costs and ensuring quality? pv magazine spoke with Ping Peter Xie, President of China based Solarfun.

Safety for inverters: Most inverters are already certified. Yet amazingly enough, uniform standards for all testing procedures do not exist. That is now changing. Axel Schwalm from VDE Testing and certification Institute explains what this means for manufacturers, dealers and installers.

Most inverters are already certified. Yet amazingly enough, uniform standards for all testing procedures do not exist. That is now changing. Axel Schwalm from VDE Testing and Certification Institute explains what this means for manufacturers, dealers and installers.

Module prices: There’s sufficient supply of modules, but bottlenecks persist to push some prices up.