Magazine Archive 06-2012

Solar refrigeration: The African markets could absorb millions of solar PV refrigeration units – if the market conditions were favorable. For the time being, solar refrigerators remain a niche market.

Indian manufacturing: The rise of the Asian solar cell and panel producers could not have happened without the aid of European solar equipment suppliers. All these companies have enjoyed huge sales and orders as Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese and of late Malaysian and Indian companies have added – and continue to add – massive capacities.

Intersolar Europe: With the goal of attracting 80,000 visitors from around 150 different countries, Intersolar Europe is continuing to pursue its ambitious mission to attract all the world’s PV decision makers to one location. But with around 2,000 exhibitors expected, how to make the most of your time at Intersolar is tricky. pv magazine has some hot tips as to how to optimize your Intersolar experience.

Brand choice: Customers are not usually the ones who decide which PV system will be installed. Sometimes they have a specific solar panel or inverter brand in mind, but usually they get another product on or under the roof, as a brand choice study shows.

Eco lodges as models: Residents of the off-grid village Akwidaa in Ghana are impressed by the PV panels at the nearby eco lodges. Though they pin their hopes on getting “real” electricity from the grid, they are excited about the prospect of an NGO solar project.

Affordable off-grid solar: More often than not solar generation fails to deliver in poor, rural off-grid communities, but new business models that spread the cost of solar electricity are making their mark.

CIGS: Cost per watt is becoming increasingly important, in a savagely competitive module market. Thomas Umschlag, Sales Manager for Thin Film Solar at equipment manufacturer Manz argues that CIGS technology is able to deliver sufficient reductions, when the process is managed at every step along the way.

New deposition methods for CIGS solar cells: This article by Peng Shou (CNBM), Jimin Ma (CEO of Sol Array), and Paul Beatty (CTO at Sol Array) reviews and compares the technical and commercial merits of recent lower cost deposition methods for solar cells using quarternary compound semiconductors such as copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), including new types of sputtering and printing.

Italy: Already at the last Solarexpo in Verona the Italian government managed to shock the country’s PV industry. At that time it announced Conto Energia IV, which provided for substantial cuts in subsidies for solar electricity. Now the government has even topped that and just before Solarexpo 2012 it presented an even more drastic Conto Energia V for discussion.

Renewables Indonesia: The world’s fourth most populous country still has some 70 million people without any access to electricity. The natural conditions are present for a viable photovoltaics market, but the push for renewables has remained lackluster. The Renewables Indonesia 2012 that took place in Jakarta hoped to speed things up.