Magazine Archive 06-2016

Ecosummit 2016: Now is time for open innovations in the energy market. As consumers become prosumers and begin demanding smarter products and services, big companies are forced to modernize their business and seek support from younger, more dynamic and innovative market players. In April, pv magazine attended Ecosummit 2016 in Berlin to discover what products and business models cleantech startups have in mind for our energy future.

String inverters: Heralded by some developers as a way to reduce O&M costs and meet the challenges of optimizing park design, large string inverters for PV power plants have made headway in some markets. And as solar spreads to harsher and more remote regions, string’s strength is coming ever more to the fore.

Iran solar potential: Everybody is talking about Iran. A country that in recent times was cast to the peripheries of the global economy is now being ushered back on to the floor, which has piqued the interest of PV investors worldwide.

Turkey: The significant 1 GW cumulative PV milestone looks set to be passed in Turkey this year, although the pathway to this milestone has been littered with obstacles. The government is taking steps to reign in the unlicensed (< 1 MW) market, but needs to see its next round of licensed projects actually be built. A sustainable 1 GW annual market looms, but just how can it be achieved?

Global funding: Mercom capital CEO and cofounder Raj Prabhu delivers an update on recent solar investment, finding a weak fundraising quarter for the sector as corporate funding drops to $2.8 billion in Q1 2016.

India market update: Raj Prabhu, CEO and cofounder of Mercom Capital Group, proffers a comprehensive update on India’s solar situation and notes that falling tariffs are causing concern across the market.

Solar Superheroes: Sometimes the best ideas are born in unlikely settings. Sometimes they happen over freshly squeezed juice.

Relabeled: A manufacturer supplies relabeled modules – a case of black sheep or white sheep? pv magazine tells the tale of a suspect batch of modules delivered in 2014, in the latest case study examining ill practices in the solar industry.

Last month’s pv magazine 2016 Technology Highlights Award shone the spotlight on a range of innovations in upstream solar technology, with an independent jury of experts identifying a handful of winners from a very strong field. pv magazine caught up with three of the companies recognized for their excellence to gauge what the award meant to them, and to learn a little more about the techniques, investment and R&D that have made it all possible. First up, Eternal Sun CEO Chokri Mousaoui, and CTO Stefan Roest extoll the virtues of the company’s winning climate chamber and solar simulator.

Solar/diesel hybridization: The deployment of solar PV in sub-Saharan Africa severely lags the rest of the world, for many complex reasons. One of these is the proliferation of diesel gensets for off-grid areas, but GIZ’s Franziska Kohler explains that, via standardization, PV-diesel hybrids can be made more bankable.