Magazine Archive 07/08 - 2023 | Beyond solar

With one terawatt of solar having been installed globally, a milestone that was reached last year, it should come as no surprise that many new people are coming into contact with our technology each and every day. And with the second terawatt destined to take only a handful of years to be achieved, it is […]

During the month of June, the Invesco Solar ETF (exchange-traded fund), an ETF that tracks the MAC Global Solar Energy Index, under-performed relative to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Jesse Pichel, of Roth Capital Partners, points to a decline in sales for California as the industry digests the impacts of the Net Metering 2 (NEM2) rules for exporting self-generated electricity to the grid. Longer term, however, the Inflation Reduction Act presents ongoing opportunity right across the solar supply chain.

Renewable energy will account for just 20% of South Africa’s power mix by the end of this decade, writes Rystad Energy’s Nivedh Das Thaikoottathil. South Africa had targeted lifting the share of renewable energy in its power generation mix from 11%, currently, to 41% by 2030 by increasing onshore wind and solar capacity, both of which have shown significant growth in recent years.

A lack of clear policy support, raw material dependency, and higher production costs are inhibiting the localization of European solar manufacturing, despite strong demand, writes Edurne Zoco, executive director for clean energy technology at S&P Global.

InfoLink analyst Alan Tu says the differences in wafer and module specs which have bedevilled solar developers in recent years could be narrowing.

Paul Wormser, VP for technology at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), says PV initiatives should be designed to last, as several well-meaning off-grid solar projects for the developing world have floundered over the years.

The smarter E Europe trade show returned to Munich in June for its biggest edition ever, with 106,000 attendees over three days. pv magazine was at the show, running a liveblog, recording video interviews, and much more as the renewable energy industry from Europe and beyond came together once again.

Extensive load-shedding, lack of grid capacity, failing coal-fired power stations, lack of progress in clean power procurement, and even vandalism have prompted various South African government departments to take renewables generation into their own hands, seemingly without any overarching plan, as Bryan Groenendaal reports.

Everoze Partner Abdul Sotayo highlights some of the issues that continue to hold back progress on clean energy in Nigeria, where energy poverty remains a problem, despite the nation’s vast solar potential.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who secured a parliamentary majority in June, must prioritize the implementation of the energy storage tenders that the government promised back in 2021.