Skip to content

Magazine Archive 10-2014

Singed birds and bad PR: Solar and wildlife issues

Wildlife: Solar scaremongers had reason to take flight earlier this year when images of fried birds at solar parks in the U.S. hit the headlines. But solar’s role in avian mortality is nothing to get in a flap about, as pv magazine discovered.

Resource adequacy

Capacity markets: Amid the normal European fragmentation on energy matters lies an unresolved capacity market question, with the UK proposing radical plans. If introduced, what role can renewables – including solar PV – play in building upon the growth of capacity markets in the UK and beyond?

Optimization in the cloud

Energy management: Start-up company Tado made news with an intelligent control unit that activates heating or air-conditioning systems when the owners approach their home. The devices will soon be available for use with solar electricity as well.

New on the block

Ghana: An interview with Steffen Behrle, Team Leader Renewable Energy in Ghana for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), which implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Moving forward

Investment policies: UBS and Citigroup are advising investors to prepare for a move away from fossil fuels towards solar, thanks to the rise of electric vehicles and the falling cost of battery storage. The question now is whether their investment bank peers will follow suit.

“Uninterrupted, affordable, clean sources of energy”

IEA Executive Director interview: In September, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report entitled Capturing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency. The study concluded that energy efficiency is a crucial “hidden fuel” whose value goes far beyond the cost effects of energy savings. pv magazine attended the report’s release in Berlin and spoke with IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven about energy efficiency and the role of PV in IEA energy scenarios.

Microinverters vs. optimizers

Module-level electronics: The challenge of increasing the yield of a typical solar module has been taken up with aplomb by both microinverter and power optimizer suppliers over the past few years. Yet with both technologies claiming the upper hand in terms of power performance, pv magazine examines both sides of what looks increasingly like the same coin.

Let there be solar light

Solar streetlights: Candilux, a manufacturer of solar-powered streetlights, and solar electronics manufacturer Phocos installed off-grid lighting at a sports field in Erbach in southern Germany. Susanne Kircher of Phocos discusses the details of the project.

Leading by doing

Sometimes statistics make for happy reading. With 15.9 GW of installed PV capacity and 143,000 jobs contributing $15 billion to the economy, the American solar industry is delivering some impressive numbers. Add to that more than 4.5 GW of new capacity over the last three quarters, as well as the contribution PV is making to […]

Grid parity for PV power plants

Grid parity monitor, fourth edition: Eclareon has published the fourth in its series of analyses investigating the growing competitiveness of PV in different applications and markets. In the latest edition, David Pérez from Eclareon concludes that utility scale PV is competitive with market prices in Chile, and the outlook is increasingly positive in Morocco, Italy and Mexico.

This website uses cookies to anonymously count visitor numbers. View our privacy policy.

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close