Magazine Archive 11-2011

Italy: After a long period of uncertainty and waiting it is now clear what will happen in Italy. With the new Conto Energia IV, large outdoor installations have become unattractive from one day to the next. The buzzword now is reorientation.

Financing: By offering “white-label” financing to small installers through its already popular solar software, Clean Power Finance thinks it has found the key to opening the U.S. residential solar market. But its competitors, such as SunRun, SolarCity and Sungevity, have a head start.

Solarbuzz market report: Questions regarding PV shipments in 2012 have less to do with how much photovoltaics manufacturers can produce, and much more with how much they can place.

Industry ranking: SMA continues to be the unchallenged leader on the market – but who else made it to the top ten? pv magazine interviewed market researchers and analysts and presents the ten largest inverter manufacturers.

Australia: With vast open-cut coal mines next to big power plants, large mining endeavors and vast distances between population centers, there should be little surprise that Australia continues to be one of the world’s worst greenhouse-gas emitters. However with an environment and mindset that favors photovoltaics (PV), the country appears to be at a juncture between its polluting past and a cleaner PV future.

PV feedstock: According to a study by the European Commission, the solar industry’s growing demand for metals could well lead to supply shortages in coming years. One large module manufacturer is now investing in its own mine.

Software: Implementing modern industrial application software can present a challenging and sometimes daunting mix of requirements. For example, it is well understood that a typical control system must interface with signals from simple sensors and actuators, yet for many modern applications this is merely the starting point.

Spain: With the decline of module prices, solar energy in sunny regions such as Spain is taking big strides toward becoming competitive with conventional energy. This is even more important because Spanish solar energy technologies can no longer really depend on any future subventions, even though a new government will likely take over after the parliamentary elections in November.

Concentrated solar power: The recent switch in Solar Millennium’s technology strategy to use PV technology rather than concentrated solar power in its 1,000-megawatt Blythe solar plant subsequently calls into question the economic viability and bankability of other CSP projects in the United States.

Stable texturization: Photovoltaic industries widely use the standard texturization method with NaOH/KOH and IPA (Isopropyl alcohol) to reduce reflectivity of monocrystalline silicon (<100> crystal orientation) wafers. IPA promotes the formation of uniform pyramidal structure but leads to unstable process. In this work, Microsol International’s Md. Al-Amin, A.K.M. Rahmatul Alam, Kiran Turlapati and Barath Baskaranathan have investigated carbohydrates as an additive in the etchant solution. It has no evaporation loss and thus leads to a stable process.