Magazine Archive 2018

Monocrystalline growth: At last month’s World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, pv magazine interviewed Max Xia, Overseas Marketing Vice President at LONGi Solar Technology Co., Ltd., the global leader in the production of monocrystalline ingots, wafers, cells, and modules. Even after mono’s success story in the past two years, Xia sees tremendous growth ahead, so much so that he envisions solar PV challenging coal’s dominance in his home country China in as little as five years’ time.

Many minds far sharper than my own have revelled at the opportunity to deconstruct U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions, words, and demeanor at every turn this past year. His capacity to disappoint is legend. His capacity to positively surprise is, well, a little less explored. And while the Trump Administration’s pursuit and ultimate imposition of […]

Belgium market update: Once among Europe’s leaders in solar PV deployment, with more than 1 GW of capacity added in its peak year of 2011, Belgium’s market lost momentum following the abrupt closure of generous subsidy programs. In recent years, driven by its residential PV segment, the country has experienced a solar comeback, which became particularly prominent in the year just passed.

Inverter overview: As 2017 drew to a close following a record-breaking year for solar, pv magazine sat down to discuss the global inverter landscape with Cormac Gilligan, Senior Solar Analyst at IHS Markit. With China dominant, India’s soaring solar market still very much up for grabs, and technical innovation a perennial route to market leadership, these are the six trends that we believe will shape the solar inverter landscape this year.

Module-level power electronics: Technology that many thought of only as a handy way to overcome rooftop shading is now branching out further and more deeply into large-scale solar installations. pv magazine asks SolarEdge Founder and VP of Marketing and Product Strategy Lior Handelsman why the solar industry is now beginning to embrace MLPE at scale, and what the benefits and implications can be for system owners.

Residential & commercial storage: Since 2015 the annually installed capacity of behind-the-meter energy storage has grown almost three times (from 110 MWh to about 300 MWh in 2017) as the residential market continues to pick up momentum and C&I installations are starting to come to fruition after initial hype. Based on the analysis conducted in our European Market Monitor Report, we foresee a similar growth trend continuing in the future.

South African market: Key questions about South Africa’s promising PV market have largely gone unanswered for the past several years, amid political wrangling over the future national energy mix, and the mismanagement of troubled state utility Eskom. But now – following the recent ousting of former president Jacob Zuma, who has long championed costly investments in nuclear capacity – the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is positioned to take a fresh look at the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

Middle Eastern PV: The Jordanian solar sector has enjoyed near-constant growth in recent years, proving that it is a market founded on a sustainable and reliable base. Investors have been wondering for a few years whether Egypt can follow Jordan’s example successfully, and the signs are good that 2018 will prove to be a strong year for Egypt’s solar development. pv magazine explains the forces driving this optimism.

Backsheets: Some may argue that slight discoloration of PV backsheets is a question of aesthetics, and should not be something to worry about. For others, it’s a sign that a serious degradation process is underway, and trouble awaits.