Magazine Archive 2024

  The solar industry’s start to 2024 has been buoyed by discussions at the COP28 climate summit in December, leading to the broadly endorsed agreement that global renewable energy generation capacity must triple by 2030. The expectation that PV, as both the cheapest source of renewable energy and the fastest to deploy, will represent a […]

  As renewables push further into the world’s energy mix, the importance of energy storage to the energy transition becomes ever more apparent. Even the most innovative PV technology has little hope of powering the world 24/7 without a battery to help smooth the peaks and troughs of supply and demand. This March 2024 edition […]

  Community solar and other collective consumption models, a focus topic in this, April 2024 edition of pv magazine, are already proving their worth by providing low-cost clean energy direct to the customers that need it. In pioneering markets such as Italy and the United States, such models already promise gigawatts worth of new PV […]

  The technology behind solar energy has begun to move quickly in recent years as manufacturers aim for ever higher energy yields. Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar’s takeover from passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) technology is well under way in 2024, with the latter having quickly risen to dominate the market by around 2018. […]

  With PV installations around the world now adding up to well over 1.5 TW, the solar industry is well used to defying expectations. Already in 2024, we see countries in different regions doubling or even tripling their renewable energy targets for 2030. The growing share of solar and wind in the world’s energy mix […]

  The first big wave of solar industry events in 2024 is now in our rearview mirror and it was a big one! In Shanghai, the SNEC PV Power show had outgrown its former location and taken its display of cutting-edge PV technology to an even bigger convention center. The smarter E Europe event filled […]

It’s often said that the global PV market moves in circles and reading the collected words of the many respected market observers who are kind enough to share their expertise in our September 2024 edition, it’s easy to feel like we’ve been here before. Oversupply, falling prices, trade cases, protectionism, and high-profile bankruptcies are all […]

  Following years of concentration and consolidation of the entire supply chain in China and a few neighboring countries, solar is again spreading its manufacturing footprint around the world. The United States and India have shown great determination to come this far in reducing their reliance on imported products and both are now sitting on […]

  With PV component prices still unsustainably low, many are waiting for the demand promised by 2030 solar installation targets to materialize. While modest growth in global installations is forecast for 2024 and 2025, there are few signs this will match supply. Many of the 54 countries of Africa are ripe with unrealized PV potential. […]

  This time in 2023, all in the solar industry were worried about significant oversupply of PV modules and the threat this posed all along the supply chain. Looking back over the year that’s now drawing to a close, it’s safe to say those worries were justified. In 2024, worldwide manufacturing capacity for PV modules […]