Magazine Archive

Stories from the electricity market Peter in Munich shares his power with Paul in Flensburg and Martha in Frankfurt. That is the claim on the sonnenCommunity website, where a bold headline promises “It’s time to declare your independence.” At Senec it goes like this: “Mission: 100% independence,” and, “With the Senec-Cloud you’ll store up unneeded […]

Solar smarts When we talk about intelligent interaction between photovoltaic systems and the electric grid, the inverter is the key piece of hardware. Not only does it convert DC power to AC while matching the voltage, frequency, and phase of the grid, but increasingly inverters are being asked to do more to support the grid, […]

Company Vignettes The Solar-Log 370 is an advanced residential solar PV monitoring device with grid feed-in control. The residential revenue-grade meter combines the Solar-Log monitoring technology with GE’s popular 1-210+ meter. Optional features include automatic incentive reporting, self-consumption metering, inverter direct monitoring for near real-time visualization of plant data, connection to weather sensors, remote disconnect, and […]

Germany’s Daimler is beginning to use its expertise in the electric vehicle space to deliver high quality storage systems for commercial markets. Go big AND go home Large-scale storage: Germany’s pioneering approach to all things PV has spilled over into battery storage at scale, attracting the attentions of car giant Mercedes-Benz in the process. Alongside […]

Inverters: Huawei claims to have assumed the mantle as the world’s largest inverter supplier in terms of shipment volumes. William Zhou, vice president of Sungrow Power Supply, begs to differ. Zhou sets out why and makes the case for central inverters in a diverse marketplace.

EPC: India’s Sterling and Wilson has emerged on to the solar landscape at a rapid pace. Bikesh Ogra, the president of Sterling and Wilson’s solar business, says that the company’s long pedigree in electrical contracting and service provision has allowed it to grow quickly while bringing solar expertise into the team. Ogra believes that even some of the startlingly low bids in India’s solar tenders can be achieved.

European markets: There are signs of rapid growth in the European storage market, and the PV market on the continent may be turning a corner. Ash Sharma, the senior director solar research at IHS Technology shares this and other insights, including a 10% module price decline looming large in the 2016 marketplace.

Tracking: Lead by the U.S. market and delivered through maturing technology, trackers have moved into the mainstream. With new opportunities, new market entrants have leapt into the space. Pivoting from CPV solutions, China’s Arctech Solar is expanding into the Chinese and international markets with its tracking solution. Guy Rong, the President of Arctech Solar believes it is only the beginning.

PV production equipment: Meyer Burger has established itself as one the largest technology providers in the solar space, with a suite of technology offerings across production processes. These include PERC upgrade tooling, SmartWire cell interconnection technology, a heterojunction platform and innovative diamond wire solution. But can the Swiss provider compete against the fast rising Chinese rivals? pv magazine spoke to CEO Peter Pauli.

Wafer technology: The production of PV wafers is a dirty and multi-step process. 1366 Technologies, from outside of Boston, Massachusetts, believes its Direct Wafer technology can simplify and dramatically reduce the costs of wafer production. But step change technology is never easy, particularly amongst the standardized PV landscape. Frank van Mierlo, the CEO of 1366 Technologies, says that the company is well on its way to realizing its ambitious goal.