Magazine Archive

Solar investment: Total corporate funding in the solar sector comes in at $25.3 billion in 2015, with a record $5.5 billion raised by residential and commercial solar funds. VC funding tops $1 billion, and a record number of large-scale projects have been acquired, writes Mercom Capital Group CEO and co-founder Raj Prabhu.

C&I rooftop: The commercial and industrial rooftop space in the U.S. has big room to grow. Both SunPower and Solar Frontier are supplying this market with modular, repeatable PV power plants, which they hope will open up new roofs to solar.

PERC LID: While it brought one of the first regeneration tools on to the market, Germany’s centrotherm has observed a lag before market adoption, until now. Wolfgang Jooss (pictured), centrotherm’s Director R&D and Technology photovoltaics, and Thomas Pernau, Product Manager Firing and Regeneration Furnaces, spoke to pv magazine .

Global solar forecast: Mercom Capital’s Raj Prabhu dissects which solar markets are set to shape the PV landscape next year, pushing cumulative global installations to almost 65 GW in the process.

300 MW Cestas project: As 2015 comes to an end, a European giant awakens. Over the past six months pv magazine has tracked the progress of Europe’s largest PV project, the Cestas project in Bourdeux, France, from the ground screws up. This final installment in a six article series brings the contribution of a French construction giant to light.

COP21: The ‘success’ of the COP21 Climate Summit in Paris last December was predicated on the notion that this really is our last chance to save the planet, so something had to be done. However, the growing viability of solar power, and its acceptance globally, is a tangible cause for optimism.

Global manufacturing: There is a likelihood that a substantial supply-demand imbalance may reappear in 2017 following capacity expansions to take place this year. EnergyTrend’s Corrine Lin investigates the pricing trends, manufacturing announcements and draws some conclusions as to what we can expect from 2016.

Maximum Power Point Trackers: The success that module-level power electronics suppliers have enjoyed in some of the world’s strongest solar markets has caught some of the more traditional inverter suppliers by surprise. Can a shift to dual or multi- MPPT string inverters help these companies claw back some of the market share lost to these module-level upstarts?

Off-grid Africa: While the supporters of fossil fuels like to portray solar electricity as being a luxury affordable only in rich nations, its transformative power in the Global South is emerging at pace. Interestingly, business models along with technology are proving crucial in driving this change and Headwall Power’s Brad Meikle takes an inside look at one of the leaders.

Rooftop solar: Dubai has launched an extremely ambitious renewable energy program including a goal to install solar PV on all suitable roofs by 2030. However, questions remain as to how the Emirate can reach its lofty goals.