Magazine Archive

As PV manufacturing continues to scale, spotting kinks early on in production has never been more important. While manufacturers have a wealth of options for collecting data on how production lines are performing, keeping that information in order and pulling meaningful insights is a challenge. This year’s award recognizes an important step in integrating big data with PV manufacturing.

As part of his work as guest researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE), Mücahid Candan specializes in the use of artificial intelligence in photovoltaic systems. Here, he tells pv magazine about his ongoing project: deep learning-based fault detection using neural network ensemble (DEFNE).

Ampin Energy Transition has worked on hundreds of renewable energy projects in India, from initial development to operations. The company has chosen to focus on India’s burgeoning commercial and industrial (C&I) sector. pv magazine spoke to Amit Mittal, Ampin’s chief operations officer.

Prices across the solar supply chain remained in bearish territory into the fourth quarter of 2024. Trade and regulatory developments have continued to preoccupy the industry and dampen trading activity.

The expansion of solar manufacturing capacity outside China has been one of the key trends in 2024. One company in particular has impressed with its production capability and ambitious plans for the future.

Despite political uncertainty, one thing is clear: solar will play a critical role in powering the US economy. That was discussed at length in the three-day pv magazine USA Week virtual event. Ryan Kennedy provides some key takeaways.

In a pv magazine Insight session at the Renewable Energy Expo India 2024 (REI Expo) trade show in October 2024, panelists discussed encapsulants as a driving force of innovation in the solar market and considered how to manage uncertainty in technology and supply chains.

Moritz Rolf, vice president for Europe at Sungrow

The PV industry is embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to automate operations and maintenance (O&M) diagnostics and predictive analytics in PV systems. More transparency and standard definitions are needed, however, as US-based Sandia Labs scientists Joshua Stein and Marios Theristis explain.

Regular solar panel cleaning can help prevent problems such as electrical faults, energy losses, and even fires. All too often, cleaning becomes a commonly overlooked part of operations and maintenance (O&M), argues Steve Williams, CEO of Clean Solar Solutions America.