Step on the gas – 12-2012
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Solar financing innovation in Southeast Asia
Solar financing: The financial turmoil afflicting world markets and established PV players is leading to some innovative financing solutions for projects across the burgeoning Southeast Asian region, as Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, of global consultancy GL Garrad Hassan investigates.
Dec 02, 2012
New deposition of AZO thin films
TCO layer deposition: Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films have been deposited using an in-line ETP-CVD production process at Roth & Rau. ETP-CVD allows high deposition speed, reduces system size and decreases running costs. It can be applied to deposition on foils. For CIGS module production, the cost of ownership for AZO will go towards 1/m2 . Roth & Raus Manager of Innovations Roel Bosch provides the latest information on the deposition technology, performance and cost.
Dec 02, 2012
The future of PV has just begun
300 GW interview: While manufacturers struggle to return to profit, there is certainly no surfeit of optimism in the PV industry at present. However looking over the major hurdle the industry currently faces, JA Solars CEO Peng Fang, at the APVIA trade show in Singapore, explained what signs he can see in China and beyond to give him hope for the future.
Dec 02, 2012
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The keys are financing and storage
Interview: Financial woes still plague the growth of the PV market in Africa. With northern Africa kick-starting its solar power plans, Fode Youssouf Minthe from Yandalux GmbH talks to pv magazine about bringing photovoltaics into the rest of the continent and the keys to unlocking a multi-gigawatt market.
Dec 02, 2012
Solar resource mapping in Africa
Solar maps: The continuing evolution of the global mapping of solar resources is helping policymakers and solar industry players to plan projects across the African continent. Slovakia-based GeoModel Solars Managing Director Marcel Suri explains the role such maps play.
Dec 02, 2012
Community energy gardens
Interview: Community-owned solar power is on the rise in the U.S. Kent James, Chief Strategy Officer of Martifer Solar USA, implemented a series of projects with the Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective and spoke with pv magazine about the benefits and barriers of the model.
Dec 02, 2012
Campaign to slash red tape
Interview: Right across the PV industry it is well known that system prices are falling. In the U.S. one factor that is keeping installed costs artificially high is administrative and regulatory costs. Committed to cutting the red tape is the Solar Freedom Now coalition, which is being spearheaded by Barry Cinnamon, who spoke with pv magazine to outline what effect it could have and how the goal aligns with the 300 GW p.a. initiative.
Dec 02, 2012
Q.Cells second rising
Industry consolidation: Solar PV is a major pillar of the Hanwha Groups strategy for quality growth in the future. Its acquisition, completed in October, of the bankrupt Q.Cells is a clear part of this strategy. As the new venture Hanwha Q.Cells was launched, company representatives chose to highlight synergies between the companies. But how good is the fit and how long will Hanwha remain committed to PV in the face of losses from its PV business segment? pv magazine investigates.
Dec 02, 2012
Rare sunny moments
Dear readers, Will it or will it not happen? Many visitors at this year’s Renewable Energy India Expo asked themselves this question. The reason being that during the three day trade exhibition in November, a thick smog covered the megacity and the sun only managed to penetrate the yellowish-gray veil on a few occasions. “The […]
Dec 02, 2012
Green power to gas
Power to gas solution: The electricity grid is under pressure to restructure itself to accept more renewable power. Power has been generated from gas conventionally. Now there is a practical option to go the other way too, power to gas, giving renewable-generated power a smart solution for storage and use.
Dec 02, 2012
Improved grid stability
Smart inverters: With the popularity of PV prompting a move away from large centralized power generators to numerous decentralized small-scale generators, the latest generation of inverters have a significant part to play in modernizing grids for a renewables age, as TÜV Süds Christian Dirmeier and Ma Zhengdong explain.
Dec 02, 2012
Endangered species
Stock markets: The share prices of leading Chinese solar companies have dropped so significantly that the New York Stock Exchange is threatening them with a delisting. But an exit from the stock market would considerably worsen their financial outlook in the United States and Europe.
Dec 02, 2012
Getting processes right
Audits in China: Bankability is no easy process and includes a thorough technical audit of the company manufacturing the solar panels. Accelios Solar GmbH has perfected a point system to measure the quality of PV module production and its audit of HT-SAAE provides a textbook example of how this auditing process works.
Dec 02, 2012
Standardizing bond testing of c-Si solar cells
Bond testing standards: With an increasing need for standards across the solar module manufacturing industry, setting a benchmark for assessing the bond between cells is a vitally important step for customers as Indium Corporations Jim Hisert and XYZTECs Dirk Schade and Aubert Dupont explain.
Dec 02, 2012
Global FIT overview
Feed-in tariffs: Australia jumped the gun on its planned FIT cuts. France is jumping on the domestic content bandwagon and planning to move to an auction system. Germany greatly overshot its target corridor, triggering steep degressions in the coming months. And the Tennessee Valley Authority has tweaked its incentive program.
Dec 02, 2012
Decentralizing
China: Large-scale solar power plants in western China have dominated the countrys PV market so far. However, new measures like a 500 MW per province rooftop PV program should give a big boost to distributed solar power. A report from Solarpraxis AGs and TÜV Rheinlands PV Module and PV Power Plant Workshop in Shanghai.
Dec 02, 2012
Singapore: A base for solar business
APVIA: Despite boasting only 5.5 MW in installed capacity, Singapore is far from a backwater for photovoltaics. With its status as a business and banking hub, it is increasingly becoming a base for solar companies and that was the message from this years PV Asia Pacific Expo (APVIA).
Dec 02, 2012
