Empowered with PV – 12-2017
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Excerpt from the magazine
A controlled approach
Portfolio management: Managing large and often diverse solar PV portfolios becomes far easier and more cost effective when both flexibility and a centralized point of control are available. Joe Grimes, VP of PV monitoring and asset management firm Draker/BlueNRGY, explains how portfolio growth and asset acquisitions create new challenges that require fresh solutions.
Dec 22, 2017
One customer at a time
Italy update: Current Italian legislation for self-consumption includes the possibility for owners of PV systems up to 20 MW to sell all or part of the produced power to a single final client. Despite several challenges, this option is now becoming more attractive, as solar module prices keep dropping and energy prices for the Italian industry and service sector remain among the highest in Europe.
Dec 22, 2017
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Europe’s newest bull market
The Netherlands: After lagging behind the rest of Europe during the continent’s first solar boom, The Netherlands now has a new government, and an ambitious strategy for renewables. Rolf Heynen, Director of the Solar Solutions international trade fair, provides an update on the Dutch solar situation.
Dec 08, 2017
Reducing the footprint
Backsheet life cycle: As the PV industry comes under pressure to further reduce emissions from its manufacturing sector, Giorgio Longoni, Vice General Manager of Sales for Asia at Italian backsheet specialist Coveme, introduces a study comparing the contribution of different backsheet materials to a module’s overall carbon footprint.
Dec 08, 2017
Agfa upbeat for new mono-backsheet
Module technology: Agfa has developed a backsheet that consists of a single layer – an innovation that could well prove advantageous in the field, offering further opportunities to reduce delamination, lower LCOE, and result in boosted efficiency thanks to higher reflectivity.
Dec 08, 2017
Mind the gap
High efficiency cell technology: The slight performance advantage held by Taiwanese solar cell manufacturers appears to be coming to an end as Chinese tier-1 and tier-2 firms up their R&D spending in an effort to be fully vertically integrated. pv magazine looks at how this high efficiency technology race might impact the global PV industry.
Dec 08, 2017
Domestic market takes center stage
Show review: PV Taiwan 2017, held from October 18 – 20 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei City, was bigger than ever, with the total number of exhibitors and booths up, as well as the overall number of visitors. Exhibitor numbers rose to 145, up from 131 the previous year, while the booth numbers increased even more dramatically, from 392 to 450 – nearly 15%.
Dec 08, 2017
Central solutions
Interview: While the recent surge of using string inverters for large-scale solar installations certainly energized the inverter industry, centralized solutions are holding firm as more and more emerging markets continue to eye huge solar farms. Zhang Lei, Chief Engineer of Chinese inverter specialist TBEA, explains the company’s strategy.
Dec 08, 2017
Preparation, automation, consolidation
The future for MLPE: After a year of relatively stable prices for inverters, the next few years are likely to see the return of fierce cost reduction – which could spell trouble for the module level power electronics (MLPE) space. However, growth in this segment is expected, so how are the market leaders balancing innovation and trend adoption while shoring up their bottom lines?
Dec 08, 2017
On-site, on time
Early stage O&M: In the second of its two-part series on utility-scale O&M in Latin America, EDF Renewable Services’ Nicolás Rossel shares lessons learned from the company’s experiences in Mexico, where it has found that a smooth handover from EPC provider to O&M contractor is vital for long-term plant performance.
Dec 08, 2017
When is a yield loss worth investigating?
Interview: When investigating module defects, the cost-benefit ratio is key. Robert Golz from O&M company Enovos explains when troubleshooting is worthwhile and in which cases it would be better to wait before applying extensive – and often expensive – inspection methods.
Dec 08, 2017
Empowerment and energy in India
Gender issues: Energy access can be transformed from an obstacle to an opportunity for women’s empowerment through the integration of women into the energy supply chain, as well as supportive policies. Organizations in India are working to expand energy access and empower women by boosting incomes, expanding skills, and strengthening self-confidence. Over time, these efforts will enable a woman to have greater influence over herself, her family, and her community.
Dec 08, 2017
ADD a dash of doubt
Antidumping in India: The threat of India’s government imposing antidumping duties (ADD) against solar cells and modules from China, Taiwan, and Malaysia is very real, and runs counter to its own ambitions of hitting 100 GW of solar by 2022. Or does it? Could duties help to boost India’s solar sector in other ways? And does the ongoing political uncertainty create opportunity or trepidation for industry?
Dec 08, 2017
Trump versus solar
U.S. energy policy: The Trump Administration is currently making a number of significant policy changes that intersect with solar and other forms of renewable energy. pv magazine attempts to separate the real dangers to the solar market from the more superficial phenomena.
Dec 08, 2017
Price volatility shakes up India’s solar market
IHS Markit analysis: India’s shortage of PV modules in 2017 has challenged many PV developers that ventured into India after the 100 GW solar target was announced. As for the future, writes IHS Markit research and analysis manager Josefin Berg, the ongoing antidumping duty investigation clouds the visibility on pricing and complicates the bidding in new tenders. IHS Markit remains positive that the demand for PV in India will continue to grow, but volatility will remain.
Dec 08, 2017
Vulnerable solar markets and what makes them tick
Part I*: The wild and unruly U.S. solar marketplace. Why wild and unruly? With a dwindling manufacturing landscape but rising demand, the marketplace is looking increasingly imbalanced and vulnerable to the whims of global forces, thanks to poor decision-making at government level.
Dec 08, 2017
Buy or wait?
Module price index: This is the key question that confronts EPCs and installers nearly every late fall: which projects should be realized in the current year, and which can be postponed? How is module availability today, and how will it be in a few months? And of course: Where are prices headed?
Dec 08, 2017
