Reimagining a technology leader – 05-2017
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Low tenders, high expectations
With the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) Scaling Solar auctions in Zambia drawing bids as low as $0.0602/kWh last summer, from First Solar and France’s Neoen SAS – on top of expectations that Algeria may soon start tendering 4 GW of capacity – some proponents of PV are salivating at the prospect of ever-lower prices. However, a […]
May 09, 2017
Mini grids, mega opportunities
Author: Dustin Zubke Global electrification has reached 85.3%, according to the Global Tracking Framework published at the Sustainable Energy for All forum last month. The report warned that the growth rate of electricity access from 2012 – 2014 was not sufficient to meet the 2030 goal of 100% global electrification. The IEA estimates that by […]
May 09, 2017
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Making Meyer Burger profitable again
PV equipment markets: Meyer Burger has enjoyed a strong start to 2017, coming off the back of a major restructuring. However, the significant challenges in returning to profitability are not lost on CEO Hans Brändle. He spoke with pv magazine at Meyer Burger’s Technology & Production Center in Germany, in his first solar industry interview since stepping into the role at the beginning of 2017.
May 09, 2017
Adding the smarts: Smart Renewable Energy @ Intersolar Europe
Smart Renewable Energy will be a key topic at Intersolar Europe, delivering a series of sessions, workshops, and presentations that discuss how smart technology is shaping the world of renewable energy. The conference will cover a cross-section of topics that are shaping the new energy world. pv magazine presents a selection of the innovative solar solutions and products set to be introduced during the show.
May 09, 2017
What lies beneath
MLPE analysis: The growth of the module-level power electronics industry has tended to bring more questions than answers, chiefly concerning the cost-performance ratio when compared to traditional string inverter solutions. And with all three types of solutions – DC optimizer, string inverter, and microinverter – each claiming to push the envelope on cost, safety and power output, is there a simple answer to the simple question: Which is best?
May 09, 2017
Who’s on track?
The challenges for single-axis tracker suppliers operating globally are broadening, because the completion of a deal requires more local support presence, a wider logistics chain, and a host of new partners. The leading tracker supplier globally, according to IHS Markit data, Nextracker sees “most of the large plant opportunity – and competition – in India […]
May 09, 2017
Sweeping aside obstacles to terawatt-scale
pv magazine: The Terawatt initiative has set some ambitious goals, how much more will PV’s growth trajectory have to change in order to meet these goals? Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba: What we have done is go back to what was agreed to in Paris [at COP 21]. For the moment, the only scenario made is the one of […]
May 09, 2017
Dutch Elections and PV
Author: Rolf Heynen Many expected to see a domino-effect whereby public sentiment moved politics to the right after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. With upcoming elections in several European countries, the Netherlands was perceived as a bellwether for European sentiment. But observer’s fears did not eventuate. Although many expected the Geert Wilders-led Party […]
May 09, 2017
Growing renewables globally
pv magazine: On the BayWa AG level, one of the highlights in the 2016 financial results was the performance of the renewable energy business. To what do you attribute that success? Matthias Taft: The renewable energy business has become very important for us in recent years. I am happy to say that the energy division overall […]
May 09, 2017
The future of European energy
The winter package proposed by the European Commission is exactly what EU supporters have always asked of Brussels: a clear and comprehensive vision that conceives of the European Union as a whole, and not a patchwork of quarrelsome states with diverging interests. How much solar and wind will be installed in the next decade, however, […]
May 09, 2017
Building a solar civilization
Interview: Jeremy Leggett, British social entrepreneur, writer, campaigner and founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid, tells pv magazine how a solar civilazation can be an effective buck-stop against the populist forces that seek to undermine and discredit the transformative power of renewable technologies It is solar, in all its forms, that is bringing the fight against malign forces, he says.
May 09, 2017
SNEC 2017 show review
A market proving robust in the face of a range of uncertainties, a push to high efficiency, and intense competition right across technology segments, the 2017 SNEC show did not disappoint. Sprawling across the entire week from April 17 – 21, what is now the world’s largest PV conference and trade show again reflected the […]
May 09, 2017
The listlessness of lists
Author: Paula Mints The annual top 10 list of manufacturers is an annual rite of spring in the solar PV industry, and so it is worth asking what this list tells us and whether or not it is still useful. On the one hand, the annual top 10 list observed over time offers a view […]
May 09, 2017
Increasing complexity calls for vision
How can an expected 80 GW be a disappointment? The answer lies in solar’s stellar rise in years past. Leading forecasts for the global solar market are all pointing to 2017 representing 12 months of marginal growth. A good result when considered against some of the doomsday predictions made earlier in the year or in the latter […]
May 09, 2017
