Potential for dark days ahead – 10-2018
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Storing up the future
The global installation of photovoltaics is expected to reach the terawatt level within just five years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And with more than 99.1 GW of grid-connected solar installed in 2017, switching on to the importance of storage is key.
Oct 09, 2018
Climate change is reshaping Australia’s demand for energy storage
Sometimes there’s a first mover advantage. Sometimes there’s a first mover mess. In the case of residential energy storage, Australia’s early adoption has meant it’s been at the center of a rapid technology evolution as the market decides: Why do homeowners need energy storage?
Oct 09, 2018
All Energy Australia
Down for a trip Down Under? Melbourne is hosting The All Energy Australia conference on October 3-4, and pv magazine will hold its Quality Roundtable for the first time in Australia. The show itself is set to grow significantly and this years conference will see some 180 industry leaders and innovators discussing the drivers of clean energy.
Oct 09, 2018
More than material gain
Netherlands-based materials specialist DSM is working on several new innovations to serve the solar industry, including its endurance backsheets and anti-soiling coating. pv magazine had the chance to catch up with Jan Grimberg, DSM’s Business Director for Advanced Solar about these latest developments, and the trick to convincing the conservative manufacturing industry to work with new materials.
Oct 09, 2018
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Let’s get digital
As price pressure continues to exert its strong grip on the inverter market, digital services make their way into the offerings of manufacturers. The new technologies create the possibility to steadily generate profits, and thus create resilience to market fluctuations. But they also allow the installation of more solar assets, as they cater to the need to improve grid resilience to compensate for intermittent renewable energy.
Oct 09, 2018
“The potential gain from bifacial easily outweighs the risks”
An unexpectedly large gathering of international bifacial PV experts convened in Denver, USA in early September, at the 2018 bifiPV Workshop to trade notes on the performance of bifacial PV modules, lauded by some as the most promising advance in solar for a decade. pv magazine was on the spot.
Oct 09, 2018
What dreams may come …
Longi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd has big plans. In the near future, it wants to manufacture 400 GW of monocrystalline silicon ingots and 200 GW of wafers per year. To get to those numbers – four times bigger than the whole solar industry today – the company partly wants to build factories in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. These manufacturing facilities will be powered by solar, and fed with ocean water and desert sand as inputs – with solar modules and desalinated water as output.
Oct 09, 2018
On track for broader horizons
The global vertical integration of the PV tracker industry is accelerating, as players seek to build organizations that can provide manufacturing and support in multiple markets simultaneously. These partnerships tend to connect intellectual property assets with global manufacturing capability and construction and engineering teams that have the financial wherewithal to pursue international markets. The trend also is driving product line expansion, as in the case of Nextracker’s offering of energy storage as an integrated part of its tracker design.
Oct 09, 2018
“In the end, it is in their interest”
Off- grid renewable energy assets for the mining sector are enjoying growing popularity, though this market is still largely untapped, comprising a few dozen flagship projects. Thomas Hillig, an expert in off-grid solar systems, spoke to pv magazine and believes that, in the end, it will be in the interest of mining companies to switch.
Oct 09, 2018
C&I: challenges and innovations
In the jargon-heavy world of solar-speak, C&I handily condenses Commercial and Industrial into a snackable sub-section of the PV industry. But as sub-sections go, the C&I space has perhaps the greatest scope for flexibility, offering a raft of possibilities from ground-mount through to ingenious use of rooftop space. For module manufacturers, C&I also means something else: Challenges and Innovations, writes Ian Clover, Manager Corporate Communications, Hanwha Q Cells.
Oct 09, 2018
Big battle over small-scale
While the rooftop market segment might indicate smooth sailing, the debate over low cost suppliers and installers serving Australian homes and businesses continues to simmer just beneath the surface. And one name remains especially prominent in the discussion: Euro Solar.
Oct 09, 2018
“The biggest renewable energy market in the world”
The booming music and bright sunshine at the opening of Renewable Energy India Expo 2018 mirrored the country’s ambitious goal of becoming the world’s largest renewable energy market. As the sector works towards the country’s bold goals, policy emerged as a key point of discussion – as without the right settings the industry is bound to fall short.
Oct 09, 2018
Contemplating a post-policy energy future
Along with a host of energy, industry, and business bodies, Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC) publicly backed the National Energy Guarantee. It didn’t help. Kane Thornton, the CEC’s Chief Executive says that it leaves the state and territory governments with the energy policy heavy lifting.
Oct 09, 2018
A good chance of certainty within 18 months
There were some who believed that Australia’s proposed National Energy Guarantee (NEG) was better than nothing. But others, like renewable energy analyst and investor Simon Holmes à Court, were relentless in their castigation of the policy. Now with the NEG more or less dead and buried, he believes we’re closer to good policy than before.
Oct 09, 2018
“We need to bring the whole community with us”
Some may have despaired when Australia’s National Energy Guarantee floundered, stumbled, and ultimately fell. Not the Smart Energy Council’s Chief Executive John Grimes, who claims to have ‘called it,’ on behalf of his members, as a renewables-killing policy.
Oct 09, 2018
The MIP comes to an end
On August 21, the majority of EU member states rejected the request for the initiation of expiry reviews with regards to the antidumping and anti-subsidy measures for crystalline solar PV modules and cells originated in or consigned from the People’s Republic of China. As such, the undertaking on the minimum import price (MIP) expired on September 3, after almost five years in place. Here, Edurne Zoco, Research Director at IHS Markit looks at the changes this will likely bring to Europe’s PV market.
Oct 09, 2018
Solar takes the lion’s share
During August 2018, Australia passed an important landmark in its renewable energy project pipeline, writes Ben Willacy, Senior Analyst at Rystad Energy. The local renewable energy sector now has 300 utility-scale solar operations and projects at various stages of completion, reflecting a remarkable expansion in renewable project development.
Oct 09, 2018
Off-grid solar, the industry’s often unappreciated stabilizer
Grid-connected applications may be where the money is, and isn’t, but once upon a solar time off-grid was the dominant application in the PV industry. Nowadays it is considered a quaint niche application, and is often ignored in analyses. This is shortsighted, as all grid-connected business models have their roots in off-grid deployment. Village grids, for example, are the great grandparent of today’s microgrid and community solar.
Oct 09, 2018
Everything must go?!
It’s official: as of September 3, the minimum import price is relegated to history! After the majority of EU representatives consulted in preliminary talks spoke out against further market restrictions, the Commission is refraining from a further review of possible acts of price dumping by Chinese manufacturers. In the context of protectionist measures in the USA […]
Oct 09, 2018
