Corona Chaos – 03-2020
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Excerpt from the magazine
On the road with pv magazine
Where we’ve been: Intersolar North America Intersolar North America, held in early February at a beautiful San Diego waterside convention center, was a bit of a reset this year with new event organizer, Diversified Communications, taking the reins of the premier solar showcase in the United States. There were about 170 exhibitors in San Diego […]
Mar 09, 2020
Developing the future: the mainstreaming of solar PV
From playing a key role in facilitating the scaling of the solar sector, to opening new markets and enabling grid and energy storage technologies, multilateral financial institutions have been an important part of the ongoing global energy transition. And as Felicia Jackson writes from London, with the expansion of “green banks” and clean-energy lending, the role of these institutions is only set to expand.
Mar 09, 2020
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The locusts are coming
In the second quarter of 2020, pv magazine is turning its attention to the pertinent topic of green finance. The aim is to understand what is meant by the term, how to identify greenwashing, what you can do to get “green bond ready”, and where future investment opportunities lie.
Mar 09, 2020
Stored potential
Demand for batteries is going nowhere but up, as new factories seem to appear almost every week with promises to power electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and grid-connected storage. But the lithium-ion technology that all of these rely on is not without drawbacks, and a whole host of new storage solutions is eager to get out of the laboratory.
Mar 09, 2020
Problems in plugging in South African mobility
As Africa’s leading economy, South Africa could lead the way in the adoption of EVs on the continent. However, progress toward this development is being held up by infrastructure shortfalls, a struggling utility, and tariffs protecting local manufacturers, argues Callum McPhillips from South Africa’s Battery Experts.
Mar 09, 2020
Orchestral support for an evolving energy system
As one of the world leaders in PV+storage deployment, Australia has ample opportunity to develop a two-way energy system that could provide critical services to the grid and deliver additional revenue streams for rooftop PV and battery prosumers. Although still in their early days, some virtual power plant (VPP) projects are already proving their worth.
Mar 09, 2020
Hydrogen is getting cheaper
Electrolyzer manufacturers are in agreement on the goal of rapidly reducing investment costs, mainly through economies of scale. Some are embracing large units, while others are betting on quantity over size. The first approach is attractive for operators of large PV plants, while the latter is better suited to operators of small systems.
Mar 09, 2020
Coming soon to Turkey: battery rules
While Turkish policymakers are taking steps to foster the adoption of battery storage systems, they have yet to put a comprehensive regime in place. But the opportunity is there if the sizable uninterrupted power supply market is any indication, reports KRC Consulting Group’s Hakki Karacaoglan.
Mar 09, 2020
pv magazine test 2019 summary
The outdoor stage of pv magazine test is designed to compare the outdoor performance of different suppliers’ products, analyze performance in different environments and conditions, and observe how different PV technologies perform in the real world. Here we summarize the major activities and test results from 2019, with key findings and analysis of the annual results provided by Chi Zhang, technology and quality engineer at CEA.
Mar 09, 2020
Laser focused
Solar manufacturing’s recent move toward larger wafer/cells throws into focus the need for effective cell-cutting techniques to handle the processing of these cells into half cut or even smaller formats. pv magazine looks at the landscape for cell cutting, as the technology reaches maturity and moves into the mainstream of cell/module production.
Mar 09, 2020
Longi: both competitor and supplier simultaneously
With its supply of monocrystalline wafers towering over all rivals, Longi’s continuing expansion into PV cell and module production could be seen as cannibalizing some of its customers. Not so, argues Longi founder and president Li Zhenguo, who says that competition and cooperation should work in tandem.
Mar 09, 2020
Coronavirus disrupts
A viral outbreak in the city of Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, has become a nationwide health crisis with global implications. And with PV manufacturing concentrated in China, there are serious implications for all corners of the solar world, reports Vincent Shaw in Shanghai.
Mar 09, 2020
From Shenzhen to Xi’an: China continues to scale
It has become a tradition in recent years for pv magazine to take an annual road trip across China for some hands-on experience in the world’s largest PV market. Publisher Eckhart K. Gouras and China representative Calvin Chong hit the road in December 2019 to meet with leading PV manufacturers to review the year that was and to assess developments and prospects for the year ahead.
Mar 09, 2020
2020 vision; full control
As the installed PV base grows and digital technology continues to expand in its complexity and capabilities, providers of monitoring solutions to the solar industry become increasingly important. The ability to monitor, aggregate and control distributed-generation assets is also creating opportunities and challenges. pv magazine surveyed four monitoring providers – AlsoEnergy, Gantner Instruments, Meteocontrol, and Solar-Log – for the latest developments.
Mar 09, 2020
Failures in a time of crisis
Given its rapid deployment, large-scale solar can play an important role in alleviating the crippling load shedding gripping South Africa. That’s, of course, if the solar projects perform as expected. Reported module failure at one of the country’s REIPPP projects is a cause for concern.
Mar 09, 2020
How performance warranties protect revenues
Contracts to build solar PV plants usually contain a performance warranty to ensure that the owner receives an asset that delivers the agreed-upon minimum performance level. But can warranties and assessment methodologies guarantee that plant performance is being correctly assessed? The answer is not entirely straightforward, writes Felipe Canto Teixeira, a partner at Everoze.
Mar 09, 2020
Compact central inverter enhances capex advantage
The competition between central and string inverters shows no signs of abating. Ingeteam believes its new Ingecon SUN “C Series” central inverters will push the balance back in its favor. The CEO of Ingeteam’s Italian subsidiary and the company’s VP of solar PV, Stefano Domenicali, says that as tariffs fall, capex is king.
Mar 09, 2020
The research behind dust mitigation
Solar PV is surging in the Middle East, due to its sustainability and decentralized nature. But with the ample sunlight of the region comes fine dust, which can sharply reduce power output. Zulfa Rasheed from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Dubai looked at the latest research in the field and found that module-glass coating and robotic solutions appear to be the most promising options when it comes to dealing with dust.
Mar 09, 2020
MENA: More than just mega-projects
While massive utility-scale PV projects throughout the Middle East and North Africa often have an outsized influence on regional installation rates, newly added solar capacity in MENA declined year on year in 2019. But steady, ongoing demand for rooftop arrays could be on the horizon, says Gulnara Abdullina, JinkoSolar’s general manager for the MENA region.
Mar 09, 2020
Bust looms over Ukraine
Ukraine’s solar market catapulted itself into the gigawatt club in 2019. But a familiar tale of boom and bust is hanging over Kyiv. The story is complicated by the country’s political and energy market reforms, as well as geopolitics and a new orientation toward the West in the wake of the country’s 2013-14 revolution.
Mar 09, 2020
Turkish policy turns to the rooftop
Turkey’s stuttering economy, shifting PV policy landscape, and the fruitless YEKA tenders have undermined the country’s solar progress, even though it was considered Europe’s most promising market as recently as two years ago. But its rooftops could still bloom if new regulations that will be issued in May manage to make solar attractive to both businesses and households alike.
Mar 09, 2020
Short-term symptoms
The 2019 coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the global PV supply chain. China, the largest manufacturing hub for solar products, has postponed factory openings in many regions, as it has been hit by logistical hiccups, staff shortages, and delivery delays. Manufacturers in some Chinese provinces are running under capacity, while those overseas are facing the same situation.
Mar 09, 2020
Perovskite technology – beyond efficiency records
Technological innovation in PV is taking place in the context of extreme price competition among solar manufacturers, writes Karl Melkonyan, senior analyst for solar demand at IHS Markit. This, he argues, explains the focus on lowering manufacturing costs, increasing efficiencies, and reducing losses at all stages of the manufacturing process.
Mar 09, 2020
The coronavirus wake-up call
The coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak is now dominating daily headlines from China to Europe. There is also increasing talk that the long-underestimated and downplayed epidemic, which likely originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is having a negative impact on the global economy. Although we may all be suffering from information overload about this terrible news by now, the impact of the virus on the solar industry is, unfortunately, a sad reality, and the full extent of its devastation is just beginning to reveal itself.
Mar 09, 2020
The challenge of 2020
The coronavirus outbreak is gripping the global community and the economic impacts are being felt, with the solar industry profoundly affected. With something like 90% of the solar module supply chain located in China – the source of the Covid-19 outbreak – the ripples from the profound disruption to production in the early stages of this year will likely be felt for many months to come.
Mar 09, 2020
