Nothing cheaper under the sun – 01-2021
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pv magazine Events 2021
In 2020, we welcomed a host of amazing speakers, partners, and participants to our events. We also successfully transitioned our live events from in-person experiences to virtual platforms to continue our meaningful conversations and sharing of knowledge, despite the global pandemic.
Jan 15, 2021
No dummies as Chase cuts through solar’s jargon
There’s more to read in the solar world than pv magazine alone, as much as we may hate to admit it. Looking back across some of the industry’s seminal works, leading analyst Jenny Chase’s 2019 book is too valuable, and entertaining, to be ignored.
Jan 15, 2021
Stepping up storage in the US
The U.S. storage market is booming. But while the solar PV industry has come a long way, with decades of deployment to look back on, battery energy storage is still coming of age. And when things move fast, things can go wrong. At pv magazine’s Virtual Roundtables USA event in late-November 2020, experts raised the challenges that accompany opportunities for battery storage. A move toward greater maturity allows some lessons to be learned from solar – leveling up energy storage will require commitment from the sector with standards, testing, and quality performance.
Jan 15, 2021
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Made in MENA
Despite big ambitions and even bigger projects being built across the region, PV manufacturing in the Middle East has never got off the ground. In Saudi Arabia, however, one manufacturer is realizing plans for a gigawatt-scale module factory. Over the next five years, Desert Technologies plans to bring 3 GW of heterojunction production to the Kingdom. pv magazine takes a look at the challenges facing PV manufacturers in Saudi Arabia, and the opportunities the nation may hold.
Jan 15, 2021
Current developments
The incremental improvements achieved each year in solar are usually relatively small, and improvements to one component can easily be accommodated by the rest of the system. But every so often, a bigger change comes along, with implications that will ripple up and down the supply chain.
Jan 15, 2021
N-type shines when the heat is on
While n-type PV cells and modules remain a minnow compared to p-type, in some market segments and regions, its share is growing quickly. This is true in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, where Chinese n-type developer Jolywood has supplied key projects. Chen Jia, the deputy general manager of Jolywood, says the success is due to n-type’s natural advantages – a situation he expects to see extended to other parts of the world.
Jan 15, 2021
pv magazine Annual Awards
It was a year unlike any other, but one constant remains – the innovation that continues to drive expansion of the solar and energy storage industries by opening up new applications, increasing functionality, and driving down costs. Across seven categories, pv magazine’s award winners for 2020 demonstrate high levels of technical expertise, creativity, mass production capabilities, and real market impact from PV and power electronics companies big and small. And the winners are…
Jan 15, 2021
Orchardvoltaics – it’s just ripe
How do you feed a growing population with limited agricultural space, and ensure that the global trend of smashed avocado toast lives on? In Israel, Doral Energy is facing this question head on with its innovative agri-PV concept, ‘orchardvoltaics’, which purportedly boosts farmers’ profits, increases crop yields, and helps realize ambitious renewable energy goals. pv magazine’s UP Initiative reports.
Jan 15, 2021
Building PV for the future
Financiers and investors have always understood that PV power plants play a more prominent role than just generating profits – they also produce electricity without emitting carbon. Lately, the sector is discovering that PV can fulfill a much larger range of environmental functions – improving biodiversity, removing carbon from enriched soils, and producing food in an environmentally sustainable way. Everoze Partner Ragna Schmidt-Haupt argues that putting ecological sustainability at the heart of PV project planning and operation should become the new standard.
Jan 15, 2021
Smarter robots to step up to service
On Dec. 1, Tel-Aviv based robotic cleaning provider Ecoppia launched an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In doing so, the seven-year-old solar startup raised $83.8 million from public and institutional investors – although heavily slated toward the latter. Jean Scemama, who joined Ecoppia as CEO in April 2020, says the IPO will allow it to double down on R&D efforts and expand into the provision of services.
Jan 15, 2021
Vital grid simulations
With around 310 days of sun a year, Jordan is in a great position to benefit from the growing affordability of solar, given that it is located in the heart of the Middle East. Solar allows the country to meet its renewable-energy targets, while also becoming more self-sufficient by reducing its reliance on imported fossil fuels, which currently account for more than 95% of its total energy mix.
Jan 15, 2021
State of distributed solar in the GCC region
Several of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have begun to see rooftop solar installations reach high volumes in both the residential and commercial segments – a sign of the growing popularity of distributed solar in the Middle East. The past year has seen a host of contracts signed with developers across the region, including some impressive commercial PV projects.
Jan 15, 2021
Jordanian market hits saturation point
With a favorable regulatory environment and massive demand for solar PV systems, the future was once bright for solar in Jordan. One Jordanian solar contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity, tells pv magazine that his company had an 18 MW pipeline in 2017 – a “thriving” business. However, the situation has changed significantly in recent years.
Jan 15, 2021
KSA reforms, but will PV prosper?
Long-term observers of solar deployment in Saudi Arabia can point to almost a decade of disappointment. But that is not to say that no progress has been made, and regional renewables champion ACWA Power has built a solid track record. Indeed, recent reforms to the national utility may give rise to new hopes.
Jan 15, 2021
Solar, wind, storage superpower
Tony Seba was among the first to recognize the disruptive potential of solar PV with the publication of his book “Solar Trillions” in 2010. His think tank, RethinkX, recently published a report titled “Rethinking Energy 2020-2030 – 100% Solar, Wind and Batteries is Just the Beginning.” In early December, pv magazine publisher, Eckhart Gouras, interviewed Seba and Adam Dorr, the two authors of this report. As Seba and Dorr make clear in the interview, a 100% solar-wind-battery system is not only possible, but the cheapest way to build an electricity system in the U.S. by 2030. They introduce the concept of the “Clean Energy U-curve,” which shows that the cheapest system is actually one that involves a lot more solar PV and wind power capacity than the peak power demand profile. But they go one step further by introducing the concept of “SuperPower”: by investing in even more solar PV and wind power than the lowest-cost system defined by the “Clean Energy U-curve,” the gain in additional energy, or “superpower,” is exponential to the money invested.
Jan 15, 2021
PV in the water-energy-food nexus
Sector coupling may be somewhat of a buzzword, but it also points to opportunities for PV beyond the power markets, which may quickly reach limitations during peak hours of irradiation. Combined energy, food and clean water production presents one such opportunity, with benefits for developers, utilities and communities.
Jan 15, 2021
Exceeding all expectations
Forecasts for the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of solar PV were hotly contested over the past decade, with one trend predominating: All but the most optimistic outlooks were wrong. pv magazine has gathered data to showcase the recent evolution of solar PV energy costs, and the results are stark. Within just a few years, initial projections become outdated, which means that forecasts of solar PV prices are more art than science.
Jan 15, 2021
Xinjiang sanctions and the PV supply chain
Due to forced labor concerns, a ban on imports from Xinjiang to the United States appears likely. This could be another blow for polysilicon producers hit by industrial accidents and the threat of floods in the third quarter of 2020. Chinese polysilicon prices have surged more than 50% in a matter of a months. Consequently, wafer prices have skyrocketed, bringing increasing costs to the solar cell and PV module segments. In the face of price hikes, some projects are now postponed until the first half of 2021.
Jan 15, 2021
Fasten your seat belts
The PV industry is in for a wild ride to add 158 GW in 2021, writes IHS Markit’s Josefin Berg. Delayed projects from this year, together with a generally increased appetite for renewables around the world, leads us to project 34% year-on-year growth in annual PV installations in 2021 – a year when module prices will remain high for at least the first two quarters.
Jan 15, 2021
More to come in ‘21
With the wholesale transformation of the power industry from the inside out and other energy transition mega-trends, capital will continue to flow into renewables from ESG, energy funds, and retail, writes ROTH Capital Analyst Jesse Pichel. Look for a greater mix of unsubsidized economic solar projects to support improving revenue visibility, increasing earnings quality, and multiple expansions.
Jan 15, 2021
Each record-setting year
While much was supposedly “unprecedented” about 2020, some historians may beg to differ. As 2021 dawns, one thing has definitely never been seen before, and that is that solar, under the right circumstances, is very much the cheapest source of electricity on earth.
Jan 15, 2021
