Full picture on quality – 04-2022
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Excerpt from the magazine
Investor perspective
The urgency to mitigate climate change and the need for more energy independence in many countries will boost demand for renewable energy to unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, trade conflicts, the logistics crisis, and insufficient supplies of raw materials have disrupted supply chains for the past two years. This has resulted in higher prices for solar equipment, challenging the predictability of on-time delivery and the quality of products. Sebastian Petretschek, TÜV Rheinland’s global head of PV power plants, examines the key issues in module procurement for investors.
Apr 07, 2022
Evolving standards for supply chain traceability
Investors and purchasers of photovoltaic equipment want to ensure that the products they source comply with increasingly stringent environmental, social and governance policies. Over the past 18 months, the sourcing and refinement of polysilicon in PV modules has come under international scrutiny due to suspicions of forced labor in the industry. PI Berlin’s Steven Xuereb discusses supply traceability audits the company has conducted. It has assessed the risk that modules might involve supply chains out of line with legislation or corporate ESG policies, and the risk of imports being seized or blocked.
Apr 07, 2022
From south to north
European traders have sought to source green energy from sunny North Africa for many years. While most efforts have floundered, the current geopolitical environment and the rise of green hydrogen could make it a reality. Efforts to export green hydrogen from Africa to Europe are underway, but it will not be simple.
Apr 07, 2022
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The burning question
Until thermal runaway is no longer a problem, early detection of failing battery cells will remain critical for active countermeasures that can literally save lives. To this end, US-based Amphenol has been working on its REDTR gas sensor platform, which can detect initial flammable gas venting from cell failures within lithium-ion battery enclosures. pv magazine sat down with Brian Engle, business development manager for the Amphenol Advanced Sensor Division, to dissect the technology and evaluate the safety improvement opportunities it offers.
Apr 07, 2022
Back to the future with BESS
Bearing witness during battery energy storage system manufacturing can reveal potential failure points and is crucial given the industry’s relative immaturity, argues Frédéric Dross, the vice-president of strategic development for quality assurance provider STS. And much can be learned from the early days of solar.
Apr 07, 2022
Big battery breach
In September 2021, not long after a fire at the Victorian Big Battery made international headlines, Neoen’s original “Big Battery” – the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia – was sued by the Australian Energy Regulator for failing to provide all of the frequency control ancillary services it had agreed to offer. The case is now before Australia’s Federal Court, where the judgement could set an important precedent for network operations in Australia, as well as the transition to large-scale batteries.
Apr 07, 2022
pv magazine test: February 2022 results
We are pleased to present the next batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. In this issue, we present the monthly results for February 2022, alongside additional analysis from George Touloupas, the senior director of technology and quality at CEA.
Apr 07, 2022
Design for circularity
Lithuanian PV manufacturer SoliTek provides an update on its investigations into solar panel design for circularity. In addition to addressing recycling technologies, they assessed solutions for higher circularity, and qualitatively evaluated the impact of these solutions to select the most promising way forward.
Apr 07, 2022
Don’t call it a comeback
While Europe was previously a leader in the manufacturing of solar cells and modules, the plans falling into place this year already represent a scale never before seen on the continent. And they’ll need that scale if Europe is to meet expected demand for new solar over the coming decades, without relying heavily on imported products and components. Many of the technologies at the center of these plans are brand new as well; pv magazine looks at a few of the innovators planning to scale up alongside more mainstream players, and how these fit into plans for a fully fledged European PV supply chain.
Apr 07, 2022
New technologies, new risks: edge ribbon cracking
As the PV module market shifts toward higher-efficiency modules, with half-cut cells and multi-busbar designs with round wires, it is important to continue to consider the reliability risk associated with changes in module design. While performing EL inspections in the field, a new type of microcrack associated with the combination of these technologies has been spotted, known as edge ribbon cracks. They have been seen to grow during shipping and installation. Claire Kearns-McCoy and George Touloupas of CEA offer a closer look.
Apr 07, 2022
Cutting construction concerns
PV plant construction comes with a lengthy list of quality assurance points and involves multiple parties that may not all be working from the same script. By offering the full set of construction services, from access and civil works to module mounting and cabling, Sofia and Berlin-headquartered Sunotec is able to monitor quality at every stage. pv magazine spoke with Kaloyan Velichkov and Bernhard Suchland, Sunotec’s joint CEOs, to discuss quality in PV plant construction, and the company’s recent experience working on a remote site in Mali.
Apr 07, 2022
Science or art? Defining the performance of bifacial modules
For some developers of ground-mounted PV, bifacial modules are already the default technology. The slight cost increase is often outweighed by an increase in energy yield. And yet “agreeing” on the right energy yield of a PV plant has always been the most heated debate between developers, investors, lenders, and technical advisers. Everoze partner Christophe Campistron looks at both sides.
Apr 07, 2022
PV connector myths and a call to action
Solar connectors are easily overlooked when PV systems operate as expected. But when they fail, they can cause fires that jeopardize safety and property. SunPower’s recent $30 million PV connector replacement announcement is only the latest entry in a long list of connector safety issues. And while some events are well-documented, many remain confidential. Todd Karin of testing experts PVEL, and David Penalva of technical advisory Heliovolta, recently teamed up to create a guide to protect PV plants from connector failure, and shared some of their key points with pv magazine.
Apr 07, 2022
Waterproofed
Floating PV is now an established and rapidly growing niche, but its special requirements demand special standards. Jan Mastny, head of sales at Studer Cables AG, says the company’s new floating-specific cable is just such a solution, and the judges for pv magazine’s 2021 Award agreed, as they chose the innovation as a runner-up in the BOS category.
Apr 07, 2022
Avoiding PV performance killers
GIZ, Germany’s development agency, has partnered with India‘s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to follow up on its successful “kW-to-kWh” study, which has become a quality benchmark for MNRE’s projects in India. PI Berlin acted as lead consultant on the project, and Asier Ukar, senior consultant and managing director of PI Berlin S.L., shares some of the key conclusions.
Apr 07, 2022
The problematic fairy tale of ‘Peter PAN’ files
The financial risk of investing in photovoltaic systems is increasing. This is because the yield forecasts on which profitability audits are based are increasingly too optimistic. One reason for this could be the handling of so-called PAN files, reports pv magazine Deutschland’s Marian Willuhn.
Apr 07, 2022
Tapping the data trail
US-based energy tech company Enphase Energy appears to have overcome the adversity it faced in the mid-2010s, when it was grappling with competition from string inverters and slower growth in the residential segment. Now that rooftop solar is hot again, Enphase’s co-founder and chief product officer, Raghu Belur, sat down with Tristan Rayner to discuss the microinverter pioneer’s approach to quality in a time of rapid change and the growing utility of connected devices.
Apr 07, 2022
Sun’s out, surf’s up
There are many ways to make waves in this world. In fact, there are approximately 20 different methods of engineering waves in the nascent but rapidly growing market of surf parks. But one thing is certain: Beyond the ocean, you can’t make waves without lots of energy.
Apr 07, 2022
Preparing for growth
When setting out France’s new solar goals, President Emmanuel Macron singled out agriPV as an application that has a big role to play in the country’s energy future. In an attempt to lay the groundwork for the application’s growth, a number of French solar companies have come together to define what is meant by agriPV and how it should best be applied. KiloWattsol founder Xavier Daval reports.
Apr 07, 2022
A trojan horse for decarbonization
Australia’s most powerful energy industry participants have actively resisted the move to a low-carbon economy. Now, the country known as a sandbox for technology has become a sandbox for a new model for decarbonization – one which has seen billionaires and giant fund managers sidestep politics to use the free market in strategic and potentially disruptive ways. pv magazine Australia’s Bella Peacock reports.
Apr 07, 2022
Go local, be free
Various visions exist of the disruption that the transition to cleaner, cheaper electricity sources will have on energy markets and supply. Critics anticipate expensive chaos, while advocates see a powerful new network emerging. Serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and energy futurist Bill Nussey has put his thoughts together in a new book, “Freeing Energy,” and pv magazine USA’s Tim Sylvia met the author to discuss its findings.
Apr 07, 2022
The hidden engine of solar scaling
As Germany and other countries accelerate their plans for 100% renewables in the face of an unfolding energy crisis, Timo Moeller – the managing director of NovaSource Power Services – argues that the industry will need to adopt cutting-edge solutions in the operation and management of power plants if renewable sources are to provide the secure, reliable energy infrastructure needed to replace fossil fuels at the center of our energy systems.
Apr 07, 2022
Slow easing of polysilicon pressure
With countries setting net-zero emission targets for 2050-60, renewable energy demand is growing robustly. Amid energy transition trends, PV InfoLink’s Albert Hsieh expects global PV demand to surpass 230GW this year. Strong demand is mainly sustained by China, which released several supportive policies last year, as well as energy transition-driven markets such as the United States. The Russia-Ukraine war is also accelerating Europe’s need to wean itself off its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and thus renewables demand looks increasingly strong on the continent.
Apr 07, 2022
Strong drivers, unprecedented challenges
Nearly 300GW of renewables were estimated to have gone online globally in 2021. Renewable energy installations worldwide are increasing rapidly and as this happens, there is greater need for a wide range of energy storage applications like ancillary services, capacity firming, and energy arbitrage. Jackson Cutsor, senior analyst at IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global), expects new opportunities for energy storage to go hand in hand with renewable energy, and for the industry’s rapid rate of expansion to continue.
Apr 07, 2022
Permanent crisis mode
It seems that one global emergency is not enough for us to deal with – as if we needed two or three crises at the same time. The impending climate catastrophe was already enough of a challenge, and the Covid-19 crisis still has us firmly in its grip. And now, a new global problem in Ukraine is affecting our everyday lives and international markets.
Apr 07, 2022
