Spark of a yellow sun – 07-2022
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Excerpt from the magazine
ESG in action
The 2022 pv magazine Roundtables Europe focused on decarbonization throughout the continent. Linking sustainability to financial performance is a big part of this goal, as the second session, “Sustainability in action, raising the corporate bar,” attested to. During the panel discussion, four experts discussed end of life, circularity, material supply, project development, and the social community, as we approach terawatt solar scale.
Jul 18, 2022
No silver bullet
Despite its faults and shortcomings, the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation is expected to support the energy transition and help redirect capital flows to renewables and green assets. Andreas Walstad examines how the taxonomy sets out criteria for technologies to be labeled green and environmentally sustainable in a bid to provide investors with a classification system that boosts clarity, accountability, and predictability.
Jul 18, 2022
From solar-home systems to large mining applications
Across much of the African continent, off-grid solar can provide the antidote to unreliable infrastructure and exorbitant connection costs. Standalone solar and energy storage are already improving the quality of life for many households and enabling the economic prosperity of commercial and industrial players. THEnergy’s Thomas Hillig examines how off-grid solar systems large and small are influencing energy developments across the continent.
Jul 18, 2022
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The return of global PV manufacturing
A successful initial public offering on the Istanbul stock exchange this year proved that a business model with an emphasis on solar cell and module manufacturing outside of China or Southeast Asia can find the backing of institutional investors. The landmark finance deal gives fresh shine to the ongoing discussions about the chances of re-establishing the crystalline silicon solar value chain in Europe.
Jul 18, 2022
Tripling land use in West Africa
An international team is investigating agriPV applications to help rural parts of West Africa increase productivity by tripling land use. Countries can take dual land-use ideas a step further in Mali and The Gambia, for example, by growing food, producing solar power, and harvesting rainwater with solar modules and their installed structures, according to Fraunhofer ISE’s Jessica Berneiser and Brendon Bingwa.
Jul 18, 2022
A new day at sunset
For the many millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to electric lighting, sunset brings an almost enveloping dark. But Light Libraries is one handy solar-powered program that brings an affordable end to darkness for school students. pv magazine sat down with Sofia Ollvid from SolarAid to discuss how these libraries work.
Jul 18, 2022
Green hydrogen of Africa
Africa’s size and its abundance of renewable energy and mineral resources make it ideal for green hydrogen production. Indeed, some large-scale projects are already in the making. But will green hydrogen become just another exploited African resource? pv magazine recently sat down with Chigozie Nweke-Eze, founder of Integrated Africa Power (IAP), to discuss the green hydrogen opportunity for Africa and whether resources can be used for export industries when domestic needs are so high.
Jul 18, 2022
Success on the Nile
Egypt wants to become a regional energy hub in both gas and electricity, the latter to be serviced in good part by its enormous solar potential. KarmSolar began as an idea in a Cairo café at a revolutionary time in Egypt’s history. But now the company can be found at every link in the solar value chain, and it plans to play a key role in the nation’s ambitious energy future. pv magazine sat down with KarmSolar CEO Ahmed Zahran to talk shop.
Jul 18, 2022
Green future for the Rainbow Nation
South Africa’s energy landscape is at a pivotal point. Productive policies are finally starting to fall into place, driving rapid growth in the solar industry. pv magazine recently sat down with Chris Ahlfeldt, the owner and founder of Blue Horizon Energy Consulting Services, to find out more.
Jul 18, 2022
From fragility to opportunity, via solar
The Desert to Power Initiative, spearheaded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to provide clean, reliable electricity to 250 million people across 11 countries in the Sahel region of Africa. This will involve up to 10 GW of solar, along with a backbone of transmission infrastructure spanning much of the continent from east to west. pv magazine recently met with Daniel Schroth, the bank’s director of renewable energy and energy efficiency, to discuss the initiative.
Jul 18, 2022
Making connections
Plans to connect European and African grids are taking shape, with a 1 GW cable that will snake its way under the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt to Cyprus. Further interconnections from Cyprus to the Greek island of Crete and on to the European mainland mean that before long, kilowatt hours generated in the deserts of North Africa and beyond could be powering homes and businesses as far away as Western and Northern Europe.
Jul 18, 2022
Putting capital to work
Venture capital investment in solar and energy storage companies in sub-Saharan Africa brings with it considerable risk, but also holds the promise of making an outsized impact in delivering clean energy access. KawiSafi Ventures Managing Director Amar Inamdar says that venture capital investment in frontier markets will be a key part of the “capital stack” required to pursue the joint goals of leapfrogging fossil fuel energy development in the continent and lighting up African lives.
Jul 18, 2022
Dropping in on Kenya
Kenyans are “curious and quick to adopt new things,” Drop Access CEO Norah Magero tells pv magazine. But skepticism about new tech is only natural, so the NGO is trying to drive the adoption of solar panels, solar pumps, and solar refrigeration by increasing energy literacy.
Jul 18, 2022
Farming the southern sun
Sunfarming is taking the lead when it comes to agriPV project development and investment in Germany. And in South Africa, Sunfarming’s Food and Energy and the Food Education Energy Development (FEED) program has developed two unique concepts through which it can share its agriPV expertise. pv magazine sat down with Sunfarming director of international projects, Edith Brasche, to talk about the company’s South African projects.
Jul 18, 2022
Spark of a yellow sun
This year, pv magazine’s annual In Conversation special turns its focus to the world’s most sun-rich continent – Africa. Despite its wealth of solar resources, approximately 600 million Africans lack access to electricity. But with the energy transition accelerating the world over, Africa’s solar resources could have an enormous impact both domestically and through exports. We’ve conducted a series of interviews from across the vast continent and the broad market of solar energy, ranging from Egypt to South Africa and agriPV to green hydrogen production, and we’ve only just scratched the surface.
Jul 18, 2022
The growing pains of PayGo solar
Pay-as-you-go (PayGo) services have long been touted as an answer to the challenge of bringing affordable electricity to hundreds of millions of people currently off the grid. But the business model is not without pitfalls. In some cases, the promise of energy access has turned into a debt burden for the world’s poorest, while high-profile players have already fallen prey to the dynamics of the uncharted market. The industry is now at a crossroads and needs to find a way to strike a balance between rapid growth and customer protection.
Jul 18, 2022
Solar’s potential to radically transform African energy
As demand for energy grows across the African continent, solar has an outsized role to play as the cheapest source of power from now to 2030. But the cost of financing must fall for solar projects to be successful. Laura Cozzi, chief energy modeler at the International Energy Agency (IEA), shares some key takeaways from the recently published Africa Energy Outlook report.
Jul 18, 2022
African energy’s investment gap
Well over 600 million people throughout the world do not have access to electricity, while another 1.5 billion suffer with unreliable electricity services. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 70% of the electricity access gap. Moreover, writes David Lecoque of the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), the number of people without access to electricity did not change all that much between 2019 and 2021.
Jul 18, 2022
Global module demand to hit 240 GW in 2022
Despite polysilicon shortage-induced high module prices, the market saw strong demand in the usually slower summer season this year, due to the global race to net-zero emissions. Corrine Lin, chief analyst at PV InfoLink, expects demand to reach 240 GW, with China and Europe set to contribute more than 80 GW and 50 GW, respectively. Together with the United States, which has paused the introduction of new solar tariffs, the three largest markets will dominate nearly 70% of global demand.
Jul 18, 2022
New government, new targets
IHS Markit has increased its solar installation forecast for Australia to 45 GW between this year and 2030, following the recent election which saw the country vote in the Labor Party. Climate-focused candidates won a majority in May, with plans to invest in grid upgrades to facilitate the development of Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) and community solar-plus-storage projects. IHS Markit’s Clare McCarrick writes that solar installations will support the new government’s target of a 43% emissions reduction by 2030, based on 2005 levels. This is a significant increase on the previous government’s target of a 26% to 28% reduction.
Jul 18, 2022
Chaos with no end in sight
We in the solar industry are used to our share of craziness. For us, business as usual is more the exception than the rule. We are used to coping with all sorts of imponderables – chaos as usual. Companies that have mastered this from years of training will probably be able to navigate their businesses through these troubled times. Martin Schachinger of pvXchange finds that it has been a long time since the PV market has been as crazy as it is now. Prices are rising steadily across the board, but not for solar panels.
Jul 18, 2022
