The great integrator – 08-2022
Already a subscriber?
Login
Excerpt from the magazine
Germany’s revised EEG: New life for PV or dead on arrival?
It has been a few weeks since Germany passed the long-awaited “Easter Package,” the latest iteration of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz, or EEG) which includes far-reaching changes intended to accelerate renewables adoption in Germany. On the whole, writes Martin Schachinger of pvXchange, the praise outweighs the criticism because the act contains numerous improvements and makes life easier for future investors and operators – in theory, at least.
Aug 09, 2022
Open opportunity for laser processing
Laser contact opening (LCO), a standard process in PERC cell production, has seen little market development in the past few years. Stiff competition from equipment suppliers in Asia, combined with the fact that most new n-type manufacturing doesn’t make use of LCO, has kept the level of interest here quite low. However, as the PV research community increases its focus on reducing silver consumption, new approaches to cell contacting and metallization provide impetus for a second look at laser processing.
Aug 09, 2022
Strong case for energy storage, despite rising costs
Unprecedented volatility in global commodity markets, disruption to logistics and supply chains, and unrelenting growth has driven up the cost of Li-ion batteries since the middle of 2021. Sam Wilkinson and Oliver Forsyth of IHS Markit expect to see rapid manufacturing expansion that will still struggle to keep up with demand, and ultimately lead to the establishment of a smaller group of battery-makers specialized in supplying stationary energy storage systems.
Aug 09, 2022
History in the making
The urgency of rooftop solar uptake has only been accelerated by the current energy crisis, but the spread of PV to historic and landmarked buildings remains limited. In Europe, historic buildings constructed before 1945 represent at least a quarter of total building stock. To boost uptake, some municipalities are considering a loosening of their protection policies, while researchers are finding interesting byways for installation. Furthermore, building integrated PV solutions are being touted as the ideal compromise between aesthetic continuity and new generation opportunities.
Aug 09, 2022
Subscribe now for instant access to this issue and every published issue since 2016.
Subscribe
pv magazine test: June 2022 results
We are pleased to present the next batch of energy yield results of the outdoor test field at Xi’an, China. In this issue, the June results are presented alongside additional analysis from George Touloupas, senior director technology and quality at CEA.
Aug 09, 2022
From lead to lithium
The transition to clean energy is well underway, and it is widely accepted that battery-based energy storage has a major part to play. We therefore have a duty to build energy storage that will leave a positive legacy, and this is why a full understanding of the materials we use and how we use them is so important. Keeping informed of the benefits and downsides of different battery chemistries is what will enable us to make the right moves towards building renewable energy infrastructure that will stand the test of time, writes Carlton Cummins, CTO and co-founder of clean tech firm Aceleron.
Aug 09, 2022
In search of the source
At the beginning of June 2021, during a meeting with Spanish businesspeople organized by the Portuguese-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, the Portuguese Prime Minster António Costa urged his neighbors to work on jointly exploiting the potential of plentiful lithium reserves found on the Iberian Peninsula. As Luis Ini reports from Madrid, his words reflect an increasingly evident reality: the need to achieve autonomy in the field of energy, especially in energy storage.
Aug 09, 2022
What a sunny day can teach us
In mid-July, 10 global and European organizations with decades of experience in energy markets released an open letter regarding the REPowerEU plan and the urgent need to rethink the structure of European energy markets. The letter outlined why Europe needs a rapid rollout of technologies that increase grid flexibility, such as battery-based energy storage, and strong targets and policy frameworks for support. Lars Stephan, policy and market development manager (EMEA) at Fluence – the lead organization behind the letter – provides a real-life case study from the German energy market.
Aug 09, 2022
Lithium’s potential toxic hurdle
European institutions are looking into whether to classify lithium chemicals as a risk to reproductive health, while simultaneously working on new legislation to improve investment conditions for mining, processing, and recycling of strategic raw materials. The two legal developments are ongoing. Sergio Matalucci reports on how industry players say these decisions could have a decades-long impact on Europe’s ability to create a localized supply chain for batteries.
Aug 09, 2022
Dawn of virtual transmission
Quick and versatile, batteries are providing a growing number of services to homes, businesses, and on the grid. Electricity network operators are beginning to adopt grid-scale batteries, with the initial applications potentially opening the way for renewable energy to flow more freely and across larger distances than ever before.
Aug 09, 2022
Polysilicon growth lags behind demand
Policy developments worldwide have led to strong growth of renewable energy. Demand from large markets such as Europe, China, and Brazil continues to beat expectations. InfoLink has revised up its module demand forecast to 239-270 GW this year – representing significant growth of up to 34% from last year’s 178 GW of installations. However, analyst Dora Zhao finds that availability of polysilicon could be a major limiting factor in meeting this demand.
Aug 09, 2022
China’s policy-driven battery boom
The rise of electric vehicles brings rapid technological advancement and cost reductions to lithium ion battery manufacturing, which can serve to make batteries more useful and more profitable for the energy storage industry. However, the use of stationary batteries as energy assets is still at a nascent stage. Most markets and business models are immature, and InfoLink analyst Yuan Fang-wei sees policy as the major driving force to lead and stimulate China’s energy storage market.
Aug 09, 2022
At home on the sea: Marine PV and boats
In 2018, Lyall Burgess and wife Katie started a business called Sun Powered Yachts. The original idea came to them in Tahiti, where the couple had chartered a yacht to explore the French Polynesian island. As Lyall Burgess tells the story, “We were on a charter boat in Tahiti and we were having to run the engine four hours a day to keep up with the fans and the refrigeration. And you’re in this beautiful anchorage, sunshine all day, and have to listen to this engine because the yacht didn’t have any solar panels. So, it kind of all happened at the same time. We found out about these panels, the opportunity was there, we just went for it and created Sun Powered Yachts … and it’s grown ever since.”
Aug 09, 2022
Solid opportunity
Hype and hope for solid-state batteries (SSBs) continues to grow as industries from automotive to storage bet big on the technology. Leading battery manufacturers and a roll call of start-ups are jostling to get from lab to fab. The reality of SSBs is in question though. As Marija Maisch reports, the window of opportunity for the decades-old technology to make the next big step toward commercialization is now.
Aug 09, 2022
Meeting Europe’s growing need
With its move into the mainstream, battery energy storage faces a shifting supply landscape. And within said landscape, opportunities may emerge for chemistries beyond Li-ion and even all new energy storage technologies, writes Jon Ferris, head of flexibility and storage at Delta-EE.
Aug 09, 2022
Tricky to move
As sales of Li-ion batteries accelerate, both governments and the largest battery manufacturers are beginning to grapple with the question of whether local manufacturing facilities are desirable or even necessary. Although this appears to buck the trend of technological development over the last few decades, there are a number of technical as well as geopolitical reasons that make this a major issue for all Li-ion battery manufacturing stakeholders. Everoze partner Jamie Shaw-Stewart explores some of these issues.
Aug 09, 2022
Sustainable finance as standard
Sustainable finance has been a major growth story, and a positive development for the solar sector as a fundamental part of the energy transition. But as the sustainable investment market evolves and is forced to respond to some criticism, the question arises, what exactly is sustainable finance and what does it mean for the future of the solar sector? Felicia Jackson in London lays out some of the different forms this funding can take.
Aug 09, 2022
Smoothing peaks
There are signs that the northern hemisphere summer of 2022 will be one remembered for its extremes. Heatwaves have descended on Europe and parts of North America, breaking records, causing destructive fires, and costing lives. And an unprecedented energy crisis is looming, with increasingly extreme prices for natural gas and electricity observed in some markets.
Aug 09, 2022
