The journey to 100 GW – 05-2023
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From subsidy to energy trading
As asset managers become the renewables utilities of the future – given the remarkable advances that solar has made over the past decade – they will have to ensure clean energy generation while working with energy users to stagger demand, says Gerard Reid.
May 03, 2023
A milestone to remember
There is nothing quite like the scale that China can, and has achieved. With vast human and financial resources available, the country has built many things with an urgency the world has never seen before – from tech giants, to high-speed train networks, and vast urban centers, through to innovative manufacturing companies. And it has […]
May 03, 2023
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Supply-chain pioneer
Zhengrong Shi and his company, Suntech, are true pioneers of the Chinese solar industry. While Suntech burned bright, and eventually flamed out, under Shi’s leadership, the company’s solar ecosystem and innovation persist as China’s PV market surges past 100 GW(AC) today.
May 03, 2023
Yes, China can!
While China’s trajectory to 100 GW(AC) of annual installations has been steep, rapid growth is set to continue, says Dany Qian, global vice president of JinkoSolar. She notes that policies such as the Top Runner Program have incentivized high-efficiency products, driving the Chinese industry to adopt new tech such as TOPCon (tunnel-oxide passivated contact) solar.
May 03, 2023
Rooftop slowdown
The Invesco Solar ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the MAC Global Solar Energy Index, under-performed relative to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average in April. Jesse Pichel, of Roth Capital Partners, attributes this to stagnation in the US residential market and an expected decline in California thanks to new net metering rules.
May 03, 2023
A manufacturing bridge between Europe and Asia
A combination of protectionist measures, attractive profit margins, and domestic content incentives has revitalized Turkey’s solar manufacturing industry. Jonathan Gifford asks whether the resurgent sector can become a player on the world stage.
May 03, 2023
A ROSI outlook
ROSI (Return of Silicon) Solar won the pv magazine Award for manufacturing last year for recovering high-value materials from PV module waste. As the company brings its first recycling plant online in France, Mark Hutchins caught up with Hsin-Hsin Fan, commercial engineer for ROSI, to get an update on its solar recycling operations.
May 03, 2023
The cells of the future
The annual SiliconPV Conference came to TU Delft in the Netherlands in April, and offered an important health check for the science and technology behind solar energy. pv magazine was on site to hear the latest from researchers reaching for higher efficiency through tandem cells and other innovations; looking to understand and mitigate cell degradation mechanisms; and working to cut down solar technology’s consumption of rare and expensive materials.
May 03, 2023
Confidence boost for European solar
Solar trade shows are now back in force, with Switzerland, France, and Italy hosting events in March. While Italy and Switzerland see solar as a centerpiece of their future energy systems, France continues to bet on nuclear, as pv magazine Publisher Eckhart K. Gouras discovered.
May 03, 2023
pv magazine Award: Highlights
The first batch of entries is in. Here, we highlight a few of the contenders being passed on to our expert jurors in the modules, manufacturing, inverters, and battery energy storage system categories. The winners will be chosen at the end of the year, and if you missed the first entry window, don’t panic! There will be another chance to submit award applications in September.
May 03, 2023
Low-carbon verified
The Global Electronics Council (GEC) has stepped up its EPEAT ecolabel – which formerly stood for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool – to recognize solar panels made with low-carbon electricity and provide independent verification of embedded carbon, as the organization’s newly appointed CEO Bob Mitchell explains.
May 03, 2023
Euro solar is Surfacing
M10 Solar Equipment, a German joint venture, may have shown Europe’s solar manufacturers how to scale their gigafactories by using Siemens’ plant simulation software to ramp up production of its innovative shingled-matrix solar cell production equipment, explains Tobias Wachtmann, director of global glass and solar for Siemens.
May 03, 2023
Avoiding PV buyer’s remorse
New entrants to solar equipment procurement may be surprised to encounter constantly amended contract terms, index-linked price rises, and near-worthless defect warranties, but they reflect recent supply chain troubles. Clean Energy Associates’ Martin Deak offers a buyers guide.
May 03, 2023
Pushing perovskite PV limits
The perovskite solar race is heating up, with a cue of manufacturers forming to test products at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) PV commercialization facilities, and academics on both sides of The Pond announcing new advances in recent months, reports Valerie Thompson.
May 03, 2023
Shining a light on advanced solar cell testing
Halm, an inline testing equipment supplier, is preparing to launch a new tool that will use LEDs, rather than xenon tubes, as a light source. Managing Director Moritz Meixner says that while he still sees xenon as the best tool for today’s rapidly expanding PV manufacturing industry, new technologies on the horizon could soon necessitate a rethink.
May 03, 2023
What does it all mean?
Solar companies are keen to stress their sustainability chops but with measurement metrics varying wildly, forced labor concerns, an “anti-woke” political storm brewing in the US, and doubts about what environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards even mean, working out the green credentials of companies can be a minefield, says Tristan Rayner.
May 03, 2023
