Embracing change – 02-2024
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Germany waits on solar package
As the decline in solar panel prices looks set to stop soon, and conflicts in the Middle East drive up shipping costs, German installers could do with a shot in the arm from a delayed solar package in the Bundestag, writes Martin Schachinger, of pvXchange.
Feb 08, 2024
pv magazine test: November 2023 results
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the November 2023 energy yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China. He also looks at some upgrades to the rooftop system as new modules featuring the latest negatively doped, “n-type” technology join the program.
Feb 08, 2024
Shining a light on module quality
With solar panel prices tumbling, project developers will need to be vigilant about quality. Comprehensive product testing could be a vital safeguard as PV manufacturers struggle to retain their margins, according to Everoze’s Martin Laing and Gauthier Dambrine.
Feb 08, 2024
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Blackouts trigger a PV pivot
Decades of mismanagement have eroded trust in South Africa’s state-owned energy utility, Eskom. Last year, households and businesses suffered daily blackouts of up to 10 hours, or even longer. Solar and battery energy storage are booming but a domestic PV manufacturing industry has yet to materialize.
Feb 08, 2024
A cell maker’s survival guide
With solar production capacity expansion plans paused, bigger cell makers will weather the storm through a revised approach to new panel technologies. InfoLink’s Alan Tu says that low profits could also drive innovation and cost savings, pushing the industry to new heights.
Feb 08, 2024
PV goes portable
Portable solar generators are making their way from the fringes of solar and energy storage to become a mainstream consumer item. The rise has been charged by a range of factors that have created massive brands. Where did the sector emerge from, who was buying before, who is buying now, and what’s next? Tristan Rayner reports.
Feb 08, 2024
Factories go vertical
Highly integrated, gigawatt-scale solar factories are springing up in India, the United States and Europe, as well as in China, reports Valerie Thompson. The drivers vary by location but the goal of ensuring a sustainable supply chain for the next terawatt of PV growth is universal.
Feb 08, 2024
COP: A solar flop?
Tripling clean energy generation capacity to 11 TW by 2030 was a leading pledge from the United Nations’ (UN) climate change conference in Dubai. With few details about infrastructure and energy storage and no clear PV targets, however, it is hard to judge the effectiveness of the 28th global Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting. Angela Skujins considers possible impacts for the solar industry.
Feb 08, 2024
Energy sovereignty
Native American lands boast serious PV potential in the United States but getting projects off the ground hasn‘t always been easy. Different tribes are willing to take power generation into their own hands and the landscape could be shifting, thanks to funding from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other programs.
Feb 08, 2024
Together toward sustainable solar
Solar companies are keen to take action on sustainability, whether that means reducing energy consumption in manufacturing, adding wildlife-protection measures to a project plan, or taking responsibility for recycling once a project reaches the end of operations. Many businesses are hesitating, however, due to a lack of clear guidance and measurable standards for what actually constitutes sustainable practice, as Mark Hutchins found out at the Sustainable Solar Europe show, which was held in Brussels in December 2023.
Feb 08, 2024
Commercial PV is in FAShion
FAS Renewables announced in December 2023 that it had signed contracts for a 52 MW solar portfolio to be built on shopping center rooftops across Saudi Arabia. The projects will be among the first in the kingdom to operate under commercial power purchase agreements. FAS chief executive officer (CEO) Marcus Schrauf said he expects to see many more as the country becomes a commercial PV powerhouse.
Feb 08, 2024
Upstart vs. incumbent
Electricity market liberalization and private sector development of solar and energy storage in Cyprus continue to be delayed. pv magazine’s Ilias Tsagas looks at why independent power producers are frustrated by electricity curtailment and a lack of market reform.
Feb 08, 2024
Long-lived PV
The opening session of the pv magazine Roundtables Europe event, in December 2023, addressed the issue of solar in harsh environments, with a particular focus on floating PV installations moving out to sea. Peijun Shen, senior manager for product marketing at Longi Solar, shared details of the company’s testing-led approach to ensuring long-term reliability in any environment. After the event, Mark Hutchins caught up with Shen to discuss the broader landscape for module reliability in 2024.
Feb 08, 2024
A triple helping of uncertainty
The solar industry’s start to 2024 has been buoyed by discussions at the COP28 climate summit in December, leading to the broadly endorsed agreement that global renewable energy generation capacity must triple by 2030. The expectation that PV, as both the cheapest source of renewable energy and the fastest to deploy, will represent a […]
Feb 08, 2024
Mind the skills gap
Around 800,000 new workers will be required in Europe by 2025 for the battery industry alone and, more broadly, existing workers will need to be retrained as the continent’s industries transition away from fossil fuels. International competition for workers is becoming increasingly fierce. Where are these workers and the required skills supposed to come from?
Feb 08, 2024
Caps off to Polish PV
The new year has brought major change for clean power generators in Poland. Piotr Mrowiec, of legal company Rödl and Partner, considers two developments that, along with direct-line and cable-pooling legislation, could affect Polish PV because auction prices continue to rise and a clean energy price cap has been removed.
Feb 08, 2024
Making history
Holding the leading global conference on climate change in the heart of oil and gas country was bound to attract criticism. However, the chief executive officer (CEO) of COP28, Adnan Z. Amin, has ample experience of advocating for renewables in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Amin spoke to pv magazine about the landmark outcomes from COP28 and the decisive role that solar will play.
Feb 08, 2024
Tracked changes
The need for greater supply chain traceability has pushed the PV industry to adapt, with new procedures to support documentation at each stage of manufacturing. Nicola Licata, of Clean Energy Associates (CEA), explains how evolving processes are preparing the PV industry to face future challenges.
Feb 08, 2024
Year of decline ends on a rally
The Invesco Solar exchange-traded fund (ETF) (TAN) out-performed the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 list of the biggest listed companies in the United States and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) in December 2023. Jesse Pichel, of Roth Capital Partners, attributed the improvements to hedge fund action.
Feb 08, 2024
Predicting the solar future
The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) helps to predict future solar cell and module technology trends and is influential in directing research funding and technology investment. Scientists in Australia and the United Kingdom have analyzed ITRPV predictions over the past decade, highlighting the difficulties of forecasting PV trends.
Feb 08, 2024
The path beyond 5 TW
With the COP28 climate summit in Dubai resulting in a pledge of at least 11 TW of renewables generation capacity by 2030, Bruce Douglas, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA), examines the outcomes of the conference and their likely impact on the solar industry.
Feb 08, 2024
The balance for expansion
The annual UN Conference of the Parties (COP) climate summits draw criticism for their overly lofty goals but the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) new “Renewables 2023” report states that the COP28 target for solar is well within reach, as lead author and IEA Senior Energy Analyst Heymi Bahar explains to Jonathan Gifford.
Feb 08, 2024
