2025 Unboxed – 02-2025

Solar’s stubborn bugbears are going nowhere for the time being. China still has significant oversupply in its PV supply chain going into the new year, and the industry will seemingly have to deal with extremely low prices for a while yet.
Japan, meanwhile, is pushing back against a market slowdown driven by land constraints, and introducing new initiatives for rooftop solar in particular. Even so, analysts forecast the country’s PV installations will likely shrink from 6.2 GW in 2024 to around 5.5 GW this year.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines are all eyeing expansion, which means government reform and incentives for solar. InfoLink’s Jenny Lin breaks down recent developments in this month’s magazine.

Other topics in this issue:

• Forecasting matters: Forecasting, and the historic underestimation of solar’s contribution to the energy mix, sends false signals to utilities, investors and energy markets.
• The latest on Adani: With US authorities raising bribery allegations, the Indian conglomerate’s capital flow is under scrutiny.
• A ray of hope: Ukraine continues to struggle as Russian attacks target energy infrastructure. Solar could be best placed to provide a speedy solution.
• Issues in energy storage globally: UN adviser Marek Kubik considers key developments in energy storage.
• Cooler panels could prevail: Researchers develop ways to keep PV modules cool and operating at their peak.