Outlook Obscured – 03-2025

Solar in the US continued to grow under the previous Trump administration. And while the picture is still not clear, analysts have predicted that the industry is unlikely to suffer too much under the new government, though growth may slow and a question mark remains over the ambitious solar manufacturing plans that the previous administration embarked upon. The United States now hosts around 50 GW of PV module assembly capacity. Efforts to integrate this upstream and build out capacity for cell manufacturing as well as wafer, ingot and polysilicon, may falter if support for them is removed.

As in previous years, this month’s magazine includes a section jointly developed with Solar Promotion, organizer of global energy industry events including The smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest renewable energy event. In this section, we look at the increasing challenge of intergrating solar intro electricity networks around the world, and innovative solutions including vehicle to grid, hybrid systems, sophisticated energy management, and more.

In this edition we also introduce a new, improved pv magazine test program. Alongside new industry partners, we will be putting PV modules through their paces in the lab, and outdoors in China and in the harsh desert climates of the Middle East. Check out the first test results from the new outdoor site hosted by Yangtze Institute of Solar Technology.

Other topics in this issue:

• Nearshoring far away: Western economies struggle to develop domestic manufacturing.
• Shaped by policy: In China, how long can voluntarily imposed factory utilization cuts last?
• Data centers: US data center developers must satisfy growing energy demand.
• Floating African solar: Numerous hydroelectric sites could shore up grid supply across the continent.
• Flow batteries’ trump card: Highlighting the fossil fueled elements of flow batteries.