All News

Europe’s new breed of grid parity projects is mushrooming on the southern fringes of the continent. With governments’ flexible attitude towards remuneration, to the detriment of reliable planning, the desire to make grid parity projects work is strong, and its progress will likely spread north.

Three days before the end of the year, Baywa re not only announced the completion of a 175 MW subsidy-free solar power plant – said to be the first of this size in Europe – but also that it had been sold. For Benedikt Ortmann, managing director of the project business at Baywa re, this is groundbreaking.

Tariff ceilings, safeguard duties, a falling rupee and mandated manufacturing capacity turned 2018 into a year of annulled tenders, and no shows by bidders.

The government of Bangladesh this week approved proposals for setting up five solar based power plants, which will generate 227 MW of electricity in this power hungry country.

Cyprus has introduced several policy schemes supporting solar development over the years, yet the single most important boost for PV technology on the island is a plan that backs a new wave of what are considered to be subsidy-free projects.

Having reflected on the year gone by, it is time to turn attention to the coming year. Many predictions may not fully, or even partially, bear the fruit they promise – and the unexpected is always lurking in the background – however they can be a useful indicator of certain pathways and growth areas. With this in mind, the pv magazine team has compiled a list of the top 14 solar PV and energy storage trends expected to characterize 2019. What do you think? Have we missed anything?

Sweden based CIGS equipment supplier Midsummer has received an order worth more than $7 million for its production equipment. The order was placed by U.S. based manufacturer Sunflare, for a new factory under construction in China.

Japan’s JGC Corporation reports an efficient method of converting hydrogen to ammonia, which can later be combusted to generate carbon-free electricity. Ammonia, according to JGC, has various advantages over hydrogen in terms of safety and cost effectiveness.

Despite the rollercoaster of emotions experienced throughout the year, the final quarter of 2018 wrapped up on a relatively positive note, with the scrapping of Spain’s sun tax, and ambitious goals either announced or reaffirmed. Read on to discover what happened in the months of October to December.

The tension between the cost cutting and performance boosting opportunities presented by new technologies and the tendency for risk aversion is never more evident than in PV module materials. This applies nowhere more than in backsheets, where new innovations are big on promise, but must convince manufacturers and the market of their long-term performance.