Global PV markets

A host of new photovoltaic technology advances and new products were unveiled during the Solar Power International show in Orlando this week, alongside concerned conversations about the U.S.-China trade case, and new partnerships companies are seeking in order to survive the crippling price pressure in the industry.

Without support, grid connected photovoltaics cannot grow profitably, states Navigant Research’s Paula Mints. Furthermore, while traditional energy sources are likely to continue to receive subsidies, it cannot be assumed photovoltaics will reach grid parity without them.

Two reports, released this week, have indicated that Germany’s cleantech industry, and photovoltaics in particular, will continue to grow in the coming years and maintain its leading place in the industry.

Spain-based Isofotón has revealed further details about its new photovoltaic manufacturing facility in Napoleon, Ohio. The company has also told pv magazine at the Solar Power International that it intends to set up module manufacturing operations in Saudi Arabia, Brazil and China.

Solar is going “through the roof” in the United States, according to a report released by the Washington, DC-based Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the San Francisco-based Vote Solar Initiative on September 12. In fact, the top 20 commercial solar users in America have installed more than 1.2 million photovoltaic panels, combined, covering more than 544 acres of rooftops.

Is the United States helping to finance and fulfill the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) – or “helping itself” to a large, unprotected segment of India’s solar market?

Japanese thin film manufacturer Solar Frontier has announced that it will move into the downstream business in its domestic market, with an agreement to supply and provide “project development services” for two power plants worth 3.3 MW.

The 10 top technologies industry analysts expect to be developed in Brazil’s photovoltaic sector over the next 15 years have been unveiled in a new study commissioned by the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI).

The Solar Power International (SPI) event has opened today, at the Orange County Convention Center in Florida, and initial reports from the show are that traffic is slow. The show, which is essentially spread across one giant exhibition hall, is expected to attract around 20,000 visitors and 1,100 exhibitors.

At the end of Q2 2012, China continued to dominate the worldwide renewable energy market, with Germany and the U.S. nose-to-nose in second place, and India and the U.K. just behind, according to Ernst & Young’s latest quarterly Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices (CAI) report. Activities centered strongly around the smart grid.