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Clean Energy Associates (CEA) has performed a safety audit on more than 600 rooftop PV systems and has found that 97% of installations have major safety concerns. It says that 49% of sites have grounding issues, 47% have damaged modules, and 41% have cross-mated connectors.

Historic meteorological data is typically used to assess solar farm yield and secure project finance, but with climate change beginning to affect every aspect of society, past weather data may no longer be a reliable guide. Everoze Partner Nastasia Pacaut looks at how PV projects can be future-proofed in a changing climate.

Solar’s levelized cost of electricity will reach $30/MWh in 2050, as global capacity surges, said DNV.

In the second interview of a series held at Intersolar 2023, pv magazine spoke with Karen Tang, Director – Editorial Lead Europe at Singapore-based market research company OPIS, about current price trends in the industry. She said solar panels may soon be bought at an average of $0.185/W but she also revealed that offers under $0.15/W are now becoming more frequent. Furthermore, Tang said prices may continue to drop in the future, with the bottom line being difficult to determine. Much will depend on the actual manufacturing capacity we will see coming online, which may not match the huge number of recent announcements released by module producers.

At Intersolar in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, about falling solar module prices, oversupply, bottlenecks in the European markets, and labor issues. According to Chase, lower panel prices won’t instantly create demand, and manufacturers should prepare to deal with very low margins. She also said we can expect to see more consolidation in the industry, and bankruptcies for uncompetitive producers may be unavoidable.

Scientists in Norway used various imaging and characterization techniques to analyze the cells and other components of silicon PV modules that had been installed in the field for more than 10 years. The group’s aim was to isolate the role of moisture in various mechanisms that cause performance loss over time, and to understand how these mechanisms progress over long-term installation in real outdoor conditions.

Deloitte says it expects steady hydrogen market growth, with annual revenue projected to hit $1.4 trillion by 2050, while Denmark and the Netherlands have started discussing hydrogen collaboration with the governments of Namibia, South Africa, and Morocco.

IEA-PVPS has published a report to help the solar industry to choose appropriate surface radiation models and data providers based on location and application requirements.

Sunova Solar is offering five versions of its new bifacial dual glass solar panels, with power outputs ranging from 585 W to 605 W and efficiencies of 22.1% to 22.9%. They feature 144 n-type monocrystalline TOPCon solar cells.

Asier Ukar, the director of PI Berlin Spain, discusses the importance of addressing the risks associated with tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech early on, even though it outperforms (passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) when considering standard and tangible indicators.