clean energy

With ambitious decarbonization targets and a favourable regulatory landscape, Portugal is an appealing market for renewable energy developers and producers. Like other European markets, however, Portugal’s clean energy industry faces challenges related to permitting, grid connection, and the availability of remuneration schemes – hurdles which threaten to slow the country’s energy transition.

While lithium ion battery prices are falling again, interest in sodium ion (Na-ion) energy storage has not waned. With a global ramp-up of cell manufacturing capacity under way, it remains unclear whether this promising technology can tip the scales on supply and demand.

There may be a global solar boom but a drastic revision of California’s net metering program has ruptured the industry overnight and is affecting everyone from installers to financiers to makers of power electronics.

While much of the focus on electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure focuses on volume, what about quality? And who is going to maintain a multi-million strong fleet of EV chargers?

Electricity market liberalization and private sector development of solar and energy storage in Cyprus continue to be delayed. pv magazine’s Ilias Tsagas looks at why independent power producers are frustrated by electricity curtailment and a lack of market reform.

With the size of utility scale solar projects in the nation having ballooned, the lessons learned from South Africa’s first big solar field continue to help developers roll out PV as a key energy source.

The production of PV ingots and wafers remains the most highly concentrated of all the production stages in the silicon solar supply chain. Yet efforts to re-establish production in Europe and the United States are not for the faint-hearted.

Rather than pondering the introduction of trade measures against solar imports, Europe should be pragmatic about its short-term reliance on Asian panels while moving now to nurture and incentivize a domestic supply chain of the future.

Portable solar generators are making their way from the fringes of solar and energy storage to become a mainstream consumer item. The rise has been charged by a range of factors that have created massive brands. Where did the sector emerge from, who was buying before, who is buying now, and what’s next? Tristan Rayner reports.

Tripling clean energy generation capacity to 11 TW by 2030 was a leading pledge from the United Nations’ (UN) climate change conference in Dubai. With few details about infrastructure and energy storage and no clear PV targets, however, it is hard to judge the effectiveness of the 28th global Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting. Angela Skujins considers possible impacts for the solar industry.