distributed PV

China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, pv magazine looks back at key highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have looked at energy losses in South Australia and have identified average curtailment of 1.5% for distributed PV sites and 0.2% for distributed PV coupled with batteries, but some locations experience generation losses of up to 25%.

Small-scale PV systems drove the installation of more than 200 GW of solar capacity last year and could support more than 300 GW this year. That means a reset for utilities.

Scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory are developing a communication system to coordinate and control the volumes of solar power injected into grids by small scale solar arrays.

There is potential for solar PV and storage to snap a significant share of the distributed energy industry in frontier markets, says BNEF. Both telecoms and agriculture present interesting opportunities; SE Asia is an emerging micro grid hotspot; pay-as-you-go solar is seeing strong growth; and China is recording substantial business.

China is shifting its major PV installations from previous large utility-sized ground PV plants in the west and north to small-sized distributed PV projects in the eastern coastal areas. During this process, many companies have found new opportunities.