Intersolar Europe

Underlining India’s commitment to becoming the global renewable energy leader, Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said the country plans 500 GW of capacity by 2030. He also underlined India’s plans for becoming a solar and storage manufacturing hub; and said the International Solar Alliance needs to widen its membership.

While tariffs may inhibit India’s ability to benefit from anticipated record low Chinese panel prices, Japan already has a strong pipeline and two of the world’s solar pioneers – Spain and Italy – could be given a shot in the arm by new administrations.

With Solarworld’s recent insolvency announcement, questions regarding the potential for trade disputes to affect the global solar industry have once again been brought to the fore. At Intersolar Europe 2017 in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Benjamin Attia of GTM Research about the organization’s latest research into this broad reaching topic.

This year’s Intersolar Europe exhibition and conference attracted encouraging crowds, plenty of innovation and a growing sense of confidence in solar’s importance to the world. With a little help from storage, of course.

This year, among other things, there were awards for a new solar module, a mounting system for water surfaces, various efficient storage concepts and an innovative concept for cooling milk.

The U.S. President’s anticipated decision to pull the country out of the COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change has been met with a healthy dose of bemusement and defiance at Intersolar Europe, where the universal opinion is that solar will find a way to thrive, in whatever political climate.

Sleeker aesthetics, more user-friendly software, digitalization and full home energy management solutions strike the right notes on day one of Intersolar Europe, placing homeowners at the heart of the conversation.

Europe’s largest solar trade show kicked off this morning in Munich. More than 1,100 organizations from 51 countries are hosting exhibits at the show, and around 40,000 visitors from 160 countries are expected to descend on the International Congress Center in Munich over the show’s duration.

Solar applications under the Dutch SDE+ tender reached 2.6 GW in the first half of the year, said Dutch solar industry association Holland Solar, with country on course to become GW-scale market shortly.

In latest Global Market Outlook unveiled today at the Intersolar Europe Conference, SolarPower Europe projects 80 GW of new capacity, beating 2016’s record 76.6 GW figure. European market may grow this year.