Highlights

Michael DiRienzo, executive director of The Silver Institute, tells pv magazine that average silver prices will hover around $23 per ounce this year, without any anticipated supply disruptions for the solar industry.

The European Commission has decided to refer three member states to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to turn the EU Renewable Energy Directive into national legislation. The commission is now requesting financial sanctions.

TrendForce says solar demand could grow by more than 53.4% this year due to lower module prices and delayed projects from 2021 and 2022 that are now going online. China will be the largest market this year with 148.9 GW, followed by the United States with 40.5 GW, India with 17.2 GW, Brazil with 14.2 GW, Germany with 11.8 GW, Spain with 11.4 GW, and Japan with 8 GW.

PVH has confirmed that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Valencia, Spain. The factory will raise its global tracker production capacity to 25 GW.

pv magazine speaks to Gianluca Coletti, program manager of tandem photovoltaic tech at Dutch research institute TNO, about initial attempts to bring tandem perovskite-silicon solar cells to market. He says the first PV products based on the highly efficient technology could make an appearance sooner than expected.

Amid fierce public opposition, Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has decided not to proceed with proposed amendments to its 2015 net-metering regulations. Nepra originally planned to reduce the tariff paid to net-metered households from PKR 19.32 ($0.072)/kWh to PKR 9/kWh.

Joachim Steenstrup, head of public affairs for Denmark-based Eurowind Energy, speaks to pv magazine about hybrid solar-wind projects, why the hybridization trend makes financial sense, and how PV-wind hybrid installations are the building blocks for the “energy centers” of the future.

Georgia’s new procurement exercise is part of a 300 MW tender to deploy renewables throughout the former Soviet republic.

ABSolar, the Brazilian solar association, says that the PV sector has attracted BRL 125 billion ($24.2 billion) in new investments since 2012 and has generated more than 750,200 jobs.

pv magazine speaks with Luciano Mule’Stagno, director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Malta, about the prospects of floating offshore PV in Malta and the Mediterranean. He says offshore PV could become competitive with ground-mounted solar in some land-constrained countries.