Magazine Archive 02-2018

European PV: Europe is having a moment. Bolstered by newfound economic strength in times of geopolitical uncertainty, there is a tangible sense of unity on the continent. And it is not only in the economic sphere that Europe is bouncing back – the EU is silently making important strides in clean energy that will positively shape solar’s future for decades to come, writes SolarPower Europe Senior Political Communications Advisor Kristina Thoring.

Poland’s PV prospects: Last year brought no breakthrough in the Polish renewable energy sector. Of several auctions promised in 2017, only one was conducted at the end of June. Auctions scheduled for September and October did not take place. Auctions to be held in 2018 are supposed to proceed according to slightly different rules: A bill to amend the RES Act is in public consultation and new auctions will not be held until it passes the full legislative process. Piotr Mrowiec, of Rödl & Partner Poland, sums up the Polish PV industry in 2017 and outlines the legal framework for those considering investment in PV systems in 2018.

Japan storage market: Poised to grow by more than 4 GW over the next seven years, Japan’s distributed storage sector represents a potentially lucrative market for both domestic and international players. Winning supply contracts is one thing, but winning the trust of a demanding population represents an even loftier challenge even for some of the world’s biggest storage companies.

Utility-scale storage: The 100 MW Hornsdale Power Reserve was delivered by Tesla in under 100 days – a good thing as the company would’ve picked up the tab if it had failed to do so. But the project is also delivering grid services and demonstrating arbitrage trading at a pace and scale that is changing minds about the potential of utility-scale storage and the role of synchronous generation on Australia’s National Electricity Market.

Special publication: Published in collaboration with Energy Storage Europe, the latest pv magazine Energy Storage special is a 32 page publication that will address some of the more technical, innovative, and upstream issues currently shaping the battery storage landscape.

Interview: Energy monitoring solutions are becoming smarter and more user-friendly with each new iteration. One particularly disruptive innovation comes from Belgium’s Smappee, which touts itself as the Shazam of home energy management. Company CEO Stefan Grosjean explained to pv magazine what that means.