Big energy steps in
Off-grid electrification: The International Energy Agency estimates that off-grid energy systems will receive 70% of the nearly $400 billion in investments required to provide energy access to the 1.1 billion people living without electricity. Utilities, oil, and gas firms and other large energy companies are increasingly taking notice of the opportunities in off-grid electrification through investments and acquisitions.
From the ashes
It is hardly revelatory to write that solar markets can rise, fall, and rise again. Stuttering starts, vertiginous expansions, foreseen collapses, and frustratingly unfulfilled potential could accurately describe perhaps 80% of most noteworthy solar markets around the globe. But two PV markets have been consistent in their inconsistency: Turkey and South Africa. Both nations are […]
Solar stocks on top
Stock price index: A better than expected outcome to the Section 201 case kept solar ahead in February. However, there are surely more strategy changes to be announced as a result.
Market up, prices flat
Module price index: The scarcity of low-cost multicrystalline modules in the “mainstream” class, evident since the beginning of the year, continues. The Trump decision in the USA has not yet had any visible impact, such as increasing module volumes for the European market due to lower demand on the other side of the pond.
Vulnerable solar markets, and what makes them tick
Part IV: In 2001 China had a 1% share of global shipments and market demand of just
5 MW. By 2007, China’s share of global shipments was 21%, and in 2017 its shipment share is expected to be ~53%, and that’s not counting manufacturing expansions outside of China. In 2010 demand for PV deployment was 85 MW, then in 2011, following the introduction of its FIT, domestic demand for PV deployment shot up to 2.9 GW.
Price decline on pause
IHS Markit analysis: The price of lithium-ion battery modules has been falling each year since IHS Markit began tracking this market, with average prices for stationary storage applications falling by nearly 70% between 2012 and 2017. This has been the principal enabler of a strong pick-up in demand for battery storage, writes Sam Wilkinson, IHS Markit’s Associate Director – Solar and Energy Storage.
Running low at the top
Top Runner Program: China has not only become the largest country for high-efficiency cell and module capacity thanks to the Top Runner Program. It’s also the world’s largest demand country for high-efficiency modules. This shows that the Top Runner Program has brought a certain level of effectiveness to the high-efficiency trend.
License to build
Turkey’s PV market: Turkey racked up impressive solar PV growth in 2017, installing 1.79 GW of new photovoltaic capacity. But is this growth sustainable? And what is expected to happen in 2018 and the years that follow? pv magazine sets the scene across all the relevant segments of the Turkish PV market.
Renewed optimism
South African market: Key questions about South Africa’s promising PV market have largely gone unanswered for the past several years, amid political wrangling over the future national energy mix, and the mismanagement of troubled state utility Eskom. But now – following the recent ousting of former president Jacob Zuma, who has long championed costly investments in nuclear capacity – the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is positioned to take a fresh look at the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
A watershed year
Belgium market update: Once among Europe’s leaders in solar PV deployment, with more than 1 GW of capacity added in its peak year of 2011, Belgium’s market lost momentum following the abrupt closure of generous subsidy programs. In recent years, driven by its residential PV segment, the country has experienced a solar comeback, which became particularly prominent in the year just passed.
