Magazine Archive 03 - 2025

Clean Energy Associates (CEA) is receiving more calls from solar developers concerned about warehouse panel damage. CEA senior engineering manager Claire Kearns-McCoy explains how improper handling, stacking, and storage conditions can lead to long-term issues.

The second Donald Trump administration has put up roadblocks to clean energy investment but renewable energy analysts say superior technology and its economic benefits will ultimately prevail.

Days after entering office, the Trump administration announced tariffs on key US trading partners. While Canada and Mexico negotiated a one-month stay, it appears tariffs are set to play an even larger role in US trade policy through 2029. Paula Mints examines the history of US tariffs with a focus on the solar industry.

Developers from the renewable energy and data center markets are working to find common ground to meet surging energy demand fueled by the AI boom.

Solar arrays on Africa’s many large hydroelectric sites could shore up patchy grid electricity supply. Finance is difficult but possible, as demonstrated by plants such as the 250 MW Kariba Dam project in Southern Africa, backed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). Options include utilities, big energy users, and even crowdfunding participants, as Neil Ford reports.

Agrivoltaics combines clean energy generation on dual-use sites where land productivity can continue, and even be enhanced, offering big possibilities for Italy, as Everoze partners Simon Hughes and Dario Brivio explain.

Italian company Elgea specializes in integrating solar on highway networks. CEO Laura Onnis told pv magazine it has identified 300 sites along 3,000 km of Italian highways and is pushing ahead with project development. The first plants will be built in the northern Italian provinces of Milan and Vercelli, and in Molise, to the south.

Despite rising tariffs on imports and a looming US Department of Commerce investigation, American solar-grade polysilicon production is expected to keep pace with the growth of the domestic PV supply chain.

Efforts to establish solar manufacturing in the United States, on the back of generous Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies, have had mixed results. While module assembly facilities appeared swiftly, cell production capacity trails far behind and current policy uncertainty is leaving more questions than answers for solar manufacturers of all sizes.

In December 2024, the Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) published its Supply Chain Traceability Standard in a bid to establish best practices for monitoring and sharing information on solar supply chains. pv magazine spoke to Alexia Ruvoletto, SSI’s outgoing head of secretariat, about the initiative and its achievements.