Romania bucks EU trend of solar retrenchment
Romania: Reasons to be cheerful: Vladimir Pekic takes a look at the Romanian PV market a rare bright spot in a continent where austerity is casting a long shadow over PV and destroys a few myths, including the idea corruption and bureaucracy are significant hurdles to overcome in the country.
Worried looks and optimism
Dear readers, There was no beating around the bush at this years SEMI Europe PV Fab Managers Forum in Berlin. The main problem for the industry continues to be substantial global overcapacities. IHS estimates worldwide production capacity for modules this year to be roughly 59 GW, for cells approximately 48 GW and around 56 GW […]
Understanding the PV landscape
The Americas: Driven by a combination of net metering, Renewable Portfolio Standards, and other policies, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil are forecast to have almost 70% of PV demand across the Latin American and Caribbean region by 2017.
Under stress
PV module certifications: Certifications are no guarantee that a product is of high quality. But failures in the field can get far more expensive than stress tests, comment Dricus de Rooij and Niclas Weimar, editors of Sinovoltaics.com
Turnaround
Module prices: The EU Directive on antidumping tariffs is throwing the market into a jitter.
Trends in energy storage markets
Storage market: Market activity in energy storage, as with most cleantech sectors, is tied to government strategies pertaining to industrial innovation. The three regions with the most innovative and dynamic economies, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, have developed distinct strategies for cleantech and, more specifically, for energy storage, as Anissa Dehamna from Pike Research (a part of Navigant) explains.
The solar catalyst
Saudi Arabia: One of the worlds largest producers of petroleum products is taking a sharp turn from fossil fuels to the sun. The need to cut back on conventional fuel dependence and to bank in on the sun has fueled forecasts that Saudi Arabia will be the solar market to look out for in the year to come.
The secondary solar market
Interview: SAG Solarstrom has sold five German field PV plants with a total output of approximately 12 MW to an investor. The systems built in the years 2007 and 2008 were technically and legally evaluated by the SAG Solarstrom Group and then purchased and restructured by a leasing company. Chairman of the board Karl Kuhlmann sees an interesting new field of business in such restructuring of solar investments on the secondary market.
The pressure to innovate
Laminators: Solar laminator manufacturers paint a bleak picture of their current markets. Some focus on reducing the cost of existing technology, others on innovation.
The lure of larger PV projects
Ecobuild 2013: Everybody likes big solar projects as they gobble up the MWs and the UK is no exception as it girds itself to install as much as 20 GW of PV by 2020. This is the upper end of a target set out within the UK Department of Energy and Climate Changes (DECC) Renewable Energy Roadmap at the end of 2012.
