Magazine Archive 05-2014

Laminators market in India: The Indian PV equipment industry has been largely unable to produce many reputed solar suppliers. An overview of the Indian laminator industry for PV production.

Interview: Manz posted record revenues despite the solar sector contraction. The company’s CEO Dieter Manz talks about the perspectives for PV against the background of diversified portfolios, business models and solar markets.

PV on contaminated land: A variety of U.S. brownfield sites are welcoming high efficiency trackers and other low-impact solar PV solutions.

Financing Philippines: In May, the largest solar park in the Philippines – located in San Carlos City on the island of Negros – goes online. The ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund provided financing, and pv magazine spoke with T.U. Michael Sieg, Chairman and CEO of ThomasLloyd, regarding the background of the pioneering investments.

Interview: pv magazine caught up with Simon Müller, energy analyst in the renewable division at the International Energy Agency, to discuss the themes explored in the IEA’s latest publication, the Power of Transformation, which outlines ways to fully incorporate renewable energy into global power generation structures.

Small PV systems in the grid: If small solar PV systems are to be a model of success, they must also be capable of grid integration. Christoph Winter, a photovoltaic systems technician at Fronius, explains how a grid test in Austria is solving this problem. And one thing becomes clear: Just a few simple, local control systems in the inverter can do a lot.

Venture capital forecast: The solar industry is coming off a strong 2013 and looking for an even better 2014. Preliminary numbers indicate that global installations topped 37 GW for 2013 – a solid 21% growth year-over-year. Another 20%-plus growth year is in the making as Raj Prabhu, CEO and cofounder of Mercom Capital Group, forecasts 2014 demand to be about 46 GW.

Feed-in tariffs: Greece’s government joins the ranks of a number of European nations that have passed aggressive retroactive measures devastating investors. Germany is set to establish a 50% surcharge on renewable energy producers. Asia also sees falling FITs in Japan and Malaysia.

Modules prices: Waiting for lower solar panel prices. Is the minimum import price reduction already making an impact?

Ardour Solar Index: Chinese lending and trade issue concerns weigh on the index. The majority of constituents were in negative territory.