Magazine Archive 07-2019

Plummeting costs, industry maturity, and the ever-increasing penetration of global renewables are expanding the use cases for battery storage technology. Over the past year and a half, storage projects are increasing significantly in both scope and capacity.

A gloomy atmosphere currently hangs over the lithium-ion supply chain. Stationary battery storage equipment and electromobility offer tremendous opportunities. Yet many experts have concerns about the raw material supply and recycling situation. Christian Hagelüken, the Director of EU government affairs at Umicore, a major recycler and supplier of cobalt, explains his view of the situation.

Since 2017, several European governments have announced bans on sales of conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. Countries like France and the United Kingdom have set bans to come into force by 2040, while Norway has set a more ambitious goal of 2025. Raquel Soat, Research Analyst at Navigant, looks at how policy might affect European electric vehicle markets over the coming years.

It’s a highlight of the European solar calendar and a famous PV event globally: the annual Intersolar show, part of The smarter E Europe exhibition and conference in Munich. But 2019’s event may go down with a degree of infamy, as German customs officers executed arrest warrants against two people in a case pertaining to the minimum import price undertaking. While many at the show were unaware of the controversy, pv magazine investigated what went down.

Last month’s SNEC exhibition in Shanghai featured a number of discussions about next-next-generation manufacturing. And with a range of technology pathways now available — including heterojunction (HJT), n-type TOPCon and even various tandems on the cell level, as well as bifacial, shingled, paved or ‘closely packed’ configurations on the module level — the materials supply business is becoming ever-more diverse. But for Ethan S. Simon, the CTO of DuPont’s billion-dollar Photovoltaics and Advanced Materials division, the move to HJT may not occur at the speed that many expect.

Where we’ve been: SNEC 2019 The 2019 SNEC show lacked some of the surging crowds of previous years, with the Chinese market cooling somewhat, but it still remains the top global event for cutting edge solar cell and PV module technology. There is some debate as to whether the aluminum oxide p-type or the emerging […]

Last year was unique for the global solar industry. For the first time, we exceeded the magic installation mark of 100 GW in a single year. Globally, the solar power generation fleet grew over 500 GW, rising from less than 16 GW of solar capacity in 2009 — no small feat! However, unlike the previous […]