Magazine Archive 09-2012

Solar financing: Dustin Kahler, Vice President of renewables finance at Wells Fargo predicts that the U.S. solar finance market will scale with the sophistication of data. Speaking to a small audience at the recent Intersolar North America, he suggested that lower cost more widely-available funding for solar projects is being fostered today by a growing use of bankability exercises in the industry.

Intelligent grid: For some time now, experts have been saying that it is theoretically possible to obtain 100 percent of required power from renewable energy sources. In the heart of Berlin, a so-called micro smart grid is poised to provide evidence for this. But the project has placed researchers in uncharted scientific territory.

Quasi-mono standards: The SEMI standards for quasi-monocrystalline silicon wafers can create a clear pathway for market acceptance of the technology and facilitate growth. The SEMI PV Group’s Stephan Raithel and LDK Solar’s Yuepeng Wan and Linyan Liu explore the potential of the technology and why standards could be valuable.

Off-grid metering: With PV’s competitiveness with diesel generation a reality in certain parts of the developing world, delivering off-grid solutions is a business opportunity that can have a transformative effect. pv magazine can exclusively reveal a new pay-as-you-go business model that is emerging as an effective way of delivering off-grid PV power and facilitating the maintenance of installations.

This year, German financial hub Frankfurt am Main will play host to the 27 EU PVSEC from September 24 to 28. pv magazine takes a peek at what is to come and also presents the new products that will be showcased under the EU PVSEC product news special.

Italy: By mid-July, the limit had been reached – the energy agency Gestore dei Servizi Energetici’s official counter for the subsidy budget for photovoltaic installations had exceeded the €6 billion mark. Thus, the new Conto Energia V subsidy legislation will automatically enter into force at the end of August, bringing with it major cuts in the feed-in tariff for solar electricity.

Automation: In an industry that is now very much focused on higher returns at the lowest cost of production, PV producers are under pressure to increase cell efficiencies, reduce materials consumption, and increase yield and throughput – fuelling innovation in automation tools and technologies.

Centrotherm: Centrotherm had filed for insolvency protection proceedings under its own administration on July 10, 2012. pv magazine spoke with Tobias Hoefer, the expert for reorganization on the board of centrotherm photovoltaics AG and responsible for the insolvency protection proceedings, and also spoke with Chief Technology Officer Peter Fath.

Energy storage: Energy storage economics and electricity prices are inherently linked to each other. The decision to invest in energy storage will be partially driven by the idea to save on electricity bills or to assure power quality. Florian Schubert from Renewable Analytics explains the dynamics behind energy storage.

Chinese factory gate prices: In Europe, the time has come for US$0.60/Wp Chinese crystalline silicon modules.