Magazine Archive 09-2012

Market overview junction boxes: pv magazine presents a market overview on the different junction boxes available on the market today. While not all junction box manufacturers could be captured in this overview, those represented provide an insight into the nitty-gritty of these essential components.

Ranking: Many large thin film manufacturers disappeared from the global solar stage last year. For the survivors it will nevertheless be difficult to continue to compete on the market as the cost advantage offered by thin film has meanwhile virtually vanished in comparison with crystalline technology.

Interview: Data from the California Solar Initiative (CSI) indicates that as of April 2012, solar leases accounted for 75 percent of residential installations in the market, tracked by the CSI. Since 2007 Clean Power Finance (CPF) has been active in facilitating finance for residential solar leasing and third-party financed solar. pv magazine spoke with CPF’s Kristian Hanelt, to find out more about financial innovation in the sector.

CIGS thin film: With a total budget of more than €10 million, the European Union’s Scalenano project aims to increase Europe’s competitiveness in photovoltaic technology through the development of low cost and highly efficient manufacturing processes for CIGS thin film solar cells.

Lithium batteries: The technology is well known and there are enormous quantities of lithium batteries for laptops and mobile phones in use. While these batteries can also be used to store solar power, new developments are looking more promising for the near future.

Feed-in tariffs: Incentives for solar PV power fed into the grid have been revised in several countries around the world.

Laser technology: Lasers are becoming an essential component in crystalline solar (c-Si) cell production, driven by demand for equipment upgrades for the manufacture of high efficiency cells, but there is more the technology has to offer.

Raw materials: With the international price war at full tilt, any way to lower costs is of central importance to the photovoltaics industry. Copper is one of the most expensive base metals in the world, and the potential for cost cutting along the whole value chain is huge.

PV Taiwan: The challenges facing the solar industry are no secret with low prices across the industry sending some solar manufacturers reeling. This only adds to PV Taiwan’s significance. PV Taiwan, held on October 3 to 5, is Taiwan’s premium solar PV trade expo, bringing together hundreds of countries from all the top solar producing regions, especially the world’s numbers 1 and 2, China and Taiwan.