Magazine Archive 09 – 2023 | Solar springs eternal

While large-scale PV in Mexico has largely ground to a halt, the country’s distributed-generation (DG) solar segment is likely to see significant growth this year. pv magazine Mexico’s Jorge Zarco examines the policy support that set this market segment in motion.

Australian residential power prices have surged up to 25% this year. With solar rooftops booming as a result, Nikhil Jayaraj, managing director of Regen Power, looks at whether home batteries will keep pace.

Built as a symbol of hope amid disaster, the decision to construct a solar site at Chornobyl may have saved it from the destruction that other power generation facilities suffered during early Russian advances in Ukraine, as Ian Skarytovsky explains.

New environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) reporting guidelines will go into force in Europe and are being drafted in the United States and elsewhere. Sustainability requirements and reporting will affect many elements of big solar development, reports pv magazine’s Carrie Hampel.

A clean energy revolution is at hand, with analyst BloombergNEF expecting more than 500 GW of new renewables generation capacity per year as early as 2025. But how clean is the transition? Tristan Rayner previews our fourth-quarter UP Initiative coverage.

Extreme weather is increasingly becoming the norm for solar developers. Wind testing plays a critical role in discerning how wind speeds, turbulence, and shifting direction can affect the design and production of solar trackers. Chase Anderson, director of product development at Terrasmart, explains the need for proper wind testing.

The market for solar installation testing equipment is booming, reports Matthew Lynas.

While people rush to embrace every new generation of smartphones, we are often content to rely on aging solar projects to carry the energy transition. Tomaso Charlemont, product manager for PV repowering and revamping at German developer BayWa re, asks why.

Chinese monocrystalline PV giant Longi has played a transformational role in the global solar market over the past decade. The company now expects a 1.5 TW annual global solar market by 2030, and beyond. With China’s pandemic restrictions now a thing of the past, Longi President Li Zhenguo speaks with pv magazine about the road ahead.

Should the industry be alarmed at the potential degradation susceptibility of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells? Or are the problems easily addressed and more a reflection of rushed-to-market products? pv magazine contributor and consultant Götz Fischbeck reports.