Magazine Archive 10-2014

CEO interview: Bill Watkins, CEO of Imergy Power Systems, speaks with pv magazine about the company’s vanadium-based flow battery energy storage products and why they make sense for PV developers. Imergy is headquartered in Fremont, California, and has operations in Gurgaon, India.

SPI 2014: In 2011, the year it turned eight, the Solar Power International (SPI) trade show flew the nest. Previously the event had been based in California, but it has since flittered among the ever-growing number of solar markets in the U.S. This year SPI touches down in Las Vegas, and given the cleantech activity currently in Nevada – Tesla Gigafab anyone? – it should feel right at home.

PV manufacturing: The imposition of new tariffs on Chinese and Taiwanese PV cells and modules has been followed by high-profile announcements of new production facilities in the United States. Are these isolated cases, or will American solar manufacturing return?

pv magazine innovation award: The founders of Qinous want to supply the world with standardized storage containers for microgrids. That could replace a lot of diesel-generated power with photovoltaics.

Interview: Jigar Shah, founder and former CEO of SunEdison, speaks to pv magazine about his new book, Creating Climate Wealth, the strategy that led to SunEdison’s enormous success, and how the global solar market can excite mainstream investors.

Australia: With the economic and environmental underpinnings that would have any solar business wanting to jump in, solar Down Under looked all set to shine. But a change in government has brought the utility-scale and commercial rooftop segments into serious doubt, and could even deal the blooming residential rooftop market a major blow.

Solar craft brew: While beer consumption in the U.S. is falling, the craft brew sector has been growing at over 10% annually since 2007. And this is a good thing for solar. Increasingly craft brewers are leading the way in installing innovative PV arrays and renewable energy systems. And the big brewers are following the lead of their smaller rivals.

Solar racking & mounting: US ground and roof mount systems for solar continue to improve through design and engineering, dropping weight and trimming installation time, while simultaneously becoming more universally adaptable to any module-plus-support configuration.

Mercom Capital global forecast: It is a rush to the finish line as the solar industry closes in on another strong year, with installations of approximately 48 GW in total, reports Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder of Mercom Capital Group.