Magazine Archive 10 – 2024 | Further upstream

Iran has ambitious plans to ramp up solar to help tackle a persistent, steadily worsening energy crisis. But sweeping Western sanctions and arguably inefficient state management are making those PV plans appear extremely unrealistic, according to independent analysts.

Supporting First Nations people to effectively engage in and benefit from the energy transition is a timely priority for Australia’s emerging Net Zero Economy Authority, which is tasked with facilitating investments nationwide. pv magazine Australia’s Ev Foley finds the road to clean energy for remote communities can be long and hard, but possible. In the Pilbara, a First Nations group is blazing a trail as a developer of a 3 GW renewables pipeline.

High interest rates, excess warehouse inventory, and falling component prices have created a perfect storm for solar distributors since October 2023. BayWa re Solar Trade CEO Frank Jessel explains how the industry can embrace true digitalization to better navigate this volatility.

The allure of the open road is strong in the United States, where highways can snake through breathtaking landscapes. Recreational vehicles (RVs) make adventuring easy but powering portable homes with diesel generators is a poor solution for today’s travelers. Briter Products President Avanti Lalwani tells pv magazine how her company is putting solar on wheels.

With hailstorms in the United States and Australia severely damaging solar arrays – including “golf-ball sized” hail at the 350 MW Fighting Jays project in Texas in March 2024 – insurers are raising premiums and reducing or canceling hail coverage. Everoze Partner Simon Mason discusses the challenges the industry faces in minimizing its hail risk exposure.

India wants to dramatically expand its solar production capacity through 2028 but it faces a lack of skilled workers. Attracting talent from overseas and related industries is an option but policymakers could also follow the United States’ lead and work on training schemes with Chinese manufacturers.

Now that incentives from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are well understood, global manufacturers are announcing factories in the United States to constitute much of the solar supply chain. While some plans have been scrapped already, and more cancellations are expected, the broader trend is unprecedented growth.

Valerie Thompson examines ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity trends as India’s PV production industry expands and goes vertical in a bid for self reliance.

Indian PV manufacturers are looking beyond tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar. Back-contact (BC) devices are an enticing prospect but many feel the technology is not mature enough. Uma Gupta considers the cost, yield, and reliability challenges that BC solar has to overcome.

A study by German research institute Fraunhofer ISE has revealed a troubling trend. Data shows that modules are increasingly attributed higher power ratings than they actually have. Though the percentages are incremental, it all
adds up.