Magazine Archive 12-01 – 2024-2025 | Best in class

Battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment is continuing at pace, meaning high safety standards and effective operations and maintenance are critical. Maximizing BESS performance is key to the business case for energy storage, while minimizing downtime ensures investors get more bang for their buck. This year’s award sees pv magazine recognize innovators supporting the build-out of storage by addressing key challenges.

Balance-of-system (BoS) products influence solar plant performance and profitability. Changes at the BoS level can have a real impact on plant design, as this year’s winner has shown through the launch of a product portfolio designed with new system architecture in mind.

As PV manufacturing continues to scale, spotting kinks early on in production has never been more important. While manufacturers have a wealth of options for collecting data on how production lines are performing, keeping that information in order and pulling meaningful insights is a challenge. This year’s award recognizes an important step in integrating big data with PV manufacturing.

Increasing concern over the lifecycle of products powering the energy transition has driven real innovation. Entrants for the sustainability category of the pv magazine Awards 2024 applied the recycling hierarchy principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle with clever solutions to extend the life of products and reduce environmental impact.

The expansion of solar manufacturing capacity outside China has been one of the key trends in 2024. One company in particular has impressed with its production capability and ambitious plans for the future.

Despite political uncertainty, one thing is clear: solar will play a critical role in powering the US economy. That was discussed at length in the three-day pv magazine USA Week virtual event. Ryan Kennedy provides some key takeaways.

The solar industry has dragged its heels on the issue of silver-dependence for cell metallization, but China’s Jiangsu Xianghuan Technology (JXTC) is moving into commercial production with a copper plating process that overcomes many of the challenges that have limited interest from cell manufacturers.

George Touloupas, senior director for technology and quality at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), reviews the quality assurance (QA) activity and methodologies used to ensure PV performance and emphasizes the importance of data-driven approaches and continuous monitoring.

US-based Origami Solar has overcome two key challenges to replace aluminum solar module frames with steel products. The company says it can offer improved performance and a compelling value proposition, particularly for module makers setting up outside China. pv magazine caught up with Origami Solar CEO Gregg Patterson to discuss steel frames and the company’s expansion plans.

In a pv magazine Insight session at the Renewable Energy Expo India 2024 (REI Expo) trade show in October 2024, panelists discussed encapsulants as a driving force of innovation in the solar market and considered how to manage uncertainty in technology and supply chains.