Magazine Archive 2011

Intersolar North America: Despite record unemployment and empty public coffers the signs still point toward growth for photovoltaics – even in the U.S. This was the conclusion of this year‘s Intersolar North America in San Francisco.

India: Mercom Capital Group looks at the success of the Indian solar mission’s first phase and asks whether a reverse auction is the right way forward. It also discusses project financing in terms of its importance in taking the country’s solar industry forward.

Interview: Module manufacturer Emmvee Photovoltaics GmbH was established in Bangalore, India. But, having recognized Europe’s potential, founder and MD, D.V. Manjunatha, relocated its headquarters to Berlin. Here, along with MD Steffen Graf and Head of Marketing and Communications, Frank Hilgenfeld, he talks to pv magazine.

Ardour Solar Index: Pricing pressure is still rippling through the value chain. More downside surprises are to be expected in 2Q11 results.

Changing modules: Solar modules and polycrystalline silicon cells encapsulated with EVA go together almost like bread and butter. But alternative approaches are materializing, and the conventional module landscape now finds itself in a state of technological change.

Telecom applications: Phocos AG, a German manufacturer of solar charge controllers and components for off-grid solar systems as well as energy-saving DC appliances, on its telecommunications projects in India.

Lead times: European inventory levels are declining dramatically.

Selective emitter process: The thin, uniform application of dopants is critical to the successful formation of selective emitters on photovoltaic cells. Considerable effort is ongoing to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Recently, much attention has been given to the formation of selective emitters to significantly improve the efficiency of the solar cell. In the second part of a two-part article, Ultrasonic Systems’ President Stuart Erickson and Chinalight Solar’s Senior Engineer Yang Song, Deputy Director of Research and Development Ye Duan, and Deputy General Manager Youzhong Li elaborate.

PV Legal/PV Grid: The initiative PV Legal, funded by the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy for Europe program, has provided for more transparency and the elimination of bureaucracy in Europe. Nevertheless, central obstacles that still act as a brake on PV growth in many European Union countries have yet to be eliminated. The new initiative PV Grid is to change that.