End of the PV honeymoon?
Eastern Europe: The honeymoon period between governments and photovoltaic developers in the eastern Balkans is definitely over. After several years of rapid growth of photovoltaic capacity, mostly in Romania and Bulgaria, governments in the region are speedily rethinking their vows to bold development plans once laid out for solar energy.
Global FIT overview
Feed-in tariffs: South Australia considers scrapping its FIT to let utilities dictate terms, but not without hearing from the Clean Energy Council. Gujarats utility company advocates a similar path in Northwest India. Spanish PV investors are irate at yet another round of retroactive cuts.
GW market arrives
Southeast Asia: The promise of the Southeast Asian PV market has been slow to eventuate. As government support policies and necessary deregulation of electricity markets occur, solar is beginning to provide solutions that both deliver demand to PV manufacturers and project developers and begins to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels for utilities.
Inspiring new ways for PV
South Africa: The South African renewables market has become a beacon of PV development, both in Africa and worldwide. Despite bumps in the road ahead, medium-term growth prospects are looking good. Ioannis Papadopoulos and Ragna Schmidt-Haupt from global renewable energy consultancy GL Garrad Hassan provide a snapshot of the markets status and highlight current policy and financial hurdles.
Is concrete next?
Mounting Systems: At Intersolar North America, solar PV mounting systems manufacturers presented interesting innovations and new designs.
Key market and innovation centre
Intersolar North America: Shanghai, Munich, San Francisco, its been the story at solar shows around the world attendance is down and the number of exhibitors declining year on year. However as the geographic diversity of the PV market increases and global demand continues to experience growth there remains a sense of optimism and real signs that the PV market may have hit rock bottom and that a corner has been turned.
Lean devices
Inverters: Microinverters are gaining a majority share of the U.S. residential solar market, as became clear at the Intersolar North America in July.
Light in the jungle
Off-grid PV: In Laos a German entrepreneur is making electricity affordable for the inhabitants of remote villages. The solar electricity model, which uses Pico lamps from the company Phocos, is now gaining attention in other countries as well.
Offset slowdown
Ardour Solar Index: Secondary offerings and EU trade case disrupt the index rally.
