All eyes on India
India: As India goes to the polls as pv magazine goes to press, Raj Prabhu, CEO and cofounder of Mercom Capital Group, explores how key political battlegrounds are set to shape the countrys solar industry hopefully for the better over the next few years.
Buy local
Green electricity: Through its Solar25 tariff, Grünstromwerk in Hamburg wants to make photovoltaic power independent of the changing winds of German politics. And to do that, their concept lets consumers directly buy solar energy from local producers without any government subsidies. Plus, any area where enough customers sign up will get more photovoltaic systems.
Casting light on off-grid areas
Interview: Robert Haendel is applying a startup ethos to where the stars are aligning in cost and efficiency. His solar startup Fosera Lighting, based in Singapore, has developed a range of products combining the fast evolving technologies of PV, lithium iron phosphate batteries and LEDs to light up off-grid communities. Norways Differ Group and fosera in Germany are investors in the venture. Before these investors were found, Haendel had launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to be able to start production.
Chinese EPCs dominate
Ranking: Chinese EPC companies continued to extend their market position last year, as evidenced by the current ranking of market research company IHS. Of the worlds 10 largest EPC companies, five are from China, three are from the USA and only two are from Europe. They focus mainly on their own domestic market.
Distributed PV: primed, but not yet ready to shine
China: On January 2014, the National Energy Administration announced a target of 8 GW of distributed solar PV and 6 GW of utility-scale PV for 2014. Distributed PV will play an increasingly important role in Chinas energy mix in the next years as part of the countrys efforts to tackle air pollution.
Dramatic slump in the European market
Module prices: Is PV still a model for the future in Europe? The current situation casts doubt on that.
Focus on self-consumption
Switzerland: Owners of solar PV systems in Switzerland are allowed to consume their electricity themselves for the first time. This is guaranteed by an amendment of the countrys national energy law. The reform should be good for the PV market, not least because the state will provide one third of the investment for systems up to ten kilowatts as of this year.
Global FIT overview
Feed-in tariffs: In emerging markets, both Algeria and Costa Rica locked in comprehensive new feed-in tariff schemes and Bangladesh is thinking about adopting its own scheme. Up north, Germany and Slovenia have continued with planned degressions.
In the red
Ardour Solar Index: The trade case and Chinas distributed PV focus cast uncertainty on volume growth.
Monitoring and data logging services multiply
Solar monitoring and data logging: There has been a virtual explosion of solar PV monitoring and data logging companies offering services in the global market over the past few years, and consolidation is the watchword. In the U.S. market alone, the number of companies has risen from a few dozen to several hundred, begging the question of what standard services are, and at what price.
