Magazine Archive 2014

Solar trackers: Prices of trackers have dropped significantly in recent years, squeezing the returns on investment in the segment. Nonetheless, new players are entering the market, and new tracker designs and services continue to emerge.

Thin film: Automated production lines can provide a number of advantages to module manufacturers. High yields and throughput, detailed monitoring and consistent product quality are all virtues of automated process controls and getting robots to do the handling. It is also a marketing tool to give modules a stamp of quality. On the flip side, new automation tool orders for thin film have been extremely hard to come by for tool suppliers, meaning development has had to be largely self-funded.

Storage systems: Not only are they being talked about by everyone, they are also splitting the industry. Some are focusing on successfully opening up a new market with them, while others consider them to be inefficient and economically pointless. But the figures are crystal clear.

PV power plants: The continued growth of the US solar market has been characterized by the growing importance of PV power plants. With a wide range of financiers looking to invest in large-scale PV, how can they be sure that their investment will stand the test of time? pv magazine spoke to energy advisory DNV GL’s Jenya Meydbray and John Wilson.

Disruptive technologies, disrupted industries, disruptive entrepreneurs: the principle of disruption has become a common thread running through many aspects of our professional lives and society. And for us in solar PV, the disruptive power of our technology comes as no surprise – just ask the executives of electric utilities in regions with high PV penetration […]

Module prices: A run on PV modules is expected in June and July.

Equipment suppliers: Several parameters point to a slight improvement in demand for PV equipment, reports Goetz Fischbeck, CEO of Smart Solar Consulting.

Intersolar Europe: Thin film producers made something of a comeback at the Intersolar Europe trade show last month, but not as we know them. First Solar was exhibiting in Munich for the first time in three years and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Joe Kishkill attended the event and spoke to pv magazine to unveil his company’s new strategy for Europe.

Feed-in tariffs: A number of changes took place in Australia, Malta finally released its feed-in tariffs nine months late, and the UK enacted a slight degression.

Japan: Ambitions to dramatically scale up the agricultural “solar sharing” model, plus the entry of new players are signs of innovation bubbling through the Japanese PV sector. Fliss Jones of DNV GL Renewables Advisory (formerly GL Garrad Hassan) argues that although Japan’s New Basic Energy Plan might have lacked imagination, its solar industry certainly does not.