No longer the introvert
Inverters: Although inverters play a key role in all PV systems, the technology rarely impacts the ebb and flow of global market forces like modules do. But as price pressures move along the solar value chain, are inverter suppliers primed to seize the opportunity to reshape the solar market in their own image?
Picking up speed
Module prices: Strong solar growth in the UK and Japan, while demand stymied in Germany.
Playing politics with PV
Australia: In the first half of 2014, Australia installed around 320 MW of solar PV and the Australian Solar Council expects the figure at years end to reach around 700 MW. High electricity prices and ample sunshine make conditions perfect for PV, so this should be a given, but there are forces at work against PV Down Under, and they are taking aim at a range of policies and institutions.
PV financing opportunities in Brazil
Brazil: Despite boasting solar radiation in the range of 2,154 kWh/m2 in the northeast to 1,898 kWh/m2 in the south, Brazil has yet to seriously integrate PV energy generation into its power matrix due to volatile energy prices, risk averse local financing and an embryonic international banking market. However, opportunities to develop PV projects exist, writes Rosa Tarragó of Sowitec.
Solar goes public: The rise of yieldcos
Yieldcos: This summer has seen solar project developers join independent power producers in forming yieldco vehicles to hold solar and other renewable energy plants, large and small. By doing so, these companies are securing lower-cost capital as part of an ongoing reduction of costs in the solar industry.
Solar goes public: The rise of yieldcos
Yieldcos: This summer has seen solar project developers join independent power producers in forming yieldco vehicles to hold solar and other renewable energy plants, large and small. By doing so, these companies are securing lower-cost capital as part of an ongoing reduction of costs in the solar industry.
Spanish cuts signal regressive PV approach
Spain: Spain: The countrys ministerial cabinet recently approved a law that aims to implement previous PV guidelines. The law, PV advocates argue, brings legal uncertainty, scares investors and punishes existing installations. Arguably, Spains latest policy mandate changes the countrys renewable energy landscape entirely, bringing it to a fundamentally new level. The countrys ministerial cabinet recently approved a law that aims to implement previous PV guidelines. The law, PV advocates argue, brings legal uncertainty, scares investors and punishes existing installations. Arguably, Spains latest policy mandate changes the countrys renewable energy landscape entirely, bringing it to a fundamentally new level.
Spanish cuts signal regressive PV approach
Spain: The countrys ministerial cabinet recently approved a law that aims to implement previous PV guidelines. The law, PV advocates argue, brings legal uncertainty, scares investors and punishes existing installations. Arguably, Spains latest policy mandate changes the countrys renewable energy landscape entirely, bringing it to a fundamentally new level. The countrys ministerial cabinet recently approved a law that aims to implement previous PV guidelines. The law, PV advocates argue, brings legal uncertainty, scares investors and punishes existing installations. Arguably, Spains latest policy mandate changes the countrys renewable energy landscape entirely, bringing it to a fundamentally new level.
The solar trade war rages on
Trade war: The U.S. has imposed heavy preliminary antidumping duties on imports of solar cells and modules from China and Taiwan, which add to already substantial anti-subsidy tariffs imposed in early June. It is unclear what the full impacts of these duties will be, but changes are already being reported in the U.S. market.
The sun of its parts
Off-grid India: In India, solar off-grid systems are a backup against daily power cuts, offering clean energy 24 hours a day. The Indian solar off-grid market is growing fast, providing an affordable and reliable fail-safe against the daily power cuts that regularly bedevil cities, towns, and villages. And in rural regions, where there is often no grid access whatsoever, solar solutions are proving invaluable.
