Magazine Archive 2015

Cestas project: Thousands of acres, thousands of modules, thousands of components: The challenges facing Schneider Electric as it beavers away on the construction of the 300 MW Cestas plant in France are daunting, particularly in the fields of supply chain and schedule management.

Quality control: Module quality is a priority for PV investors and the industry as a whole. DNV GL’s Jenya Meydbray sets out how its Product Qualification Program is attracting downstream partners.

Supply and demand: Is the soaring solar market in the U.S. storing up problems for the future? With demand growing, domestic supply remains stunted, while the forthcoming ITC sunset is driving an installation rush that threatens to overlook the industry’s tangible shortcomings.

PV employment: While jobs in the solar sector are growing overall, their concentration is shifting from the West to the East. Here, pv magazine outlines the trend and asks: Where will employment in the sector go next?

Utility-scale grid parity monitor: PV utility-scale generation continues to consolidate its role as an actual alternative within wholesale electricity markets, as outlined in the latest Grid Parity Monitor Series from Creara.

Interview: ABB’s MD of power conversion Otto Preiss has seen the growing importance of storage technologies, and believes the company is set to play a powerful role in the storage space.

Interview: REC was awarded most innovative product at the Intersolar Awards for its TwinPeak module. Luc Graré, REC’s SVP in Sales and Marketing, discusses how the company created its groundbreaking module and outlines from which markets demand is expected.

PV manufacturing: Korean manufacturer LG picked up one of the Photovoltaics awards for its NeON 2 black and white modules at Intersolar Europe this year. But the company isn’t looking for a quick ramp up. Michael Harre, Vice President of LG’s EU solar business group, explains how LG will grow steadily and move into new spaces, such as the smart home.

Interview: During the period of oversupply within the PV sector it was often said that rumors of the death of PV were greatly exaggerated. However, are reports of an equipment supply recovery similarly overstated? Christian Buchner, Head of Business Unit Photovoltaics at Schmid, does not believe that is the case, as a wave of new technology uptake and manufacturing capacity expansions begin to fill order books once more.

Interview: In June, DNV GL launched a new service for developers looking to add storage to solar projects or in standalone installations. This new service arrives at a time when the number of storage products on the market is beginning to take off. pv magazine spoke to DNV GL’s Raymond Hudson, the director of solar for DNV GL, about this development.