Leapfrog development model
Adding solar value: The world needs leaders eager to deploy greater volumes of solar not purely because of some environmental duty, but because the technology increasingly makes sense from an economic, performance and development perspective, writes Brad Meikle of Headwall Power International.
Load profiles cry out for a battery storage system
Agriculture: That farmers and industrial operations build PV plants is nothing new. But now, storage systems are becoming a more attractive proposition for them, and the concepts are as individual as the companies themselves.
New criteria, stable prices
Module price index: pvXchange has altered the criteria for its October module price index to reflect European market pricing. There has been little movement of late.
Outlook Europe
European PV markets: Is it hero to zero? Thankfully not quite, but the decline of the relative importance of Europes solar markets on the global scene has been a rapid one. But what does the short term hold? pv magazines regional editors take a look.
PV market reversal: pro-mono?
China monocrystalline: Solar was birthed in mono, but the cost advantages brought by multicrystalline silicon saw it fall out of favor as the industry grew. But there are noticeable winds of change blowing through China right now, with monos numerous advantages becoming ever clearer as costs fall.
PV Taiwan 2015: Trading places
Show roundup: At PV Taiwan 2015, Taiwanese firms displayed the latest in technological advances in solar PV, indicating that the island across the Taiwan Strait from China continues to maintain its place at the fore of solar PV supply chains.
Self consumption in Southern Europe
Southern Europe: The remuneration policy for solar PV is changing rapidly in Europe, and small arrays are no exception. According to European guidelines, feed-in tariffs are still possible, but tight public budgets and a period of prolonged economic crisis have turned governments instead towards net metering and self-consumption schemes. However, can these schemes drive large numbers of new PV installations?
Solar trackers rise to global demand
Trackers: The global demand curve for solar trackers is heading straight up, very quickly. The tracker industry is moving at about 1,000 mph now, because trackers significantly enhance the financial value of PV solar as a generation asset, says Thomas Conroy, President of Array Technologies, the largest provider of trackers in the world.
Sound foundations for PV in Andhra Pradesh
India: The Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Policy 2015 provides a number of incentives to support solar, while the first National Solar Mission bid under the Modi goverment was oversubscribed by more than 10 times. Both SMEs and multinationals have shown that they can submit commercially viable bids. Rödl & Partners Dharm Veer Singh Krishnawat sets out why he believes confidence is growing in Modis solar policies and why the goals of the new Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Policy are ambitious but achievable.
Storage hype in Oz
All Energy 2015: New federal government leadership has given fresh hope to the renewable and solar sector in Australia. This was reflected at the 2015 All Energy show, which bristled with energy and excitement and political VIPs. Energy storage was the center of the hype, but just which technology or supplier will rise to the top is anything but clear.
