International investments in Indian PV
India is seeing massive investments in PV manufacturing, with manufacturers from Western countries, led by the United States, eager to get in on the act. Chinese companies have yet to make the same call, however.
pv magazine test: August 2022 results
We present the next batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. Here, we present the results from August 2022, with analysis from George Touloupas, senior director technology and quality at CEA.
So much cash, so little land
German institutional solar investors manage portfolios amounting to tens of millions of euros. Investor groups have high standards and need one thing above all else: big projects in which to invest. These are scarce in Germany and competition from other funds is fierce, so investors have developed three strategies to identify projects.
Plating up
A reduction of silver consumption in PV production is required on the way to terawatt scale. Given this, the time may have come for the commercialization of new copper plating technologies – doing away with the need for silver in cell metallization altogether. However, the history of plating technology is littered with cautionary tales.
Sodium-ion batteries go mainstream
Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as a viable alternative to lithium-ion technology. Industrial heavyweights CATL and Reliance Industries, following the acquisition of UK-based sodium-ion specialist Faradion, are bent on bringing the technology out of the lab and into mass production. Against a backdrop of soaring prices and predicted shortfalls of lithium-ion battery materials, sodium-ion chemistry has never been more tantalizing.
pv magazine test: February 2022 results
We are pleased to present the next batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. In this issue, we present the monthly results for February 2022, alongside additional analysis from George Touloupas, the senior director of technology and quality at CEA.
Staying grounded
In the world of utility-scale solar development, with razor-thin margins to make multimillion-dollar assets financially viable, companies aggressively pursue innovations that reduce materials, cut labor costs, increase efficiency, or otherwise lead to higher yields. Cable management systems might not drum up the same excitement as new modules or trackers, but for the folks at CAB Solar, the 2021 pv magazine Award winner in the BOS category, the name of the game is proficiency, not publicity.
Efficiency and prices determine economics
Estimating the total cost of energy storage connected to a rooftop PV installation is a complex affair, involving factors such as tax, the policy environment, system lifetimes, and even the weather. As part of its extensive overview of distributed energy storage in Germany, pv magazine Deutschland analyzed the efficiency of different battery energy storage systems to create a comparable index that illustrates the cost of a stored kilowatt-hour.
pv magazine test: May 2022 results
We are pleased to present the May 2022 batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China, along with additional analysis from George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality at CEA.
Interconnection evolution
After a difficult couple of years, things are finally looking brighter for European PV equipment suppliers in 2022, with new projects on the horizon and plenty of space for innovation in the market. Germany’s M10 Solar Equipment is introducing a brand new, flexible approach to cell interconnection that promises big energy yield gains compared to typical half-cut cell multi-busbar modules. And the company is already seeing plenty of interest from producers developing products ranging from conventional modules to building-integrated PV and beyond, as M10 Solar Equipment CEO Philipp Zahn and Business Development Manager Michael Kröffges recently told pv magazine.
