World

Federal regulators have rejected orders from Energy Secretary Perry to design open-ended subsidization of coal and nuclear power plants, and are initiating a new proceeding to look into reliability matters.

Venture capital, debt, securitization and project finance were all winners in 2017, as were solar stocks. However Mercom Capital warns that the pending Section 201 ruling could cause significant damage to the sector in 2018.

The All India Solar Industries Association (AISIA) says the proposed safeguard duty will be counterproductive for the solar industry, and has called for differential anti-dumping duties for specific countries to be imposed, including China.

A recent article in Bloomberg View illustrates clearly the mythology and misinformation that abounds regarding renewable energy, which in many cases is spread by the media.

Trade cases, insolvencies, record-breaking low auction prices, China’s eye watering installation rates – all this and more characterized the 2017 solar PV industry. pv magazine reflects on the biggest stories, trends and developments of the past year; and summarizes what the industry can expect in 2018.

Inverter overview: As 2017 drew to a close following a record-breaking year for solar, pv magazine sat down to discuss the global inverter landscape with Cormac Gilligan, senior solar analyst at IHS Markit. With China dominant, India’s soaring solar market still very much up for grabs and technical innovation a perennial route to market leadership, these are the six trends that we believe will shape the solar inverter landscape this year.

Troubleshooting in solar plants requires not only trying to find a diagnosis of why the performance ratio is reduced, but also to localize faulty modules. In a recent pv magazine webinar, experts discussed four troubleshooting cases and explored whether module-resolved monitoring would help reduce the effort, and thereby decrease LCOE.

Solar exhibitions: Next year’s solar trade show calendar looks more packed than ever, with at least two noteworthy gatherings globally each month. To help you plan your travel itinerary for 2018, pv magazine selects the shows that are set to surprise and impress next year, based on our own unrivalled experience of the PV trade circuit.

Market analyst IHS Markit has issued its first forecast for 2018 installations. It expects the global market to surpass the 100 GW mark for the first time ever, hitting 108 GW.

A number of parties used the One Planet Summit in France yesterday to either reaffirm clean financing commitments, or unveil new ones. However, the figures still fall short of the US$6.3 trillion the OECD has calculated is needed annually.