-
This sixteenth edition of Photovoltaics International marks four years of production of the quarterly journal. As always, our focus is on efficiency and quality improvement and cost reduction in manufacturing. As 2012 rolls along, companies are falling by the wayside due to supply and demand issues, ASP declines and drastic governmental subsidy cuts. A clear picture of 2012 is offered through papers from the likes of TÜV Rheinland, Fraunhofer ISE, SEMI PV Group and EPIA, amongst others.
-
This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.
-
Manufacturing the Solar Future 2012, the second in the Photovoltaics International PV Production Annual series, delivers the next installment of in-depth technical manufacturing information on PV production processes.
Comments
This Tisdale character doesn’t sound like a serious analyst. Sure you can put up PV panels in New Jersey, but because there aren’t enough sunny days the electricity costs you at least twice as much as if you put them up in a sunny part of California.
It is strange that while the article gives great attention to thermal energy storage (TES) for CSP it gives no attention to batteries for PV. There is good reason to believe that both PV and batteries will continue to get cheaper. CSP and TES are both established technologies with little headroom for fundamental technology advancement. That’s why the installation cost of CSP has changed so little. A PV/battery combination may be more expensive than an equivalent CSP/TES installation today. But it won’t take long for PV/battery installs to equal and then drop below CSP/TES. Time is on the side of PV!
LENR. Remember those letters. All solar at the utility scale will be obsolete in 5-15 years