Earlier this week the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published its 2021 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) document, detailing the continued reduction in the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of the country’s core generators. Liam Stoker takes a look at the data and discusses just how cheap solar, and solar-storage, could become.
BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2021, published late last week, highlights how the world’s energy systems are changing at rapid pace, but equally illustrates how that pace of change must accelerate across the world if established economies are to meet net zero targets. Liam Stoker looks at the key takeaways from the report.
Reporting its Q1 2021 results last week, JinkoSolar provided a snapshot of the pressures solar module manufacturers have faced in the opening exchanges of the year by way of spiralling material and freight costs. Liam Stoker analyses how the company has responded, laying the groundwork for a return to normality towards the end of the year.
Yesterday the US government ended months of speculation by enacting a withhold and release order (WRO) on solar imports to the US linked to specific polysilicon providers in China suspected of having used forced labour. Liam Stoker analyses what we know so far and, crucially, what the industry still needs to know before it can proceed.
Finlay Colville, head of market research at PV Tech Research, explores how solar PV has become dependent on low-cost manufacturing, facilitating a dominance by China-based players, and how the industry could engage with current scrutiny of solar’s supply chain.
In the latest in a series of articles on next generation solar technologies published by PV Tech, Carrie Xiao reports on how the market for n-type technologies including TOPCon and heterojunction is building a head of steam.
PV Tech’s Carrie Xiao provides an extensive overview of the solar modules on display at this year’s SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai, comparing all of the major product launches, exhibitions and technologies that took centre stage.
With South Africa faced with ongoing power cuts, Jules Scully explores the how solar PV can help decarbonise the country’s coal-heavy grid while providing energy security.
Perovskite solar cells have become the focal point of many university-led studies in the past year. In the first of a new series of article on PV Tech profiling some of the leading cutting-edge solar technologies, Edith Hancock explores what is being done to remove bottlenecks to the growth of perovskites.
In the second part of a two-part feature on the solar industry’s response to polysilicon price increases, Carrie Xiao hears from industry leaders about the importance of technology innovation, efforts to reduce waste and the need to avoid cutting prices blindly just to appease customers.
