There may not be a ‘Green Deal’ planned in China but plans are in the making for a resurgence in solar installations as part of the forthcoming 14th Five-Year-Plan (2020-2025).
A string of high-profile cyberattacks on energy infrastructure highlights the vulnerability of solar farms as they become increasingly reliant on digital systems. Alice Grundy looks at the rising threat of cyberattacks and the measures asset owners can take to mitigate the risks.
The PV industry is on track for strong growth in 2020, despite 10 months of the year being shrouded in uncertainty and perennial pessimism. And while almost all in the sector have been lamenting supposed softness in demand this year, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, it turns out that the limiting factor to production and shipment volumes this year simply comes down to the supply of raw materials, namely polysilicon.
Recently, PV-Tech featured an extended interview with Cherif Kedir, the President and CEO at the Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC), based in Fremont, California, regarding new trends in module reliability and performance testing.
Alongside the recent rapid boom in bifacial solar deployment, extensive work has been underway to fine-tune the yield modelling of bifacial systems. Drawing on case studies from the ATAMOSTEC test site in Chile, researchers involved in the collaborative venture describe how it is helping improve understanding of bifacial yield and the lay the foundations for a set of new rules to inform system design and installation
As larger floating solar projects become a more common sight around the world, bankability is increasingly coming to the fore to satisfy the demands of financiers. Jeremy Ong, Ken Tay and Harald Hammer look at some of the areas where careful due diligence is vital to managing and mitigating technical risks for lenders
Speaking exclusively to PV Tech, Jolywood president Lin Jianwei discusses the company’s progress over the past 12 years, how it has progressed its n-type TopCON technology to mass manufacturing, and what the future holds.
Later this year, a new set of industry guidelines will for the first time codify a set of best practices for EPC contractors. Ahead of publication, members of Solar Power Europe’s O&M task force look at some of the critical areas of PV system integration where high-quality EPC work can most effectively influence a project’s lifetime performance
By Dirk C. Jordan, Chris Deline, Bill Marion and Teresa Barnes, NREL. Mark Bolinger, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Despite the importance of reliability to the cost competitiveness of PV, large data sets enabling high-level investigation of the technology’s performance in the field are relatively scarce. Dirk C. Jordan, Chris Deline, Bill Marion and Teresa Barnes of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Mark Bolinger of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study a unique data set of 100,000 PV systems in the US, drawing out tips for better reliability that have relevance to other parts of the world.
Travel restrictions imposed by countries in response to the coronavirus pandemic have contribution to a slowdown in investment in rural electrification projects. Thomas Hillig examines the extent of the investment freeze and possible solutions to get capital flowing into much needed projects again
