In arid regions soiling can greatly impact the energy yield of PV systems and drive up their O&M costs. Benjamin Figgis, Amir Abdallah, Maulid Kivambe, Brahim Aissa, Kamran Ali, Cédric Broussillou and Veronica Bermudez of the Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute and Klemens Ilse of the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics review the main challenges associated with soiling of PV plants globally, and the most promising techniques for dust prevention and cleaning in dry climates, drawing on research results from six years of PV performance and soiling studies at the QEERI’s Outdoor Test Facility in Doha
PV Tech's Carrie Xiao talks to Shen Rong, vice president of GoodWe’s International Sales Center, for an exclusive interview on the company’s global market strategy and its latest developments. At the same time, he shared his thoughts on recent industry developments and manufacturing trends.
During the past few years, the migration from multi to mono, replacing Al-BSF p-type cells with rear passivation layers (PERC), and having the capability of bifacial light absorption, have been the very obvious technology shifts seen within the PV industry.
Capital expenditure (capex) for c-Si manufacturing (covering ingot/wafer and cell/module stages) is forecast at approx. US$9 billion in 2019, consistent with levels seen during 2017 and 2018.
NEXTracker has introduced its smart single-axis solar tracker family, 'NX Gemini’, which enables two-module-in-portrait (2P) tracking of either monofacial or bifacial PV modules. The next-generation two-module-in-portrait (2P) tracker is optimized for customer sites with hard soils, challenging terrain, irregular parcel shapes and high-wind requirements.
PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), Lloyd's of London syndicate Ariel Re (a member of Argo Group), and Beecher Carlson Insurance Services, LLC have launched PV PlantProtect. This is the first-of-its-kind risk mitigation and insurance program using technical due diligence best practices to improve solar project economics for developers.
The forthcoming PV CellTech 2020 event in Penang, Malaysia on 10-11 March 2020 is to feature a special session topic on thin-film solar PV, and review the prospects of this technology being the subject of another round of global investments.
Finlay Colville, head of market research at Solar Media, unveils significant growth in the UK’s utility-scale solar pipeline as the market looks set to return to gigawatt-level demand in 2020.
The latest release of PV-Tech’s unique PV ModuleTech Bankability Rankings report confirms the exclusive status today afforded to just four PV module suppliers (JinkoSolar, LONGi Solar, Canadian Solar and First Solar), in being the only companies to have AA-Rating module bankability status within the industry today.
JinkoSolar has showcased its forthcoming ‘Tiger’ solar module at All-Energy Australia event, held in Melbourne, Australia in late October 2019. The module has a conversion efficiency of 20.78% and can generate up to 460Wp of power output, which is suitable for both utility-scale and rooftop markets, globally.
