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.
With extreme weather events becoming increasingly common, Molly Lempriere takes a look at how to ensure a solar installation is prepared to manage wind, hail, heat and anything else nature has in store.
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.
Amidst surging materials costs, the solar industry needs to avoid any “gaming” on price between upstream and downstream sectors as it could be “very dangerous for both sides”. Leo Xiang, general manager at Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers’ energy department, speaks to PV Tech about the potential remedies to the situation.
The cost of insuring operational solar farms has skyrocketed over the course of the year, triggered by carriers rethinking their approaches to natural catastrophes and other extreme weather events. This has placed additional importance on mitigation strategies. Kevin Christy, COO for North America at Lightsource bp, details how the solar developer has adapted its strategy in the field.
By Carsten Steenberg, VP of product management and business development, Rainwise
Utility-scale solar is evolving beyond traditional measurements, and performance ratio are one such metric that is likely to become obsolete, replaced by more modern criteria such as availability metrics. Carsten Steenberg, VP of product management and business development at Rainwise, explores the new metrics coming to the fore and discusses the importance of weather monitoring.
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.
As more traditional PERC cells and modules reach their limitations, Seraphim president Polaris Li discusses his company’s strategy for what he dubs the ‘post-PERC’ era of solar PV.
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.
