The need for solar to find new ways of staying competitive in the US is increasing as a the pace of hardware cost reductions slows. Ben Willis looks at efforts going on to tackle some of the persistently high soft costs involved in US solar development
Solar Frontier believes it could make some of Japan’s as-yet-unbuilt utility-scale solar projects economically viable, as the company’s partnership with Goldman Sachs-affiliate Japan Renewable Energy prepares to take on 300MW of projects within the next five years.
Single-axis PV tracking systems specialist NEXTracker, recently acquired by contract manufacturer, Flextronics is expanding its local manufacturing footprint to Mexico through facilities owned and operated by its parent company in Mexico, which has a number of production facilities in the country.
PV tracking systems specialist Exosun has secured orders totalling 11MWp for its ‘Exotrack’ HZ horizontal single-axis solar trackers from EPC, Phoenix Solar, for three PV power plant projects in Jordan.
Brazil's almost negligible solar deployment record is forecast to take off this year and the first movements on building Enel Green Power's 254MW plant in Bahia are symbolic of this shift in Brazil's utility-scale sector.
AllEarth Renewables a US-based dual-axis solar tracker manufacturer, has announced the introduction of a new L20 solar tracker designed for 72-cell PV modules with a landscape orientation option.
Canadian Solar is introducing a 72-cell, 1500V ‘Diamond’ CS6X-P-FG PV module with heat-strengthened double glass configuration for commercial and utility-scale applications and is designed for high voltage systems of up to 1500 VDC, saving BOS costs.
Valentin Software will launch the next generation of its design software PV*SOL premium at the end of 2015. New features are designed to make the process of designing a PV system easier and faster. The shading analysis of roof and ground-mounted systems in 3D mode remains the central feature as it calculates how often the modules are covered by shade, and how this affects the system yield, presenting the results graphically. All shading objects can be freely selected and placed anywhere on the ground or building.
The former VP of Solar Grid Storage has predicted average Balance of Systems (BoS) costs for energy storage will drop from around US$670 to less than US$400 per kilowatt in the next five years.
