Spanish utility Iberdrola has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with management of industrial and commercial waste company FCC Ámbito to promote the industrial-scale recycling of solar PV panels.
James Elsworth of the NREL in the US looks at some of the engineering methods for bolstering PV infrastructure resilience in the face of ever increasing climatic and environmental threats.
Aside from the immediate, visible damage, extreme weather events have a longer lasting impact on PV systems. NREL’s Dirk C. Jordan, Kirsten Perry, Robert White, Josh Parker, Byron McDanold and Chris Deline report on research revealing the long-term consequences of hail, wind and other weather phenomena on PV production.
The streamlining of all phases of a PV project will be essential to ensuring anticipated deployment goals are met. Tom Kenning looks at the AI-enabled technologies helping speed up project construction and easing a shortage of skilled labour.
“Every year, we see more attention from our customers, for whom this is becoming more at the top of their minds. Usually in PV, it’s been volume price and spec of the product. But now it's also how do we make that product, besides pure performance,” says Cemil Seber, VP of global marketing at REC Solar.
Solar PV projects’ operations and maintenance (O&M) are often overlooked during the development stage, according to Chris Stacy, director of business development at BayWa r.e. in the US.
AI-based monitoring systems can help PV plant operators understand and manage the impacts of extreme conditions in a multitude of ways. George Heynes looks at some of the ways AI is being harnessed to bolster system output and longevity.
