The intense wildfires that ravaged California in the US in 2020 have been responsible for substantial solar energy forecasts errors, according to a study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
With the US Department of Commerce finding that solar manufacturers in Southeast Asia are circumventing duties on Chinese PV cells, questions have been raised over potential legal challenges that lie ahead and whether American project developers will be able to secure enough modules to meet soaring demand.
As of today, less than 10% of the necessary solar and wind power needed for a 2050 global net zero scenario exists, whilst global electricity generation will need to more than triple to 80,000TWh, according to the 2022 BloombergNEF (BNEF) New Energy Outlook.
Solar PV capacity is expected to almost treble over the 2022-2027 period, growing by 1.5TW and will surpass coal as the largest source of power capacity worldwide, according to a report from the IEA.
US Secretary of The Interior Deb Haaland has announced plans to expand solar deployment on public lands across the west of the country, including three major solar projects in Arizona representing just under 1GW of capacity.
Curtailment remains the most talked-about subject in Vietnamese solar, but potential solutions such as foreign investment in transmission and grid-based energy storage are being held back.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its roadmap to reaching 100% renewable generation in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) by 2025.
The US Department of Commerce has found that imports of some PV cells and modules produced in four Southeast Asian countries are circumventing antidumping duty and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on solar cells and modules from China.
Europe needs to galvanise a competitive PV manufacturing ecosystem in the same vein as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC).
