Power markets are evolving and beginning to value flexibility ahead of generation. As the UK’s networks companies move to embrace flexible generation assets, Liam Stoker spoke to some of the country’s leading providers to identify the hurdles and solutions to a more flexible power grid.
At 4:52pm on Friday 9 August 2019, the UK suffered its first wide-scale blackout in over a decade. More than 1.1 million consumers were plunged into the dark as rail lines screeched to a halt, traffic lights failed and even airports reported problems. Liam Stoker looks at the root causes, and how battery storage came to the rescue
Recent technology advances and improved industrial processes have made silicon heterojunction one of the most attractive PV technologies, helped by its inherent bifaciality, which offers among the highest levels of bifacial gain available. Researchers from CEA-INES and Eternalsun Spire explore the performance stability and measurement of bifacial heterojunction modules under real life conditions, benchmarking them against PERC modules as the industry workhorse.
Inverters are the leading source of corrective maintenance activity in PV power plants, yet independent testing to inform procurement decisions remains the exception rather than the norm. Michael Mills-Price and Jenya Meydbray of PVEL describe how a new inverter testing regime is seeking to set quality benchmarks for this increasingly critical part of the PV system.
Cable manufacturers are well placed to capitalise on solar’s rapid global growth. However, to successfully exploit this continuing development, it is important to understand where growth is focused, why it is focused in these areas and the environmental and legislative challenges that it creates, writes Mark Froggatt.
Construction trades are among the most dangerous, and solar is no exception. Matthew Skidmore of CS Energy explains why safety is paramount for solar project developers, project owners, financiers and EPCs.
The question of whether to use valuable land for farming or solar power generation has been a subject of fierce debate in the green energy transition. But, as Boris Farnung, Maximilian Trommsdorff and Stephan Schindele of Fraunhofer ISE write, the two activities need not be in conflict with each other and, with a new generation of solar technologies, can in fact be mutually beneficial.
Complexity, pricing and regulatory hurdles remain key obstacles for the corporate PPA market to overcome. But as Andrew Hedges, Caileen Kateri Gamache and Lee Donovan of Norton Rose Fulbright write, ongoing procurement innovations and new players entering the market suggest this will be a crucial route market for solar for some time to come.
In the US and a number of other major solar markets, merchant solar projects are emerging to fill the gap left by declining subsidies. Jay Bartlett of Resources for the Future looks at the risks and opportunities for merchant PV as it finds its feet.
Digital technologies have the potential to transform the solar industry as it continues to seek greater efficiencies and lower costs. But as Dana Olson writes, a lack of both digital skills and mindset within organisations are key barriers to realising the full benefits of the technologies now available.
