An analysis of R&D spending of 20 publicly listed PV module manufacturers in 2017 has been undertaken to replace Photovoltaics International’s previous list of 12 companies tracked over a 10-year period.
A number of the original companies tracked have subsequently de-listed from stock markets and gone private, which meant that a broader analysis, including other listed companies was required to provide a good representation of global R&D spending trends in the PV wafer, cell and module segments of the upstream solar market.
Welcome to Photovoltaics International 41. An emerging theme in the industry further downstream is the growing variety of bankable PV modules. It’s a topic we’ll be picking up on 23-24 October at our PV ModuleTech conference in Penang, Malaysia.
This issue of PVI captures the ongoing work to drive improvements across the full range of those technologies. From the exploration of next generation CIGs cells to the commercial improvements of PERC by Trina Solar, this edition neatly captures that variety.
Fraunhofer ISE reviews the latest results from efforts to improve the texturing of diamond wire sawn wafers.
Trina Solar presents a roadmap for PERC improvements that it claims could halve costs while pushing efficiencies to 24% in around seven years.
ECN and imec explore the latest developments in integrated cell to module manufacturing approaches from the more familiar multi-busbar and multi-wire to shingling and woven fabric and foil-based module technologies for back contacted cells.
Elsewhere, CSEM INES zooms in on a major limiting factor for silicon heterojunction cells, metallization.
All the regular features including our news reviews and R&D spending report make a return, plus lots more.
Following on from this bumper edition, PVI42 will be published in Spring 2019.
Smoothing and firming are often discussed to make renewables appear more like conventional generation to the grid operator, but how smooth and how firm does that generation need to be? How can the attributes and operations of energy storage be appropriately measured relative to cost? Andres Cortes and Ben Kaun of the Electric Power Research Institute discuss recent work addressing these issues
Trade tariffs, technology changes, new suppliers and shifting timelines. US developers and EPCs are riding out challenging times. John Parnell looks at the scale of the upheaval and how module pricing and module technology changes are feeding into the day-to-day work of deploying megawatts
With so many options open to them, EPCs and developers are faced with confusing choices to make over the right PV module technologies. Finlay Colville and Mark Osborne explore the importance of stringent third-party testing in avoiding asset underperformance
Developers and investors must be proactive to ensure the quality of modules they purchase is as high as possible. Vicente Parra and Ruperto Gomez detail some of the practices they can follow to mitigate module quality risks during the manufacturing process
The value of warranties attached to PV modules is coming under increasing scrutiny as plants age and more is understood about the degradation of modules in the field. Gustaf Schuler discusses the ins and outs of PV warranties and the best methods for mitigating risks
Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept
The Indian solar juggernaut shows few signs of slowing down en route to its huge target of 100GW by 2022. But, as Tom Kenning, recent policy developments could create a few bumps in the road along the way
As described in the previous pages, tracking and bifacial technologies combined offer the prospect of higher energy outputs. Javier Guerrero, R&D manager at Soltec, one of the pioneers of bifacial tracking, explains some of the lessons the company has learned about optimising tracker design for bifacial modules
