Understanding power losses in technical systems is vital to improve products in every industry and photovoltaic modules present no exception. Losses in solar modules are caused by optical and electrical effects or are determined by simple module geometry through inactive areas.
In the Chinese PV market, multi crystalline silicon firmly holds a large market share compared with monocrystalline silicon, entirely as a result of the development of the Chinese PV industry.
In recent years, potential-induced degradation (PID) has been recognized as a serious reliability issue for large PV systems, potentially causing efficiency losses of more than 90%, and even failures [1–4]. Such large decreases in efficiency may require the modules in the system to be replaced after just a few years’ operation. This has motivated a substantial research effort in the PV community, leading to a better understanding of the phenomenon, as well as to a range of mitigation strategies. A recent publication by Luo et al. gives a comprehensive overview of this research [5].
Although capacity expansion announcements in January remained subdued and followed the low level of activity seen in the second half of 2016, February proved to be the third busiest month since 2014 and the strongest February in more than three years. March did not maintain that momentum but still posted strong figures, the second highest March figures in more than three years.
The estimated PV system installation capacity in 2016 was ~70GW worldwide [1], as shown in Fig. 1. In fact, the production volume in 2015 was around 200 times that in 2000, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 40%. It has recently been noted that as the PV industry matures, the mindset is changing from $/W to $/kWh. While $/W is still a major driving force, the significance of other factors that influence the cost of energy must also be considered. In this regard, PV development is entering the era of $/kWh-oriented optimization.
Modules | PV module technology is more advanced and more varied than at any other time. Having pulled together a throng of senior PV technology experts for our PV CellTech conference, PV Tech’s head of market research, Finlay Colville, discusses with John Parnell the need to match these advances with a dedicated event this November.
Intersolar preview | The need for ongoing innovation is one of the few givens in the unpredictable solar business. Ben Willis speaks to two of the lead organisers of Intersolar Europe about the likely big topics on the show floor this year and what those tell us about industry’s continuing evolution.
O&M | As the world’s global installed solar capacity ages, technology costs drop and sophistication grows, the benefits of a health check and potential plant upgrades also increase. As part of our
repowering review, Mariano Melero, principal consultant, RINA Consulting discusses the benefits of looking after aging assets.
As with solar, Germany has been one of the leading early adopters of storage. Andy Colthorpe speaks to analyst Valts Grintals about the key drivers emerging for storage in this pioneer country.
Battery storage | Operations and maintenance is becoming an important subset of the fast-maturing solar industry but is not yet as clearly defined in the less developed storage business. Andy
Colthorpe reports on how efforts to get the most out of battery systems are focused on optimising assets to provide maximum value across a range of markets.
