Market update | Japan’s solar market has slowed considerably since the early days of its feed-in tariff. But as Andy Colthorpe reports, its fundamentals still look strong and there areplenty of promising policy drivers in the pipeline to keep demand buoyant.
Trade wars | The EU-China trade row appears to be entering its swansong but its impact has been eroded and overridden by global solar market dynamics. We look at the divisive policy’s future as it plays catch up.
Utility PV | Despite enormous potential, Sub-Saharan Africa still has only a handful of operational large-scale PV power plants. Ben Willis reports on the ongoing efforts to help utility PV take root in a part of the world where it makes perhaps most sense but faces the biggest hurdles.
Policy | The new US president has wasted no time in following through on campaign pledges to row back on clean energy regulation and climate change policy. But as Danielle Ola reports, with the US solar industry in rude health, it should be well placed to weather theTrump storm.
Technology | China’s Top Runner PV auctions are growing from a small base to potentially representing the majority of utility solar deployment by next year. Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Yvonne Liu speaks to John Parnell about the companies and technologies gunning to take advantage.
Set across a semi-arid stretch of land in far south India, the world’s second largest solar plant and India’s biggest to date is a pertinent symbol of India’s emergence as one of the most dominant renewable energy markets on the planet. Already under intense pressure to physically construct the entire project capacity in just eight months, heavyweight Indian infrastructure conglomerate Adani also had to withstand unseasonal and unprecedented extreme weather in late 2015.
Module degradation | When the phenomenon of so-called snail trails first emerged over a decade ago, they prompted concerns of a major new problem afflicting PV modules. Sylke Meyer, Mark Turek, Thomas Manke, Stephan Großer and Christian Hagendorf, who have contributed extensively to understanding the science behind snail trails, review the latest thinking on the phenomenon and what it means for plant performance.
Battery storage | Lithium-ion batteries are becoming a popular choice stationary storage systems but so far lack any consistent standards governing safety and performance. Matthias Vetter and Stephan Lux from Fraunhofer ISE report on two major research projects that could pave the way for new safety standards for li-ion batteries.
Forecasting | Short-term PV forecasting offers a multitude of benefits, from trading on wholesale power markets to improved plant operation. Sara Verbruggen reports on some of new the technologies driving forward improvements in the accuracy of forecasting techniques.
Resource assessment | Irradiance sensors are vital tools for protecting investment in valuable solar power plants and ensuring they perform optimally. In the second of two articles on a major study they are leading to better understand these diminutive components, Anton Driesse and Joshua Stein discuss how inaccuracies in irradiance measurement can be quantified and managed.
