For those in the utility solar business, 2015 has so far offered no shortage of landmarks. Since the start of the year, the record for the world’s largest PV power plant has been both equalled and beaten, with the completion in the US of the Desert Sunlight and Solar Star projects respectively. The industry has also notched up two important pricing milestones. In January 2015, news broke that a project in Dubai had attracted what was thought to be the lowest ever bid price for a solar project, of US$0.0585/kWh. That record proved short lived, however, when, in July, US firm First Solar revealed it had agreed to a price of US$0.0387/kWh for power from its 100MW Playa Solar 2 project in Nevada.
In the past few issues of Photovoltaics International we have tracked in detail plans being implemented by the leading module manufacturers to expand production capacity. That process began tentatively last year as end-market demand began to catch up with the chronic overcapacity that had built up in the preceding years, prompting industry-wide upheaval. Our latest capacity expansion report (p.11), a unique resource in the industry, reveals that while that activity was maintained throughout much of 2014, spiking in a strong final quarter of 2014, announcements of new capacity slowed slightly in the opening quarter of this year. Nevertheless, all the signs point to the pace picking up again later this year as manufacturers look to take advantage of the surge in activity expected in the US at the back end of this year and into 2016, in anticipation of the cutting back of the solar investment tax credit at the end of that year.
In this first quarterly report of 2015 a full first-quarter analysis will be presented, as well as the planned capacity announcements for March and April. Notably this will include Tier 1 manufacturers’ plans and a special lookat Malaysia and its potential for another wave of companies planning manufacturing operations in the country.Finally, further analysis of the potential renaissance in thin-film production will be provided.
Off grid | Reducing the reliance on costly diesel-based power generation is high on the list of priorities for off-grid operators around the world. PV-hybrid systems alone can only go so far in meeting this need. The addition of storage can significantly alter this picture by increasing fuel savings and offsetting additional investment. Increasingly sound economics are already convincing circumspect off-grid operators such as mine owners who are starting to build the first large installations.
Battery technologies | The development of battery storage is seen as vital in the grid integration of increasing amounts of renewable power, but the various technologies present different advantages and limitations. Stephan Lux of Fraunhofer ISE weighs up the pros and cons of the main battery technologies in a range of applications.
Aggregation | Tesla’s much-hyped battery announcement in April raised important questions over what business models will drive the deployment of stationary battery storage. As Andy Colthorpe
reports, one answer is the virtual power plant, in which residential and commercial battery systems are aggregated to provide grid services
Plant defects | To ensure profitability in PV power plant investments it is crucial to minimise operation risks in the early stages of project development and during planning, installation and commissioning. Potential performance losses and the economic risks due to failures in plant design, employed components and construction must be considered, as Willi Vaaßen of TÜV Rheinland explains.
Plant inspection | Infrared cameras mounted on drones offer a means of detecting instances of equipment malfunction in PV power plants. Claudia Buerhop-Lutz explains some of the faults such an approach can help reveal.
Aerial monitoring | With PV projects growing larger and fleets more dispersed, new technologies are emerging to assist plant managers look after their assets. Tom Kenning looks at the growing use of
solar drones and robots in plant operations.
Performance | Potential-induced degradation (PID) has emerged as an issue of concern in the last decade because of the increase in the deployment of utility-scale high-voltage PV systems. Rubina Singh, Cordula Schmid and Jacqueline Ashmore of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems CSE present an overview of the mechanisms for PID and the impact of degradation, as well as the factors that contribute to its occurrence. They also discuss techniques for the detection, mitigation and predictive testing of PID.
