India’s 100GW solar target has unsurprisingly attracted huge interest from foreign players, but the market is not an easy one for outsiders to access. Reporting back from Intersolar India, held in Mumbai in November, Tom Kenning explores some of the key barriers to entry for overseas investors.
One of the claims made about large-scale storage coupled with solar is that it is difficult to justify from a business-case perspective. But evidence is already emerging from early projects that if done right, intelligent battery solutions are already competitive.
The optimal incorporation of SCADA systems into a PV power plant can have a significant bearing on the profitability of a project. Marcos Blanco looks at how the layout and design of a PV system can best be configured to optimise a project’s performance.
In recent years the number of PV installations in desert regions has increased, and a regular cleaning of the modules in these areas is necessary because of energy yield losses due to soiling. Investigations carried out by Nicoletta Ferretti and Juliane Berghold at PI Berlin, however, suggest that the stress caused by the cleaning procedure employed potentially affects the module performance during its lifetime.
Chile’s Atacama Desert has some of the best irradiance resources on the planet but also some of the harshest operation conditions. Scientists are working on a new type of bifacial glass-glass PV module, AtaMo, designed to make the best of the region’s resources while withstanding its rigours. Here they outline some promising preliminary results from the project.
As the solar industry gains momentum, there is an increasing need for on-site resource monitoring using pyranometers and reference cells. Peter N. Johnson of AWS Truepower introduces the technical specifications and limitations of industry-standard pyranometers and reference cells, and outlines best practices for monitoring with this equipment. How solar measurements can be used to improve resource and energy estimates for utility-scale PV projects is also discussed.
Meeting the exact delivery schedule of large-scale power plants is crucial for fulfilling customer expectations and contract specifications. Mauoro di Fiore and Maren Orgus of Hanwha Q CELLS discuss how to overcome specific local challenges to deliver large-scale power plants on time and on budget.
Emanuele Tacchino outlines the lessons learned from the major solar secondary markets for helping investors utilise due diligence expertise to hedge risk and increase the long-term profitability of their asset acquisitions.
Solar’s journey into new territories is bringing it into contact with a host of challenging conditions – sand and dust, high wind, extreme temperatures and humidity, and even earthquakes. In this issue of PV Tech Power we focus on some of the emerging technologies and logistical feats that are helping solar into new markets.
