According to some industry observers, rapid growth and cost cutting in the solar industry have created the conditions for a module quality headache. Ben Willis investigates how the industry is responding to the challenge.
Japan’s reputation as the PV star performer of the past two years has suffered a knock with the cancellation of 1.8GW of projects. With the country’s nuclear debate threatening to reopen and rumours of a solar backlash, Andy Colthorpe assesses the future for one of the world’s top PV markets.
Policy uncertainty and a damaging trade dispute have undermined India’s ability to realize its vast solar potential. But with a new prime minister now settling in, the worm could be about to turn for the country’s beleaguered solar industry, writes Raj Prabhu.
The Australian parliament is undertaking final deliberations on the fate of the renewable energy target, a key enabler in the country’s recent solar boom. Colin Marrs assesses where the country’s PV industry would be left by the watering down or scrapping of the RET.
A number of the US’ leading solar firms have been pioneers of the integrated PV energy provider model. Mark Osborne charts the evolution of the model and explains how it could be emulated as other firms look to capitalise on burgeoning end-market demand.
This year Solar Power International rolls into that haven for hedonism, Las Vegas. But as the chief executives of the two bodies behind the event tell Lucy Woods, behind the pazazz, some serious issues will be under the spotlight.
The US has steadily developed what is now among the world’s leading solar markets. John Parnell explores how its conservative approach has allowed it to build a solid industry that will now prepare it for challenges that lie ahead.
Signs earlier in the year of the global industry entering a growth phase have now been confirmed beyond any doubt. Almost all the big-name suppliers have now announced some form of manufacturing capacity expansion, a trend that analysts agree will only gather pace as long as the levels of demand predicted over the next few years turn out to be correct.
For some years CIGS was seen as the great white hope of the PV industry, until c-Si revealed its true competitiveness in mass production. Most companies dedicated to the commercialization of CIGS, many of which were VC financed, did not survive this development. Nonetheless, the industry has recently seen new corporate entrants with impressive plans for the roll-out of CIGS. The motives for these strategic actions are of interest, so a cost-of-ownership calculation was performed for a state-of-the-art CIGS production: the result is that current production cost for a CIGS module is €0.44/Wp, with material and depreciation being the main cost drivers. Although significant progress has been made in the last few years, this is still higher than the production costs for standard c-Si modules. However, the costs for CIGS coating materials, which correspond to the wafer in a c-Si module, are significantly lower than those for a wafer. Could this be a motive for the actions that have been witnessed in the CIGS industry? The next task would be to evaluate the further costreduction potential of CIGS and the likelihood of its realization.
The potential for PV modules to fail before the end of their intended service life increases the perceived risk, and therefore the cost, of funding PV installations. While current IEC and UL certification testing standards for PV modules have helped to reduce the risk of early field (infant mortality) failures, they are by themselves insufficient for determining PV module service life. The goal of the Fraunhofer PV Durability Initiative is to establish a baseline PV durability assessment programme. PV modules are rated according to their likelihood of performing reliably over their expected service life. Modules are subjected to accelerated stress testing intended to reach the wear-out regime for a given set of environmental conditions. In parallel with the accelerated tests, modules are subjected to long-term outdoor exposure; the correlation between the accelerated tests and actual operation in the field is an ultimate goal of the programme. As understanding of PV module durability grows, the test protocols will be revised as necessary. The regular publication of durability ratings for leading PV modules
will enable PV system developers and financiers to make informed deployment decisions. This paper provides summary data for eight module types from the two rounds of testing to date.
