Digitalisation offers PV plant operators the opportunity to shift from preventive to predictive maintenance practices. Eduardo Sarquis reports on research aimed at shedding further light on the system performance benefits of moving to a predictive O&M strategy
Booming solar deployment in solar markets worldwide has led to fears that a bottleneck in the availability of qualified contractors could squeeze project completion rates. As JP Casey discovers, the reality is more complicated than that
James Elsworth of the NREL in the US looks at some of the engineering methods for bolstering PV infrastructure resilience in the face of ever increasing climatic and environmental threats.
The rapid emergence of new PV technologies such as bifacial has in some cases outpaced the evolution of suitable technical and regulatory specifications. The occurrence hotspots in non-shaded areas of half-cell bifacial solar modules highlights the need for a rethink of international standards, write Sergio Suárez, Jose María Álvarez, Daniel Villoslada, Ignacio Fernández, Sofía Rodríguez and Gustavo Navas
"Compliance requirements and regulations are a specific set of information that most of the developers don’t want to go and build that expertise internally.”
Despite having a healthy solar target, Ireland’s most recent renewable energy capacity auction saw a disappointing result for PV. Lena Dias Martins looks at the obstacles causing delays and barriers to the rollout of solar on the Emerald Isle
The co-location of renewable generation and energy storage demands new contractual arrangements to make such projects commercially viable. Jack Rankin, Miguel Valderrama and Brian Knowles of Pexapark explore how hybrid PPAs are becoming a favoured solution for structuring deals that capture the full value of both assets.
