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While collecting verified bottom-up project data in real time has previously been cost-prohibitive, satellite data can now be leveraged to make comprehensive market intelligence attainable for investors. Daniel Cruise and Joseph Triepke, partners at energy intelligence firm Lium Research, reveal how satellites can provide more reliable insights into the construction of US utilityscale solar projects.

Earlier this year, ex-UK Prime Minister Liz Truss labelled solar projects “paraphernalia”, while her successor, Rishi Sunak, promised to not let the country “lose swathes of our best farmland to solar farms”. Molly Lempriere investigates how much land the UK needs for utility-scale PV plants as it transitions to net zero, and whether the sector’s growth poses any threat to food security.

Many of France’s large-scale solar projects have had to be set aside temporarily due to pressures from the energy crisis causing poor access to equipment and a rise in the levelised cost of electricity.

Europe is home to relatively low solar manufacturing capacities, with just 3% of global module supply in 2020. However, with industry players offering low-carbon products manufactured under robust labour regulations and without the cost of overseas shipping, Europe’s PV manufacturing industry finds itself in a very timely position to ramp up, writes Johan Lindahl, secretary general of the European Solar Manufacturing Council.

Price monitoring institutions released the latest prices across the PV industrial chain on 15 December, all showing a downward trend.

Amid potential supply chain bottlenecks as China increases its PV manufacturing dominance, companies in markets such as the US, India and Europe are looking to leverage new policy support to scale up domestic production. Jules Scully charts the industry’s efforts to onshore solar module manufacturing.

Isigenere and Amorim are working on implementing a higher percentage of cork into floating solar structures to reduce their carbon footprint.

Silicon wafer prices declined last week, according to figures from the Silicon Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association.

Demand is soaring in the US for residential solar and storage, driven by a desire for energy resilience and sustainability, but traditional utilities are hampering progress.