The corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) market is currently struggling from a “large gulf” in understanding that standardised contracts could solve, but the industry is still a “long way off” from introducing them.
The continued growth of the secondary solar market on a pan-European scale will result in “exciting times” for the sector, but big utilities are unlikely to stay on the sidelines.
The Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin (PI Berlin) has released a new study analysing over time its solar PV panel quality control audits that have topped 250 at more than 120 panel manufacturers worldwide to highlight the current status of ‘quality’, while dispelling long-held misconceptions of the type and location of manufacturers in the quality pecking order.
Member States of the European Union, through the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER I), have voted to maintain priority dispatch for small-scale solar PV installations up to 400kW.
According to provisional data from BloombergNEF (BNEF), global solar PV installations reached 109GW in 2018 as the cost of installing a megawatt of photovoltaic capacity fell 12%, which spurred markets outside China to increase installations.
Chinese module manufacturer Astronergy will close its Frankfurt production facility with the loss of 200 jobs. The site will, however, be repurposed into a sales and service hub for the European market.
