utility scale solar

With the sixth auction round of South Africa’s REIPPP on the horizon and new opportunities for distributed PV opening up, Alice Grundy explores the remaining barriers to solar deployment in the country.

Solar project developer Eco Energy World is aiming to “aggressively” grow its US PV pipeline after formally entering the market last week and intends to replicate the cheaper engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) costs it sees in Europe in the country. PV Tech Premium speaks to CEO Svante Kumlin to find out more.

As operational solar assets mature, news of repowering projects is steadily ramping up. Alice Grundy takes a look at what’s influencing decisions and just when the right time to repower is.

New technologies are emerging to help constrained grids integrate an increasing number of solar projects. Molly Lempriere takes a look at three case studies of where technology is helping to decarbonise the grid faster.

The grid of 2030 will span vast areas, be highly automated and require a huge amount of storage as it seeks to connect terawatts of renewable capacity. Sean Rai-Roche speaks to experts about our future infrastructure needs.

While the technological advancement of solar over the coming decade will play a significant role in driving deployment, actual installations will largely driven by two factors – manufacturing capacity and national decarbonisation targets. Jules Scully examines how much solar can be made, and deployed, by 2030.

Investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has acquired a 350MW solar-plus-storage site expected to be the largest single site PV install in the UK once completed.

Following the release of the US Department’s Solar Futures Study, Liam Stoker assesses the downstream and upstream trends that must be realised for US solar to fulfil its potential.

For years California, Texas and Florida have dominated the US solar market, but backed by the investment tax credit, strong state-specific renewables standards and falling costs, new states are coming to the fore. Molly Lempriere takes a look at what is driving them, and the hurdles they face if they are to challenge the ‘Big Three’.

Boris Farnung and Keith Punzalan of VDE and David Moser of EURAC’s Institute for Renewable Energy take a look at the positive impact comprehensive quality assurance measures can have on the early stage of a project’s lifespan, exploring yield assessments, LCOE projections and the critical need for high quality components.