Cover Story

The rapid acceleration in energy storage deployment expected over the coming years will require innovation in the quality and safety standards underpinning new battery and associated technologies. VDE’s Jan Geder looks at the technical work underway to ensure the coming storage boom has firm bankability and insurability foundations.

The EU’s clean energy policy framework for the first time recognises energy storage as a key part of the future energy system. It is far from perfect, but lays the foundation for storage to become an integral part of efforts to decarbonise the energy system, writes Brittney Elzarei.

California’s success in embracing renewable energy technologies, particularly solar, has brought with it challenges around reliability of supply to consumers. Janice Lin and Jack Chang of Strategen explore how the Golden State is pioneering the deployment of energy storage as it pursues its goal of complete energy decarbonisation by 2045.

New technologies and designs aimed at driving down the cost of energy storage facilities are currently the focus of intense industry R&D. Sara Verbruggen reports on DC coupling, an emerging system architecture that many believe will soon become the industry standard.

The business models and technologies underpinning the development of stationary energy storage markets are evolving rapidly. Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies, Jan Figgener and David Haberschusz look at some of the key trends driving the sector forward.

Despite the huge strides energy storage has made, significant hurdles remain before the technology in its many guises can be claimed to have fulfilled its massive potential. Introducing a PV Tech Power energy storage special report, Andy Colthorpe assesses the key successes and ongoing challenges for this indispensable part of the future power system.

As outlined on the previous pages, although still relatively embryonic in the solar industry, big data-based analytics innovations are already being deployed. Representatives from Enel Green Power, Aquila Capital and Pöyry discuss where their digitalisation efforts have so far been focused.

Big data-based predictive analytics techniques using artificial intelligence technologies offer exciting new possibilities in the field of solar operations and maintenance. Alessandro Betti, Fabrizio Ruffini, Lorenzo Gigoni and Antonio Piazzi examine how the power of data can be harnessed to safeguard the technical and economic performance of the PV fleet.

Bifacial technology is proving to be an effective means of reducing the levelised energy costs of PV systems, offering substantially improved energy yield for only a minor additional cost. Hartmut Nussbaumer, Markus Klenk, Joris Libal and Radovan Kopecek report on the state-of-the-art in bifacial PV systems, giving an overview of components such as modules, sub-constructions, tracking systems and inverters, and presenting comparative simulation and measurement results from bifacial and monofacial systems.

After weathering some major upheavals in 2018, the global solar industry looks in decent shape to take on the year ahead. Our team of reporters scope out the big themes for 2019, exploring the technology and market trends that will set the agenda over the next 12 months and beyond.