PV Tech Power Papers

The Internet of Energy is set to provide flexible, sustainable and affordable power for all. But we must not get complacent. Gianluca Mauro, Co-founder and CEO at AI Academy, argues that for this future to be realised, energy leaders need to develop a digital mindset.

First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the first of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe learns what the flow battery industry faces in the fight for commercialisation.

Tom Kenning and Ben Willis look at the latest developments in some of the most promising emerging PV markets worldwide. This issue features Pakistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.

Subsidy-free solar is changing the fortunes of the Spanish solar market, which had experienced the deepest of slumps. All the signs suggest the rest of Europe will be next, regardless of how the trade row plays out, writes John Parnell.

The global decarbonisation agenda and still-tumbling costs are sending oil and gas giants and traditional energy majors into the PV market, and in a big way. Liam Stoker investigates what that means for the international solar market.

The worldwide market for trackers is developing rapidly and so too are the technologies they use. Mark Osborne reports on some of the latest design innovatoins that are helping drive trackers into new markets and applications.

The EU-funded PVSITES project is working on a number of initiatives aimed at accelerating the roll-out of building-integrated PV across the continent. Members involved in the initiative outline some of the efforts being made to unleash BIPV’s as-yet untapped potential.

Delhi-headquartered renewable energy firm Hero Future Energies has completed India’s first largescale solar and wind energy hybrid project in the state of Karnataka. The project at Kavithal, Raichur District, which included an existing 50MW wind farm, now has a neighbouring 28.8MW solar PV site to form a hybrid system.

Despite the growing popularity of floating solar installations, relatively little is known about their environmental impacts on water bodies. Ian Jones and Alona Armstrong are leading a research progamme to understand more about how the environmental benefits of floating PV can be harnessed and the downsides minimised

Banks will be unable to fully finance solar on the scale envisaged in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Vicky Münzer-Jones and Stacey Giunta look at the role of solar bonds in bringing much needed capital to the sector.