PV Tech Power Papers

Rising levels of PV penetration mean increasingly sophisticated forecasting technologies are needed to maintain grid stability and maximise the economic value of PV systems. The Grid Integration working group of the European Technology and Innovation Platform – Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) shares the results of its ongoing research into the advantages and limitations of current forecasting technologies.

In a relatively short space of time, single-axis trackers have become the mounting technology of choice in utility-scale PV plants. Danielle Ola reports on the technological and economic drivers that have fuelled their meteoric rise and look set to ensure continued growth around the world for some time to come.

The European solar industry has followed the lead taken by its counterparts in the US by developing best practice guidelines for the burgeoning O&M business. Stefan Degener, senior director of O&M at First Solar, who led a group to develop the guidelines, speaks to Ben Willis about their significance and aims.

Several rounds of auctions for large-scale projects and a favourable policy environment for distributed systems have helped create the right conditions for PV to flourish in Brazil. Rodrigo Sauaia and Juliana Vasconcelos explore the biggest areas of opportunity for foreign firms looking to access this promising new market.

The maturing of the solar operations and maintenance business has shone a spotlight on the need for some universally accepted standards and practices across the industry. Vassilis Papaeconomou explains why such a step forward will be vital to ensuring the full value of solar assets is realised.

The combination of rapidly evolving technologies and the trend towards decentralisation is demanding increasingly sophisticated commercial models. Simon Göß looks at some of the emerging solutions and considers the place of blockchain technology in tomorrow’s energy system.

Cutthroat pricing in India’s booming solar market is causing headaches for developers. Tom Kenning reports on some of the looming pinch points for solar finance in a country where the cost of capital remains persistently high.

Deploying battery storage at grid level is relatively uncharted territory, but a number of pioneers projects are now in the ground. Patrick Leslie and colleagues at RES, which built some of the first wave of storage projects, teases out the key technology, finance and regulatory lessons the industry can learn from these early experiences.

Datasets from multiple sources allow PV power plants to be monitored more closely than ever before, but how best to use this data is another ball game. Edmée Kelsey and Gwendalyn Bender look at how data should best be stored, managed and mined for effective solar asset management.

With either newly built PV plants or plants in operation for a couple of years, an O&M contractor may face a series of issues related to the plant’s design and construction, the quality of the equipment and parts, and warranty claims. Vicente Parra and Gorka Oña highlight some of these issues and recommend how O&M contractors can address them.