Technical Papers

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.

BIPV systems do not follow many of the rules associated with conventional or ground-mounted PV arrays. Johannes Eisenlohr of Fraunhofer ISE examines some of the technical solutions being developed to simulate BIPV design and thus make it more affordable.

Potential-induced degradation (PID) is still one of the main reasons for unpredictable power losses in PV power plants. Volker Naumann, Nadine Schüler and Christian Hagendorf of Fraunhofer CSP and Freiberg Instruments present an approach for quick on-site PID testing of mounted PV modules, allowing PID diagnosis and prognosis of PID-related yield losses

Islands around the world provide ideal conditions for trialling new approaches to energy provision. David Pratt reports on some of the work going on globally to bring the benefits of cutting-edge renewable energy, storage and smart grid technologies to the world’s geographically isolated communities.