Technical Papers

The importance of the investment tax credit in stimulating solar development has become an article of faith in the US, and its extension at the end of 2015 was welcomed as a vital lifeline. But as Danielle Ola hears, complexity, tightening supply and inefficiencies mean tax equity has a growing number of critics.

Project Briefing: Middle East's largest PV plant lands in Jordan - Assessment of the local conditions, grid connection, components, O&M, finance involved with Inside First Solar’s 52MW Shams Ma’an plant.

The UK government and energy regulator recently outlined initial proposals for overhauling the country’s energy system. Andy Colthorpe speaks to Anthony Price, director of the Electricity Storage Network trade group, about how the long-awaited document has been received and the key role it envisages for storage.

All parts of the PV supply chain are under pressure to reduce costs and boost the competitiveness of solar. A new rover vehicle developed for site surveying work promises to help significantly reduce labour costs in the construction of large-scale solar projects.

The potential for storage to help stabilise the grid has finally been recognised in the UK, where battery projects took all of the 200MW on offer in a recent frequency response tender. David Pickup looks at the evolving role of storage in the future grid and how further policy support can help it flourish.

A poor understanding of how European PV arrays perform in Saharan dust outbreaks can have a crippling financial impact on grid operators. Christian Kurz and Lucas Richter of meteocontrol describe a major new research project underway in Germany to improve the forecasting of dust outbreaks and their impact on PV power output.

The technology and financing of the remote microgrid market are maturing. Now improved sales and marketing methods are needed to commercialise the huge potential on offer in this burgeoning market segment.

The past two years have seen a boom in the deployment of mobile PV testing laboratories. Sara ver Bruggen reports on how technological advances are helping investors and developers in new and emerging solar markets get the best from their assets.

PV Tech can reveal the preliminary top 5 solar module manufacturers in 2016, based as usual on final shipment guidance from third quarter financial results.

PV manufacturing capacity expansions planned this year are expected to push production levels beyond anticipated demand in 2016, creating further cost pressures for suppliers.