Solar engineering, procurement and construction contractors have a central role in ensuring the long-term performance and profitability of PV power plants. Ben Willis speaks to Adele Ara and Ralph Gottschalg of SolarPower Europe’s O&M and Asset Management Task Force, which is drawing up the industry’s first best practice guidelines for EPC companies
A late rally boosted China’s domestic solar installations in 2019 to a better-than-expected 30.22GW. But Frank Haugwitz asks whether a renewed interest in locally available coal and an economic slowdown could conspire to slow recent momentum in China’s energy transition, in which solar has played a central role
By Mark Bolinger, Joachim Seel, and Dana Robson, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
As utility-scale PV projects continue to spread across the United States, Mark Bolinger, Joachim Seel, and Dana Robson of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory cover key technology and market trends in this synopsis of their annual “Utility-Scale Solar” report series
Catherine Early speaks to BayWa r.e. about the development of its 14.5MW Sekdoorn floating solar farm in Zwolle, the Netherlands, uncovering how the developer brought forward the project in just eight weeks.
On 1 January this year, the solar investment tax credit, responsible for fuelling the rapid growth of the US market, began its decline. Cecilia Keating assesses what impact it will have.
Andy Klump, chief executive officer and founder of Shanghai-based consultancy Clean Energy Associates, examines what lessons the solar industry can learn from the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on global supply chains.
By Beth Copanas, director of solar energy, and James Willett, applications engineer, for RES
With the number of bifacial solar projects now rapidly growing, more is being understood about how to design and build systems that play to the technology’s main strengths. Drawing on recent experiences in the field, Beth Copanas and James Willett from RES outline some of the technical lessons learned on realising bifacial’s full potential.
By Lior Handelsman, VP of marketing and product strategy and founder at SolarEdge
Lior Handelsman, VP of marketing and product strategy and founder of SolarEdge, discusses the role solar, battery storage and other distributed energy resources can play in demand response services, and the size of the opportunity on offer.
By Adele Ara (Lightsource BP), Máté Heisz (SolarPower Europe), Magda Martins (Voltalia), Diego Molina & Paul Norrish (Wise Energy)
The services and skills offered by asset managers have a central role to play in boosting the value of solar PV investments. Adele Ara, Máté Heisz, Magda Martins, Diego Molina and Paul Norrish outline the key recommendations in the solar industry’s first set of best practice guidelines for asset managers
By Volker Naumann, Otwin Breitenstein, Klemens Ilse, Matthias Pander, Kai Sporleder and Christian Hagendorf of Fraunhofer CSP
Potential-induced degradation (PID) is still one of the main reasons for unpredictable power losses in PV power plants. Volker Naumann, Otwin Breitenstein, Klemens Ilse, Matthias Pander, Kai Sporleder and Christian Hagendorf of Fraunhofer CSP examine how the PID susceptibility of PV modules is influenced by environmental stress. It is found that PID may develop in originally PID-resistant modules after a period of one to three years of unsuspicious operation, depending on climatic conditions
