Toni Weigl, head of product management for floating PV at BayWa r.e., explores the current trends for designing and developing floating solar projects and poses the question, where next for floating PV?
Amidst a need to scale up solar this decade, PV Tech Premium speaks to Vassilis Papaeconomou, managing director at renewables service provider Alectris, to learn how the solar industry can scale up efficiently, what asset owners and operators need to be aware of when buzzwords such as ‘digitalisation’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ are mentioned, and what the industry might learn from more mature technologies such as wind.
As it matures, the solar industry is moving beyond the use of Performance Ratios (PR) as the go-to performance metric for operational sites. Christopher West, head of central engineering - solar PV delivery unit at Statkraft, argues the case for PRs to be replaced by alternative, more evolved methods of assessment.
The cost of insuring operational solar farms has skyrocketed over the course of the year, triggered by carriers rethinking their approaches to natural catastrophes and other extreme weather events. This has placed additional importance on mitigation strategies. Kevin Christy, COO for North America at Lightsource bp, details how the solar developer has adapted its strategy in the field.
Solar EPC and O&M provider Greencells has successfully placed the first tranche of a secured green bond, raising €15 million (US$17.9 million) to finance a growth push.
Solar O&M solutions provider Ecoppia has launched an initial public offering (IPO) after securing more than US$82.5 million through a public tender phase.
