Design & Build

Alumni from SunPower’s recently wound up project business are spearheading a new venture targeting large-scale solar’s soft cost problem. Ben Willis hears how they plan to harness the power of digital technology in tackling one of the industry’s persistent pain points.

A new World Bank-SERIS floating solar handbook has sparked a debate around whether standardisation could speed the segment’s voyage to mainstream success. A-listers welcome the guide but insist too strict a focus on streamlined design could hamper innovation. José Rojo Martin reports.

Construction trades are among the most dangerous, and solar is no exception. Matthew Skidmore of CS Energy explains why safety is paramount for solar project developers, project owners, financiers and EPCs.

The question of whether to use valuable land for farming or solar power generation has been a subject of fierce debate in the green energy transition. But, as Boris Farnung, Maximilian Trommsdorff and Stephan Schindele of Fraunhofer ISE write, the two activities need not be in conflict with each other and, with a new generation of solar technologies, can in fact be mutually beneficial.

Hurricane-strength winds are a clear threat to solar installations in island nations, where PV is becoming an increasingly popular solution to climate change-related issues. Joseph Goodman and Frank Oudheusden, co-authors of a recent study on designing hurricane-ready solar systems, offer an insider’s view of how the challenge is being met.

A little more time and money spent upfront on properly understanding site drainage and soil conditions and designing solar projects accordingly can avoid much larger profit losses and reputational damage further down the line. HDR’s Gretchen Dolson looks at some of the methods for ensuring PV sites stay afloat.

Floating solar has huge potential in areas where difficult terrain or land constraints make ground-mounted systems impractical. Gijo George and Pranav Patel of DNV GL explore some of the technical challenges in designing and building floating PV projects.

Accurate irradiance data is key for assessing the feasibility, profitability, and performance of solar energy assets. 3E and Kipp & Zonen investigate the benefits of combining pyranometer and satellite-based irradiance data for optimal planning and operation of PV plants

Two years ago, 1,500 volt PV systems were predicted to become the industry standard in the utility-scale segment. Patrick Fetzer of 1,500V pioneer GE looks at how far the technology has come and what further innovations could lie around the corner

A major new study published by the World Bank has underlined the scale of the opportunity represented by floating solar systems, but highlighted issues of cost, bankability and regulation still facing this emerging branch of the solar industry. Sara Verbruggen reports on the first serious piece of heavyweight analysis of the prospects for floating solar