Former Suntech President Shi Zhengrong says that China’s “solar cluster” has worked in an organized way to achieve both scale and product quality and performance. Known widely as Dr Shi, the true solar pioneer is attending next week’s All Energy Australia event, and will be speaking at pv magazine’s Quality Roundtable.

Over the last decade, materials giant DuPont has surveyed more than 2 GW of PV installations and analyzed a range of failure types and their causes. Hong-Jie Hu, DuPont’s solar technical and development lead in China, says that the company is looking for Australian partners for its Global Field Survey program – with a particular interest in hot and humid and desert environments.

A global supplier of electrical cabling for utility scale PV projects has warned that some Australian EPCs are not adopting international solar-industry norms on projects, potentially leading to “massive risk.” Swiss supplier Leoni reports that considering the vast scale of some solar projects in Australia that potential failures could be particularly costly.

Chinese monocrystalline PV giant Longi entered the Australian marketplace a little over two years ago, and it hasn’t wasted a moment in aggressively pursuing both rooftop and large scale market share. Richard Qian, a Longi Australia product engineer, says its high efficiency modules present a compelling offering, underpinned by the company’s commitment to durability and reliability.

The full program has been announced for the Quality Roundtable event to be held at All Energy Australia later this month in Melbourne. Real world case studies involving PID, hotspots, and backsheet failures will be discussed, as with processes for warranty claims when inverters, modules or other solar components fail.

Natural Solar and sonnen have revealed that the first Australian family to adopt the sonnenFlat electricity retail model has saved more than $3,400 on their energy bills in the first year of operation. Given the $18,000 solar+storage price tag, payback for the system under the sonnenFlat is less than six years.

On the first day of this year’s EU PVSEC conference, Adelaide-based veteran solar researcher Pierre J Verlinden won the Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics. The award recognized more than 40 years as a leading PV researcher in academia and at leading companies including Sunpower and Trina Solar. Its recipient, now a board member of Australian solar technology provider BT Imaging, spoke to pv magazine about what is needed from solar to stave off catastrophic climate change.

A maturing PV market does not automatically deliver certainty in terms of technology roadmaps and industry dynamics. Crystalizing trends and anticipating developments is the business of analysts, so pv magazine assembled four of solar’s best to talk about prices, technology and market-defining policy developments.

After announcing that it had hit 120 MW of module sales for the Australian rooftop market segment over the last twelve months, Risen Energy President Xiejian says that the company’s project development activities and module sales are proving complimentary. While managing risk, particularly in pursuit of merchant utility scale project, remains key.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Bank of Queensland Finance Division (BOQF) are teaming up to provide $100 million in financing for clean energy upgrades to their facilities, equipment and fleets. The BOQF Energy Efficient Finance will provide loans at a 0.7% discount, drawing on the CEFC funds, to businesses looking to invest in upgrades and equipment that will reduce emissions and deliver savings on energy costs.