World

Shell’s new report shows a world where solar meets the largest portion of primary energy demand as soon as 2050.

The German inverter maker sold 8.5 GW of solar PV inverters last year. Revenue, however, dropped by €50 million, while net profit remained flat at €30 million.

‘Unprecedented challenge’ for fossil fuels as low LCOE for solar and wind power, allied to tumbling storage costs, sees renewables claim larger share of bulk and dispatchable generation while adding vital flexibility to global energy mix.

Testing from TÜV Rheinland has revealed that PV inverters and battery storage systems are vulnerable to hacking. By changing system parameters, a hacker could potentially cause a battery system to corrode, “making it like a ‘bomb’.”

Annual International Roadmap for Photovoltaics, compiled by the German production equipment industrial association (VDMA), reveals slowdown in module price reduction for 2017 in contrast to significant market increase that saw module production capacity rise above 130 GW.

Annual solar installations grew almost 20% year over year in 2017, and the solar industry is also edging within 100 gigawatts, a milestone the industry will reach this year, according to IHS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

Panel discussion at Energy Storage Europe tackled the issue of whether the best way for keeping the lights on as economies around the world grow is to extend the grid network or add energy storage, and found that the best solution lies somewhere in between.

Eon has announced plans to take over a 76.8% stake in the German utility, RWE’s renewable energy spin-off, Innogy. The acquisition is part of a far-reaching agreement between the two, which envisages redistributing operations so that RWE focuses on the renewable energy business, while energy networks and customer solutions would be the responsibility of Eon.

The next decade will see the Asia-Pacific region cement its position as the global leader for the deployment of non-hydro renewables, with over 500 GW of new capacity being added. BMI Research published the finding last week as a part of its Global Renewables Forecast.

While bifacial panels may capture up to 10% more light than monofacial panels, single-axis trackers typically add 25% to that bifacial gain, resulting in a roughly estimated 12.5% gain from the two technologies combined, compared with fixed installs using monofacial panels.