World

‘Solar cells prefer to operate in a refrigerator,’ says UNSW Professor Martin Green. His global research team is now identifying viable ways to cool down solar PV modules while amping up energy production to an unprecedented level.

Elon Musk’s EV and energy company is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the U.S. rooftop solar market, but battery sales are booming.

According to the latest market forecast published by Wood Mackenzie, it seems that global PV installation figures will rise to 125 GW per year from 2020. Continued global capacity expansion will come in through a growing gigawatts-club.

Hyundai has unveiled its new hybrid, the Hyundai Sonata, complete with integrated solar cells. The Sonata’s unveiling joins Toyota and Lightyear in integrating solar PV wth EVs.

Study claims that investment in a new 1GW nuclear power plant leads to average losses of approximately 4.8 billion euros. It further argues that the technology’s dangerous radioactivity emissions and proliferation risks do not qualify it as a ‘clean’ energy solution to be considered for addressing climate change. Yet still, governments are incorporating the technology into clean energy plans around the world.

According to the Taiwanese market research company, PV module demand will increase by 16% over 2018 shipments. TrendForce also believes this growth trend will continue in 2020.

While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.

In the last of a series of blogs, solar pioneer Philip Wolfe looks at areas where solar generating stations are clustered together, without the coordination afforded by organised solar parks.

This Swiss giant is following a trend as large multinational high-tech companies see their role as redesigning infrastructure rather than supplying inverters at ever lower margins. Schneider Electric has pulled out of large scale solar, Siemens’ Kaco acquisition and Junelight launch show increasing interest in the C&I and residential markets, and GE is likely to divest its power conversion business due to low profit margins in that sector.

China’s slowdown in installations last year was more than made up for by expansion elsewhere, according to IHS Markit. The news comes amid increasing market fragmentation – with the biggest engineering, procurement and construction business boasting less than 3% market share – and internationalization, with almost half of the top 15 companies operating across more than one region.