Solar

This week, pv magazine headed to Marseille for the 36th edition of the EU PVSEC conference and exhibition. During the week-long show, leading universities and research institutes presented their latest results to the industry and public. As the conference heads into its final afternoon, we’ve put together five key takeaways from this year’s event.

Technical consultancy DNV GL has published its Energy Transition Outlook 2019. While the electric vehicle, storage and renewable energy industries are likely to see significant rises in demand, the sobering conclusion is the world will miss carbon reduction targets by a long shot.

Emilio J Garcia Rodriguez, from tracker manufacturer PV Hardware, spoke to pv magazine about the company’s activity in the Middle East and North Africa market. Dust, heat and heavy storms complicate the installation and operation of trackers.

Quality control and problem detection and classification was brought into focus at the conference in Marseille. A packed house at a session focused on the latest fault detection techniques indicated the high level of interest in the field.

The classical Greek philosopher Socrates believed the ideal house should be warm in winter and cool in summer. With clarity of thought like that, it's easy to see how the great man got his reputation.

The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) is continuing to step up its efforts to ensure the quality of large scale solar projects. The body is now looking for stakeholder input into its new best practice guidelines for PV power plant projects, as a part of its ongoing Quality Taskforce initiative.

United States Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the American Energy Opportunity Act, which will provide voluntary assistance and tools for local governments to simplify, standardize and automate clean energy permitting for residents and businesses while enhancing safety.

Consulting firm ArcVera Renewables, measurement and assessment company NRG Systems (NRG), and measurement service provider Harness Energy have joined forces to provide solar project developers with the design, manufacture, shipping, installation and operation of their solar measurement systems, including the delivery of independent campaign monitoring and finance-grade resource assessment reports.

RP Construction Services (RPCS) announced earlier this week the launch of a campaign to bring e-readers to the Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) school in Morogoro, Tanzania, with the help of Nurturing Minds, a U.S.-based non-profit organization.

Fraunhofer ISE in Germany was one of the first to experiment with combining solar and farming on the same land. Its early research found doing so increases the productivity of the land significantly — up to 60% or more in some cases.

The nation’s thriving distributed generation market is flying, as was evident at last week’s Intersolar South America trade show. The sector seems unconcerned by mooted changes to net metering incentives in the new year and when even an environmental non-believer like President Bolsonaro is on side, it is difficult to be pessimistic.

The PV Cycle Association collects and recycles PV waste. Having treated more than 30,000 tons since its creation, it estimates 150,000 tons of PV modules will reach the end of their lifecycle by 2030.

SolarEdge Technologies’ founder and former long-time CEO Guy Sella has passed away two years after revealing a colon cancer diagnosis, the firm has confirmed.

Next year’s first major solar-plus-storage trade show on the calendar announced a new partnership with NABCEP to increase attendee numbers. Eligible PV professionals will be able to attend the Intersolar North America expo hall for free at the San Diego Convention Center from February 4-6, 2020, and can register for NABCEP-approved continuing education classes to receive up to nine Continuing Education Units (CEUs) they can use toward Board Certification and recertification requirements.

International data suggests that fires caused by rooftop solar power systems are rare; however, the United States doesn’t centrally track this information – with the National Fire Data Center classifying them in the “other” category.