In times of growing demand for renewable energy sources and clean electricity, there are more and more small private installations on rooftops, carports and similar, in addition to large PV plants and projects on an international scale. But successfully ‘going solar’ requires thorough planning and careful evaluation of components to be installed. This article describes… Read more »
Solaxess SA is a Swiss company specializing in the design of materials for the photovoltaic (PV) industry, intended for the realization of architectural projects. Thanks to technology developed by CSEM, and three years of reliability and certification, Solaxess contributes significantly to the aesthetic improvement of photovoltaic panels. Now, they are an integral part of buildings,… Read more »
The use of drones in solar/PV inspections is growing rapidly. PES caught up with Vishal Punamiya, CEO at Sitemark, to find out how this is moving the solar/PV industry forward. Drone inspections provide more accurate data and with Sitemark’s Fuse platform, the exact status of an asset is known at all times. Allowing applications to… Read more »
In order to reach the final vacuum in a vacuum chamber, the material and the surface texture are very important. In addition, the gas load that is to be pumped down is relevant as to how quickly the desired final pressure can be obtained. The gas load, before reaching the desired base pressure, consists mainly… Read more »
The numbers speak for themselves. Around one billion people still live without electricity and another billion lack access to a reliable power source. Solar solutions present a unique opportunity to increase energy access and fundamentally improve living conditions in many countries, without affecting the climate or environment. Things are changing in Africa, the main energy… Read more »
Lee Gordon, president and founder of Morningstar Corporation, gave PES an interesting insight into this employee owned company. They provide over-spec’ components, with their smart digital designs and serve the whole spectrum of the solar industry. They took a chance and it paid off. PES: Hi Lee, welcome back to PES Solar. It’s great to… Read more »
While PERC has long since become the standard in the production of solar cells and the first major solar cell producers have already set their sights on the next upgrade technology, meaning TOPCon, a revolutionary technology is now reaching market maturity and promises the ‘solar cell of the future’. Solar cells with so-called heterojunction technology… Read more »
More efficient, cost and time saving operations & maintenance of power plants: the worldwide increasing requirements demand special software solutions that are adapted to the needs of operations & maintenance managers, technicians as well as asset managers. For the first time, Tobias Brüser, product manager cloud applications at meteocontrol GmbH, shares his insights. He gives… Read more »
PES asked Tyler Ogden, Lux Research Inc. to give us his expert viewpoint on the longevity of PV systems. Lux Research is a leading provider of research and advisory services, helping clients drive growth through technology innovation. Utility-scale systems are now a competitive choice for electricity supply, with bids undercutting conventional sources of generation in… Read more »
Loser Chemie GmbH (LC), a chemical plant from Saxony, acquired parts of the former Solarworld AG, an internal recycling site, to launch recycling over the whole photovoltaic value chain. LC are now in a position to close material cycles for the photovoltaic industry, by exploiting all existing synergies. There is an invisible tidal wave looming… Read more »
With calls to drastically reduce carbon emissions, there has been a steady increase in the demand for reliable and cost-effective PV energy globally. This need for high yield energy production is fuelled by fast moving technologies in PV manufacture, industry, communications, and commercial and domestic applications. By increasing cell and module capacities through the development… Read more »
Optical integrated metrology systems enable rapid and non-destructive process and quality control during the production of thin film photovoltaic (PV) devices. Given today’s price pressure, and the increasing complexity of the device architecture and process sequences, such methods become mandatory for economic thin film PV device manufacturing. Both technological and financial aspects have to be… Read more »
Increasingly, the solar energy industry is reporting an unsatisfactory incidence of losses, both financial and productive, that relate to the detrimental effects of solar module soiling. Here at PES we decided to take a closer look to find out what solar module soiling is, what the effects of it are, and what can be done… Read more »
The commercial availability of larger-diameter SiC substrates and improved crystalline quality has fostered an ever-increasing interest in the development and manufacture of power electronic devices, exploiting the unique electrical and thermophysical properties of this wide-bandgap semiconductor material. Silicon carbide (SiC) isn’t a new material, but its use as a semiconductor substrate is helping to advance… Read more »
Dr Rob Grant FRSC, CEO at Gas Recovery and Recycle Limited, dropped in on PES to bring us up to date on their argon recycling process. They have experienced tremendous growth already and more is expected. The ArgonØ ¬™ is good for the environment and through recycling, delivers cost reductions to companies implementing it. No… Read more »
With ample desert space and swathes of sunshine all year round, the solar power industry is starting to heat up in the countries of the Gulf Coorporation Council (GCC). Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are all well placed to benefit from technology advancements and lowering costs. Over the past… Read more »
EKO Instruments, Tokyo, Japan, is well known for its advanced measurement instruments for solar energy industry. Irradiance instruments such as pyranometers, pyrheliometers and sun trackers can be found at solar monitoring stations on solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) plants around the world. EKO I-V curve tracers are widely used to monitor the… Read more »
Solar Power International (SPI), Energy Storage International (ESI), and North America Smart Energy Week, powered by the leading solar organizations the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), is the largest gathering of solar, smart energy, energy storage, and hydrogen fuel cells professionals in North America. PES is thrilled to… Read more »
The way to the optimal subfab process byproduct gas abatement system: accurately tune to the desired application to ensure the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). Processes with many safety concerns, such as silicon epitaxy, require looking across many possible technologies. Increasingly complex production processes in the industrial sector lead to rising expectations to the… Read more »
In case you missed it, Bloomberg New Energy Finance just revised its already bullish estimates for the growth in storage deployments upward – again, predicting a 122-fold boom in the installation of stationary energy storage over the next two decades. For its part, solar continues its high double-digit growth, making it the fastest-growing form of… Read more »
A particular irony in the process of adopting renewable technologies is that the locations, which are most suited to the introduction of solar and wind energy sources, are those which face the greatest barriers to implementation. Many of these are developing nations in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. While… Read more »
With innovative GPS/GSM-based security systems for solar panels and solar parks, viamon has made a name for itself globally for protecting solar parks around the world from theft. PES invited, engineer, founder and managing director Oliver Strecke, to give us his insight into the company’s technology and the expanding market. PES: Welcome back to PES… Read more »
PES met up with Stacey Delzeit, Sr Applications Engineer at Trojan, which as you know is a world-famous name in batteries. Despite making batteries for almost 100 years, R&D continues to produce new, exciting and innovative products, which provide great flexibility to the end user. There are still more markets to conquer and they relish… Read more »
Global energy consumption is steadily increasing, with an average increase in energy demand twice the year before. The demand was primarily met by fossil fuels, followed by renewable energy sources. In the year 2018, renewables accounted for more than 25% of global electricity supply capacity and this share is expected to increase significantly in the… Read more »
Solar photovoltaic systems, once an emerging technology, are rapidly moving towards becoming a mainstream source of electricity throughout the world. However, less than a decade ago the solar industry was undergoing a difficult period of transition, with the price of PV panels decreasing globally, driven partly by an increase in competition from China. Many solar… Read more »
EDF RENEWABLES’ REPRESENTATIVES VISITED PRYSMIAN’S FRENCH CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE IN MONTEREAU AND GRON, WHERE CABLES CORES FOR THE FIRST OFFSHORE WIND FARM IN FRANCE WILL BE PRODUCED Milan, 18 July 2019 – Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, will provide the best cable technologies “Made in France” for the… Read more »
Global photovoltaic materials supplier DSM and prominent North American solar panel manufacturer Silfab Solar recently joined forces to bring high power modules using back-contact technology to the US market. On July 17, DSM and Silfab held an event in Bellingham, WA to mark the expansion of the facility there and celebrate the companies’ mutual commitment… Read more »
This briefing is intended as an update on three key policy and case law developments that have taken place over the summer. 1 New European Court ruling – ‘Sweetman II’ On 25 July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) delivered its ruling in the case of Edel Grace and Peter… Read more »
Morten Huseby, CEO at Wirescan, shares his enthusiasm for their new digital service with PES. The company is set to launch its Wirescan Digital platform and Wirescan GO!. These are exciting times and the beginning of a new era for this dynamic, forward thinking company. PES: Hi Morten, welcome to PES Wind magazine, it’s good… Read more »
Alan Gooding, director and co-founder of Smarter Grid Solutions, explains that the secret to harnessing offshore wind lies back on dry land. The growth of offshore wind power is nothing short of astounding. The UK’s capacity already sits at 8GW, with 2GW added during 2018 alone, and energy minister Claire Perry wants that total to… Read more »
A quick and easy AC solution, or a highly sophisticated connection using DC technology? The best transmission solution for offshore wind parks depends on both distance and output. But cost is key: for both technologies, Siemens is putting all its development efforts into downsizing and standardization, in order to minimize installation and operational costs. It… Read more »
If you are a service provider within the wind industry, you do definitely have a lot of equipment that needs to be inspected regularly. This could be PPE equipment, hand tools, measuring instruments, hydraulic tools, torque wrenches, lifting gear, rescue equipment and much more. In addition, there are all the training certificates that your employees… Read more »
What once seemed like a pipedream has become reality. Offshore wind projects worldwide have increased in number, and are now becoming more of the norm. What has not gone away is the citizen opposition to wind farms, which now has spread to offshore projects worldwide. Recent studies on global offshore wind show strong growth. If… Read more »
For those working in the wind sector, the risks of arc flash incidents have always been better understood than in many other industries. Working with extremely high voltages and large currents on a daily basis, means that knowledge across the sector is noticeably higher compared with similar industries that are also at risk of the… Read more »
The Port of Grenaa has grown from a small fishing port to an international hub, with the capacity and know-how to serve the offshore wind market. The pre-assembly facilities, the ease of access and experience, makes it the ideal port to access Denmark, Sweden and Northern Europe. Theis Gisselbæk, the CCO, gives PES an insight… Read more »
Meeting today’s demands As the sizes of wind turbines grow, towers need to be built bigger and made out of heavier structures. This means increasing heights, diameters and plate thicknesses, which naturally brings more challenges and a headache for the production line. In order to get the most out of the offshore winds, it is… Read more »