Exclusive Articles
A perfect foundation for business
PES: Welcome back to PES magazine. How’s business been since your last appearance – is the market performing much as your company had predicted? Mikko Niininen: The business has been booming and we are still on a growth base. Happily, the outlook is even more promising for next year than it was last year –… Read more »
A pivotal 12 months
Speak to virtually anyone connected to the wind industry in Europe, and they’ll tell you that this year has been perhaps one of the most important that we’ve ever faced. A springboard period for future growth, 2011 was a seminal period, and the highs and lows have all been documented by the European Wind Energy… Read more »
Thermal processes open the way to competitive CIGS manufacture
2012 promises to be a good year for CIGS. Among others, Japan’s Showa Shell Sekiiu KK and France’s EDF have announced major new CIGS production projects. However, questions remain whether high volume CIGS production can really become competitive. This is where Smit Ovens’ thermal processes can make the difference… Amorphous silicon and CdTe may have… Read more »
A leading combination of innovation and excellence
Power-One is the world’s second largest designer and manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters with facilities on three continents producing renewable energy products in Italy, USA, Canada and China. The company offers the full range of photovoltaic and wind products, from small residential inverters to large utility-grade units – a diverse range of solutions to meet the… Read more »
Improvement with every step
PV manufacturer Schott Solar has announced the launch of a new high performance module. PES takes a look at the Schott Perform Mono 260 to see just how the company’s decades of experience and expertise have shaped their new product. The development team at the German manufacturer have produced the new module in the 260W… Read more »
Editors Note
I’m writing this dispatch as the news comes in on the wires about the decision made by thin-film PV giant First Solar to walk away from its German factories and “indefinitely idle” four of its 24 production lines. To put it bluntly, the blood is continuing to spill across the European solar sector. First Solar’s… Read more »
Winfried Hoffmann takes the reins
Dr. Winfried Hoffmann has become the new President of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). He takes over the position after having been elected as EPIA’s new Vice-President, and after Vice-Presidents Boris Klebensberger and Virgilio Navarro Sanchez-Sicilia declined the presidency. Additionally, Jerry Stokes has been elected to fill a vacant seat as a Director on… Read more »
Turning up the heat on solar
James Pipe, Head of Renewables and Sustainability, Spencer Ogden The solar power industry has enjoyed a prolonged period of buoyancy in recent years. In January this year, a report by PwC confirmed that the global value of renewable technology deals rose by 40% in 2011 and that a third of these were in the solar… Read more »
Where is the next tractor coming from?
Andrew Jones, Managing Director of S&C At the helm of a company enjoying its centenary, Andrew Jones considers the pace of innovation in our sector, particularly in relation to the grid and storage, and looks to the next 100 years… Looking back over the last century, there are of course massive differences in the world… Read more »
Fragile market: a year of living dangerously
On the back of the latest round of Feed-in Tariff cuts, we take a look at the continent’s complex relationship with subsidies and consider if the industry can survive without governmental assistance – and where we can all find hope… The last 12 months could well be described as solar’s year of living dangerously. Our… Read more »
