Balance of Systems

“The standard electrical panel has not seen major innovation for nearly a century.”

Even though the U.S. market is showing some signs of stabilizing, the decline in installation rates in April alone was 33%.

Longi and Sungrow both announced solid financial results last week. Module maker China Solar delayed the resumption of trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, and polysilicon producer GCL-Poly unveiled plans to raise up to $16.8 million by issuing shares. Coal miner Baofeng Energy, meanwhile, announced the construction of what it claims will be the world’s largest PV-powered hydrogen plant, and Seraphim and Lu’An Solar revealed that they will open a 5 GW PV panel factory in China’s Jiangsu province.

Enphase Energy’s Q1 revenue exceeded expectations as the company set an all-time gross margin record and announced plans for a new manufacturing location. Enphase stock is up 15%

Although it doesn’t seem to impact solar directly, energy storage might be threatened. “The order leaves more questions than it answers,” according to Norton Rose Fulbright. What is motivating the administration? China? Why now?

The ten largest solar tracker companies accounted for 88% of the market last year, according to analyst Wood Mackenzie, with the market growing 20% from 2018.

A U.S. research group is developing inverters and cybersecurity standards to protect solar installations from cyberattacks. The researchers said that inverters can shut down if they are hacked, or contribute to grid instability and result in the overcharging of batteries, while potentially creating problems that we still don’t know how to address.

That brings the total to $9 million for the Bay Area builder of an integrated 13.4 kWh energy storage system in the overcrowded residential market.

GE Research plans to test new controls with its PV LV5 inverter platform — aiming to develop “grid-forming” controls to allow wind and solar inverters to form voltage and frequency levels like traditional generators. The company wants to improve coordination and synchronization among multiple grid-forming resources, and is working to improve the transient stability of systems with high renewables penetration.

Many solar factories in China are starting to resume production, suggesting that concerns about supplies of PV components could soon begin to ease. Nevertheless, the temporary standstill will have an impact on the global solar market, as the implementation of some projects will probably be postponed until next year.