Opinion

The results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential and Senate Elections are a worst-case scenario for the U.S. solar industry, and no federal support is safe.

The only saving grace of last night’s “Lunacy in Las Vegas” is that it was the final time we’ll have to watch both presidential candidates ignore climate change and solar’s role in stopping it.

Despite omnipresent hype over the past two years, the Solar Roadways team tried to unveil its first pilot project in Idaho with disastrous results.

As the first in a new series of weekly editorials, pv magazine Americas Editor Christian Roselund highlights some of the current battles that are taking place at the state level.

pv magazine USA presents a news analysis of the role solar energy played in the second presidential debate. All debate quotations come from the Politico transcript and from first-hand observation, for which the author did not receive combat pay.

The U.S. market watched the prequel to this current panel price-slide in 2011 — and the question is why the sequel is happening again so soon.

Last week’s IEA World Energy Outlook forecast modest renewable uptake globally in a number of scenarios. In its most optimistic outlook for solar and wind, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects total deployment growth essentially of 0% through 2040, and 20 to 40% decreases in pessimistic scenarios. Future Smart Strategies’ Ray Wills has long been critical of the agency’s renewable modeling. Here, he sets out why he believes the group has got it wrong again.

If Deutsche Bank is correct in estimating that the solar energy market will be worth $5 trillion by 2030, then the first company to produce a viable solar battery will have an incredibly valuable piece of IP on their hands. We have Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, and a number of startups all throwing their hats into the ring. But who will be victorious, and why? Clive Rolison, founder of Complete Renewables analyzes the market.

Thomas Hillig from THEnergy, discusses the growing trend for the deployment of renewables, specifically solar PV, next to mines. In response to issues, like lifetime differences between a solar plant and a mine, bespoke solutions are being created. However, while there is a positive business case for combining the two industries, barriers in the mining industry exist, which must be overcome if the positive trend is to continue.