solar

With hailstorms in the United States and Australia severely damaging solar arrays – including “golf-ball sized” hail at the 350 MW Fighting Jays project in Texas in March 2024 – insurers are raising premiums and reducing or canceling hail coverage. Everoze Partner Simon Mason discusses the challenges the industry faces in minimizing its hail risk exposure.

Now that incentives from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are well understood, global manufacturers are announcing factories in the United States to constitute much of the solar supply chain. While some plans have been scrapped already, and more cancellations are expected, the broader trend is unprecedented growth.

The allure of the open road is strong in the United States, where highways can snake through breathtaking landscapes. Recreational vehicles (RVs) make adventuring easy but powering portable homes with diesel generators is a poor solution for today’s travelers. Briter Products President Avanti Lalwani tells pv magazine how her company is putting solar on wheels.

High interest rates, excess warehouse inventory, and falling component prices have created a perfect storm for solar distributors since October 2023. BayWa re Solar Trade CEO Frank Jessel explains how the industry can embrace true digitalization to better navigate this volatility.

Laboratory testing has revealed that some negatively-doped, “n-type” tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) and heterojunction (HJT) solar modules are susceptible to ultraviolet (UV) light-related damage and degradation. That could mean trouble down the line, if modules in the field begin to show UV-related performance loss. Manufacturers are implementing solutions at cell and module level.

Researchers have simulated the operation of bifacial PV and proton exchange membrane reversible fuel cells across restaurants in five different U.S. states. Taking into account varying rates of bifacial PV’s rearside gains, they found that LCOE was as low as $0.029 per kWh.

U.S. researchers have started studying hydrogen formation in the Midcontinent Rift in the United States, while Dutch scientists have discovered that hydrogen emissions from industrial complexes are higher than previously estimated.

The US-based automotive manufacturing company said its new storage system offers the option of integrating with PV systems. It can be scaled to reach a capacity of up to 35.4 kWh, which the company said would enable approximately 20 hours of storage.

Researchers from Canada’s Western University assessed eighteen case studies across thirteen US states and found in areas an economic case for disconnecting from the electricity grid in some areas with high solar irradiation and high electricity rates. They say economic grid defection and utility death spirals are becoming salient issues in the U.S.

Total corporate funding in the solar industry reached $22.3 billion over the first nine months of 2024, representing a 23% year-on-year decrease. Mercom Capital Group says that while global uncertainties are affecting investor confidence, an increase in debt financing and resilience in newly-announced large-scale project funding remain bright spots for the sector.