Magazine Archive 12 – 2022

At year’s end, pv magazine editor-in-chief Jonathan Gifford reflects on solar power’s ability to deliver on the urgent demands of the energy ‘trilemma.’

The Invesco Solar ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the MAC Global Solar Energy Index, outperformed the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average in November. Roth Capital’s Jesse Pichel attributes this to strong earnings and confidence due to the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Module prices have finally stabilized, and a slight downward trend has even started to set in. Whether this will continue depends mainly on how demand shapes up over the next few months. The softening of prices reflects a gradual build-up of inventories, which should be drawn down again by the end of the year, if possible – even if it means slashing prices. But for other PV system components, the situation is quite different, writes Martin Schachinger of pvXchange.

A combination of booming demand, supply chain bottlenecks, and energetic moves by politicians to bring manufacturing “back home” is persuading solar inverter manufacturers to set up fabs in whole new global zip codes, as IHS Markit’s Shaunagh Moodie and Siqi He report.

Polysilicon prices have soared since hitting a low point in 2019, as supply has not kept up with demand. This rise has brought significant investment in the sector and those funds could lead to oversupply in the long term. InfoLink senior analyst Dora Zhao examines the global landscape for polysilicon supplies.

Going above and beyond can drive up costs when it comes to solar project features such as racking height and module glass strength. But in an ever-warming world, it could take only one extreme weather event to destroy investments. Clean Energy Associates VP for technology Paul Wormser offers a few tips for developers.

The European Commission has proposed ambitious plans to rapidly introduce a solar rooftop mandate. However, with member states expected to introduce exemptions and house-price-linked dissent in the parliamentary chamber, the PV industry is waiting on the final shape of the directive, as SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger explains.

The European Union has set ambitious targets for solar PV expansion, but is Brussels designing the right policies to support growth? Andreas Walstad investigates.

Brazil’s newly elected government under Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva will face energy-transition and decentralization issues during critically important years in the fight to curb climate change. Livia Neves reports from Rio de Janeiro.

Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with missile and drone strikes, has seen the country’s power cut by nearly one-third, triggering widespread outages across the nation. With winter coming, the Ukrainian authorities haven’t ruled out a worst-case scenario that would see much of Kyiv, with its population of almost 3 million, evacuated from the city, reports Ian Skarytovsky.