From pv magazine 10/23

Farmers are under pressure. Cost pressure, environmental pressure, regulatory pressure. There are obvious reasons to diversify income streams but there’s also every reason to avoid additional risk.

For most farms, agrivoltaics means fixed installations, often on rooftops – well-established technology with predictable costs and returns. But things are changing. Pilot schemes for farm-based solar projects are popping up across the European countryside, testing the mounting industry’s latest innovations in the process.

Land demand

Cormac Gilligan, a director at analyst S&P Global with a focus on solar and energy storage, told pv magazine that mounting system development is in lockstep with land scarcity. In mature solar markets, the best utility-scale sites have been snapped up, fueling demand for cost-efficient ways to install solar on more rugged terrain.

Gilligan said most of the tracking systems the solar mounting industry has brought to market recently have been designed with undulating terrain in mind. That enables trackers to be installed at higher gradients, reducing the need for costly soil levelling on undulating sites. From the land developer’s perspective, cutting capital expenditure is a win. In the agricultural sector, things get much more complex.

Making the business case for farm-based PV is not a simple calculation. There’s a balance to be struck between farming yield and energy output. That’s why projects that experiment with different mounting systems in different locations and with different crops are so important. Gilligan’s colleague Joe Steveni, a research analyst at S&P Global, said that these schemes will help to paint a more general picture of what works well in
different agricultural settings.

“If you have a successful pilot in northern France, you’ll have a good understanding for the south of France,” Steveni said. “It will spread.”

In the field

In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, a new pilot scheme promises to provide data on how solar installations affect crop yield and quality while investigating potential auxiliary benefits ranging from improved irrigation to a reduced need for crop protection. By the end of this year, three different types of mounting system will be installed at the site. Research will start at the beginning of 2024 and is set to run for at least five years.

Located on seven hectares of recultivated land at the Garzweiler opencast mine, near Bedburg, the pilot scheme is a partnership between energy giant RWE and the national research institute Forschungszentrum Jülich, with financial support provided by the state government. The demonstration plant will have a peak generation capacity of 3.2 MW.

Berries on the farm will grow beneath PV modules elevated on a high structure created by Zimmerman PV-Stahlbau. It is predicted that the steel company’s mounting system will be a good fit for berry cultivation as crops including raspberries and blueberries can tolerate shade.

Vertical-aligned solar mounting systems from Next2Sun are also being installed at the site, spaced at intervals wide enough to allow harvesting machinery between the module rows. On the tracker front, Schletter Group’s 2P Tracker System is being installed in rows that both follow the sun and deliver additional benefits.

Alongside investigating crop suitability and cultivation methods, research will focus on how the solar installations can be optimized so that standard components can be used as much as possible. RWE said this would reduce the levelized cost of energy and should lead to an “acceleration of the market ramp-up of agri-PV.”

On the agricultural side, there is a lot to learn. Matthias Meier, project leader for agrivoltaic activity at Forschungszentrum Jülich, told pv magazine that the scheme could provide the kind of insights that farmers need to invest with confidence.

“Farmers are asking about the costs of these kinds of systems,” he said. “They are used to making quite big investments with their machinery, and a lot also have rooftop PV. They know how to deal with that but agri-PV is an uncertain technology for them. I cannot say ‘if you put it on your sugar beet field you can harvest as much as without agri-PV’, or ‘you can calculate this kind of factor.’ This we cannot say at the moment and this is the most uncertain point.”

Proven tech

There may be unknowns for farmers but there’s real certainty coming from solar mounting system suppliers. Christian Salzender, the head of project sales at Schletter Group, said pilot schemes are not really trials for his business, so much as demonstrations.

“We know the system works but we also want to show it to our clients in small sample installations,” he said.

Salzender said trackers offer more efficiency and therefore leave more space for farming and growing. Schletter’s system can also move to 60 degrees from the horizontal, creating space for harvesting machines and the potential to dump snow from modules during the winter.

Operation and maintenance costs have also been improved in the latest generation of tracker systems, Salzender added. “Mechanical failures are as likely as in cars,” said the Schletter representative. “The overall components are well proven throughout different industries.”

The Israeli Planning Administration has approved a new set of regulations for energy storage. Set out as a national outline plan, the new regulation deals with the capacities of different energy storage facilities, where they can be built and under what conditions.

“The plan will allow the deployment of storage units next to PV plants, gas stations and houses. That will help regulate energy consumption under high demand,” the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said in a statement. “On the backdrop of the war in Gaza, energy storage can maintain energy for few hours under emergency conditions.”

According to the plan's original papers from January 2023, storage of up to 600 kWh can be built on any land, under some caveats. Bigger storage facilities of up to 5 MWh are allowed on any land, with the exceptions of agricultural land, scenic land, protected land or in the vicinity of a river.

Larger storage facilities, of up to 16 MWh, will only be allowed on land with specific uses. Among permitted lands are those for industrial use, parking lots and public buildings. More extensive storage of more than 16 MWh is not regulated in this program.

In addition, the new regulation sets environmental terms, safety terms, and water safety terms.

“Storage infrastructure improves the potential of renewable energy use,” the ministry added. “This regulation plan was made to support it, as based on it, permits for construction of such facilities can be issued.”

The Atlantic Council says that the DOE's announcement represents the most substantial public investment in US hydrogen and noted that California and Texas are the hubs of clean hydrogen activities, with a future outlook for blue hydrogen. However, the council mentioned a missed opportunity for hydrogen use in long-haul trucking. To address this, the Atlantic Council made recommendations for policymakers, suggesting a focus on cost sharing for demand-side projects within the H2Hub funding derived from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“I was not surprised by the figure itself but by the trend,” Bartosz Majewski, CEO of solar distributor Menlo Electric, told pv magazine. “As a distributor, we have decided to limit inventory as much as possible, in anticipation of the upcoming winter and the price drop that happened at the beginning of July. Even though the prices are decreasing since Q4 last year, they have then been sliding gradually through Q1 and Q2, but in Q3 the prices dropped by 30% in China – this is what really caught many distributors by surprise.”

Majewski said Menlo reduced its module inventory by a factor of 2.5 between July and the end of September.

“Now we are well below our one month's worth of sales,” he explained. “Rystad probably worked on different substocks or categories. For example, if modules are sold from Chinese manufacturer to their European subsidiary, or a distributor, under Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) incoterms, then they are formally exported the moment they are loaded on the ship. This is why they may appear that as European “stocked“ modules, even though they are still at sea and haven’t reached Europe yet. It takes roughly six weeks for these panels to come to Europe. So, if you assume that the Chinese are exporting 8 GW to 10 GW per month, that would mean that there would be about 10 GW to 15 GW worth of stock at sea, not in warehouses.”

“We do have some clients that have purchased significant stocks in anticipation of this season and some of them are still going through these stocks, although it is already October.”

Filip Sypko, general manager key accounts at Menlo Electric, that the tens of gigawatts of stored solar power in Europe primarily serve residential and commercial installations.

Most of the modules stored in Europe are based on PERC technology, with the result that the related market segment, mostly residential and C&I installations, is highly saturated.

“There is much oversupply and is very difficult to make positive margins there,” Majewski said. “For n-type products, it is a bit different, as it is still possible to make some positive margins.”

According to Majewski, n-type is currently only €0.01 more expensive than p-type.

“For p-type, it doesn’t matter at what price it was purchased, but at what price the buyer is willing to buy. All these modules in European warehouses will have to be sold by the end of this year, which means that regardless of what was the purchase price in the market, people will try to sell at the current market price because they need to release cash to pay their bills. For many companies it will be a matter of survival,” he said. For this reason, these stocked modules, especially those relying on p-type technology, may now be offered at a lower price than new arrivals from China.

When the bottom will be reached is unclear and installers will not wait indefinitely.

“You can wait, wait and wait but some installation just need to be delivered by the end of the year,” Majewski said.

Majewski believes there will be a limit to further module price drops in the months to come.

If you look at the margins made by the polysilicon and wafer manufacturers, and at those made by module makers, you realize that panel producers have not benefitted that much from the upward trend of the last two years. It was mostly the polysilicon and wafer manufacturers that captured windfall profits,” he said. “Now, however, both polysilicon and wafer producers are largely operating close to their marginal cost. So, it means that there is not too much potential for the prices to go significantly down further. They may continue to slide slowly but not as quickly as we have seen in Q3 2023.”

From pv magazine Germany

Germany installed 919 MW of new PV capacity in September, according to the latest figures from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). This compares to 1,056 MW in August and 750 MW in September 2022.

In the first nine months of this year, developers connected 10.72 GW of solar to the grid, compared to 5.6 GW in the same period a year earlier.

This means that the German government's goal of achieving a newly installed capacity of 9 GW for this year has already been exceeded. With a view to the goal of a cumulative installed capacity of 215 GW by 2030, the monthly increase – viewed linearly – would have to be 1,578 megawatts, as determined by the Federal Network Agency. This value has not been reached in any month so far this year.

The country's cumulative solar capacity surpassed 77.67 GW at the end of September.

In September, the combined capacity of rooftop systems supported with feed-in tariffs or market premiums totaled 666 MW. This is also the lowest value since February and a significant decrease compared to previous months when there were more than 800 MW in this segment – with the peak value of almost 937 MW having been reached in June.

Reduced moisture in the Amazon delivered clear skies and increased irradiance across the tropics of South America. Solar assets in the region saw 110-120% of average monthly irradiance through September.

A strong and slow-moving storm early in the month lessened irradiance in southern Brazil, but the rest of mid-latitude South America saw mostly normal irradiance, according to data collected by Solcast, a DNV company, via the Solcast API. The Altiplano Plateau saw the highest irradiance for the whole continent. This is in line with historical averages, as the area records some of the highest irradiance levels in the world.

In September the tropics saw higher irradiance than usual. This was due to clearer skies caused by the current drought in the Amazon. The northeastern part of the Amazon has been dry since mid-July, resulting in reduced moisture in the rainforest and less evapotranspiration. This is a major source of moisture fuelling cloud formation over rainforest regions.

The region saw regular cumuliform clouds typical of tropical regions, but not the large storms and rainfall events that are typical of the start of the wet season in September. The rivers in the Amazon are reported to be at their lowest level in over a century as there has been a lack of rainfall and ensuing dry conditions in recent months. This has been exacerbated by warm conditions, as South America recorded the warmest September extending from heatwaves.

The Brazilian southern states of Rio Grande de Sul and Santa Catarina saw reduced irradiance. It recorded 10-20% below September averages and is due to an unusually strong extra-tropical cyclone. The storm moved onshore from the Atlantic in early September, and it’s slow-moving nature meant the irradiance impacts were more focussed and intense. Most of the remainder of mid-latitude South America saw much more moderate irradiance at or slightly below the long-term average.

Solcast produces these figures by tracking clouds and aerosols at 1-2km resolution globally, using satellite data and proprietary AI/ML algorithms. This data is used to drive irradiance models, enabling Solcast to calculate irradiance at high resolution, with a typical bias of less than 2%, and also cloud-tracking forecasts. This data is used by more than 300 companies managing over 150 GW of solar assets globally.

From pv magazine USA

Enphase has announced the launch of its IQ EV charger for charging electric vehicles at home. The microinverter and home energy storage provider said that the chargers offer between 31 miles (49.8 km) and 61 miles of range charging per hour on its fast chargers.

The EV charger can be paired with Enphase solar and energy storage systems. It handles Wi-Fi connections and includes smart control and monitoring capabilities.

The devices can be coordinated to help solar and battery owners maximize electricity cost savings by charging directly from solar production. With a home battery, the Enphase system enables vehicle charging even when there is a grid power outage.

IQ EV chargers come in 32 A, 48 A, and 64 A configurations, which offer 7.7 kW, 9.6 kW, and 15.4 kW max power respectively.

Each charger has NEMA 6-50P, and 14-50P rated input cables, which are hardwired. It has a ruggedized J1772 connector for universal compatibility and a 25-foot charge cable. The device is rated for both indoor and outdoor use. They come with a five-year warranty from Enphase and is backed with a 24-7 customer support line from Enhpase.

“As a solar contractor that has installed Enphase microinverters for my customers since 2009, I’m glad to see the IQ EV Chargers join Enphase’s product ecosystem,” said Louis Woofenden, owner and engineering director, Net Zero Solar. “I was excited to try out this improved smart charger on the Enphase platform with ClipperCreek heritage. It’s so helpful to be able to easily schedule charge times, manually start and stop charging my EV, and monitor my EV energy use – all from the Enphase App on my phone.”

The 32 A device starts retail at $732 while the 64 A device retails at $1,176 on the Enphase site. Enphase is positioning its charger, microinverter and home battery as a “one-stop-shop” for home energy solutions.

“Installing an EV charger with a solar and battery system simply makes sense and can reduce overall installation costs,” said Jayant Somani, president and general manager, digital business for Enphase Energy.

Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center hosted another Energy Taiwan event this week, combined with Net-Zero Taiwan, focusing on reducing the emissions of the island’s many industries. The show comprised 350 exhibitors and more than 24,000 attendees over three days, which the organizers say amounts to 28% growth over last year. Simon Wang, President of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, also noted that around 20% of attendees were at the event for the first time, denoting a growing importance for companies looking at net-zero strategies and ways to implement renewable energy.

Energy storage

Energy storage was front and center throughout the event, with companies from various background exhibiting batteries. Many of these are focused on commercial solutions for large, energy hungry industries to maximize their renewable energy uptake. And these often came with sophisticated energy management solutions –  illustrating Taiwan’s position as a leader in software development.

The show also saw plenty of talk about large-scale storage, and hopes that changes to legislation might soon drive bigger demand for residential energy storage as well. Battery suppliers were also keen to demonstrate their latest fire safety innovations, including cell level monitoring, automated water and chemical fire suppression systems and the somewhat simpler approach of encasing the whole battery system in concrete, which supplier TCC says would be able to contain fire at temperatures above one thousand degrees, and also bring other advantages in system longevity.

Taiwan will still be reliant on imports for its energy storage plans, with many players sourcing fully made batteries from abroad, or only assembling cells into packs locally. One company, Formosa Smart Energy, is looking to bring battery cell manufacturing to Taiwan. President Hui-Chi Liu told pv magazine that the company is working to bring 2.1 GWh of battery cell capacity online by the middle of 2024, with plans to later expand this to 5 GWh. At its booth in the exhibition, the company also had innovative approaches on show to battery recycling and solid-state batteries based on a mixed ceramic/polymer electrolyte.

Solar manufacturing

Taiwan’s solar manufacturing industry has seen little growth lately, faced with heavy competition from producers in mainland China. The cell and module makers at the show, however, shared a positive outlook, with expectation of more orders from domestic projects, as well as strong exports to the United States – where prices have remained high enough for Taiwan’s manufacturers to be competitive.

One manufacturer stated that it is also examining the opportunity of bringing manufacturing capacity online in the US, but sees some signs that the Inflation Reduction Act, which has brought with it a flood of factory announcements across the US, may have passed its peak. Their calculations show that the US could have 60 GW of module manufacturing capacity up and running by 2026, without much more than 40 GW of annual domestic demand to serve.

On the technology side, these manufacturers report that reliability, rather than the latest technology is the name of the game for now. All of the manufacturers pv magazine spoke with at the event are in the process of switching passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) manufacturing to the latest high efficiency tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology, by the middle of next year.

From pv magazine USA

FERC's new energy infrastructure report shows that solar holds the largest share of capacity additions in the energy mix in the United States. 

In the January-August period, just under 9 GW of solar capacity was added, representing 40.5% of all capacity additions. This represents 36% growth year on year. 

Wind power provided an additional 2.7 GW, accounting for about 12.5% of new capacity additions. When including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass, renewable energy sources contributed 54.3% of capacity additions. 

Much growth lies ahead for decarbonized energy to push out fossil fuel sources. For total available installed generating capacity, natural gas remains the leader. More than 44% of available electricity generation capacity comes from natural gas, followed by coal, wind, hydropower, and solar.

FERC forecasts strong growth in solar for years to come. It expects more than 83 GW of “high probability” solar capacity additions through August 2026. This dwarfs the 4 GW of natural gas additions expected through that date. 

FERC said that the 83 GW of “high probability” solar additions may be quite conservative. There are more than 214 GW of solar additions in the three-year project pipeline. 

Natural gas has 564 GW available installed capacity today, while solar has 92 GW. Looking ahead three years, if solar were to add all the projects in the pipeline to the grid, it would reach 306 GW. The figures suggest that with a healthy ramp-up of projects, solar could feasibly push out natural gas as the No. 1 provider of electricity by 2030. 

Reaching status as the number one provider of electricity will take significant funding. A report from Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed that the United States’ total investment in clean energy, clean transportation, building electrification and carbon management reached $213 billion over the last year (from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023). 

The $213 billion invested represents a 37% leap over 2021-22 investments of $155 billion. Clean investment continues to strongly increase each year. In 2018/2019, total investments reached $81 billion, and it has climbed every year since.  

Domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies has become an increased focus in recent years, and rich tax credits and incentives have served as an attracting force. Manufacturing investments totaled $39 billion in 2022/2023, more than doubling the $17 billion invested in the previous report period.  

Solar represented the largest energy and industry investment category in the second quarter of 2023, attracting $8.62 billion. This was followed by storage with $4.08 billion, and wind with $2.03 billion.

China Mono Grade, the OPIS benchmark assessment for polysilicon prices in the country, fell 4.22% to CNY79.5 ($11.07)/kg week-on-week for the first time in more than three months on the back of weakening demand across the solar supply chain, which has finally impacted the upstream polysilicon sector.

Domestic polysilicon prices were assessed in the range of CNY75-83/kg. While major polysilicon makers hold their price quotes at the higher end of the range, tier-2 producers have cut prices to their lower end, pulling overall market prices down.

Weakening polysilicon demand – driven by lower solar installation rates in the fourth quarter of 2023 – contributes to the move downward, with trade volumes light in the week to Tuesday. Wafer makers have cut their operating rates as module inventories build and solar installations face delays in the fourth quarter. Expecting polysilicon prices to fall further, wafer makers adopting a wait-and-see approach when purchasing the material.

High inventories in both the polysilicon and wafer segments also weigh on prices. According to a solar market veteran, China’s wafer inventories are estimated at 20 GW and polysilicon inventories at around 50,000 MT.

China polysilicon prices are expected to bottom out in the fourth quarter as more polysilicon capacity comes online and building inventories contribute to a supply glut.

OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides energy prices, news, data, and analysis on gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG/NGL, coal, metals, and chemicals, as well as renewable fuels and environmental commodities. It acquired pricing data assets from Singapore Solar Exchange in 2022 and now publishes the OPIS APAC Solar Weekly Report.

Another topic was about projects and issues facing minigrids.

“Not all rural last-mile sites look the same. They look very different, with some sites doing fine with approximately 50% capex grant as the subsidy while others need a more significant subsidy and others doing fine with less than 50%,” said Julie Greene, managing director of Renewvia Solar Africa. “We have seen that there has only been one financing model that works for some sites and others. To reach last-mile customers, we need to look at the actual sites and see where to apply mini-grids and SHS because these are distributed communities.”

According to Sanjeev Debipersad, the director of Investments Portfolio AECF, there is plenty of funding available. “How do we transition away from the dependencies on grants?” he asked.

“We need to step back before approaching the villages and precede with other instruments that help de-risk the minigrid,” said Debipersad. “For example, SME’s stimulations.”

The 2023 Smart Energy Forum took place at Prague's O2 Universum conference hall from Oct. 17 to 18. The event drew 5,000 attendees and 72 exhibitors across 8,500 m² of floor space, with more than 30 panel discussions focused on solar. pv magazine covered the first day of the conference in Prague, Czechia.

As the central European nation clocked in 2,627 MW of installed solar PV capacity at the end of 2022 – which is 426 MW up from the previous year, according to estimates published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – the Czech Republic’s continued achievement of these solar gains was on the lips of most attendees. However, the obstacles in the way of these achievements – fraudulent operators, lagging grid infrastructure, and lengthy application processes – were also heavily discussed and dissected.

Czech Environment Minister Petr Hladik said that the solar industry is currently experiencing a huge boom. However, he dashed hopes for the country only pursuing PV by stating that its generating capacity would be a mix of renewables and nuclear. There are six commercial reactors generating roughly one-third of the landlocked country’s electricity.

Hladik said the government is on the cusp of releasing a national climate policy. The document will establish a roadmap for the government to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, including a fivefold increase in solar and wind capacity. He added that the government also wants to increase grid flexibility.

Robert Sedmera, a sales representative for Austrian PV manufacturer Fronius, told pv magazine that the company has operated in Czechia since 1991. He said that does not believe the country’s solar capabilities will ever eclipse nuclear, but noted that the public appetite is leaning more toward the sun and cheaper electricity prices. He added that the price for electricity is currently “high” at CZK 6 ($0.24)/kWh, and noted that there is an additional distribution fee of around CZK 4 crowns, bringing the total cost to CZK 10/kWh.

“About two, three, four years ago, the price for the electricity was much lower, so then the also the return of investment was 10 years or 12 years,” Sedmera said. “Nobody would like to, and nobody could, I would say, imagine that electricity would now cost that much.”

He said that compared to Austria and Poland, Czechia is not meeting all demand for solar. The government is “taking too long” to approve installations, he said.

Martin Bursik, president of European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), said that the elephant in the room for Czechia is the government's lengthy approval process. However, he noted that a directive is in the pipeline so these times could be slashed if projects meet certain criteria.

Pavel Chovanec, sales manager of local distribution company SolSol, told pv magazine that government subsidies have helped to ramp up commercial PV installations of late. But he said that he agrees that local authorities need to expedite sluggish processes.

Miloš Preisinger, a renewable energy specialist for Swiss mechatronics specialist Stäubli, told pv magazine that the local solar market is growing due to changing government legislation and growing community desire to cut back on fossil fuel emissions. However, he claimed that “risky products and companies” have threatened to derail the reputation of the local sector.

Milan Hošek, a representative from the Czech Photovoltaic Association, echoed these concerns. He told pv magazine that the caliber of rooftop installations is the “biggest problem” facing the domestic industry. He said that incorrectly installed PV rooftop arrays pose lightning risks, and that could damage the sector's reputation.

Preisinger said another “major problem” is grid connection. The government needs to invest in improving aging infrastructure, he said, estimating it would cost “many millions” over at least five years to ensure that the entire country is properly connected.

“It is very important because many people have made investments to the photovoltaic system,” Preisinger said.

Stepan Chalupa, president of the Czech Renewable Energy Chamber, said that Czechia's energy market is continuously improving, but better regulations are needed to prohibit fraudulent providers from operating. This concern was echoed by Natálie Foltýnová, marketing coordinator of German renewables developer BayWa re.

Due to surging energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine, “everyone wanted PV on their roof in the Czech Republic” last year, she said. This led to more mounting companies flooding the market, but not always delivering results. “They only collected money,” Foltýnová explained. “Now everybody is afraid, and nobody trusts the mounting system companies.”

Chalupa appeared to express optimism about the government working with stakeholders to establish key acceleration project zones. Later in the day, Pavel Doucha, founder and partner of the local law firm Doucha Šikola advokáti, clarified this legislative push in greater detail.

“I heard from our partner that there will be some subsidy model commercial solution, for example, a factory can install the commercial operation though the commercial solution, [and] can save more money on the electricity bill,” she said. “I think it will be good for business.”

According to Siemens Energy, hydrogen is produced on site with a 1 MW electrolyzer, stored in a 1 ton tank to power a Siemens Energy SGT-400 industrial gas turbine.

From pv magazine 10/23

Solar installations in India have been steadily rising since March 2023. As per official numbers, India installed 9 GW (AC) of solar capacity from January to August 2023, which is around 12 GW of DC capacity, according to estimates. These installation numbers reflect many projects that were originally supposed to be built in 2021 and 2022 but were hindered by high equipment prices.

A government-approved relaxation of restrictions imposed by the approved list of models and manufacturers (ALMM) – which indicates which products can be included in government-backed projects – has accelerated Indian PV installations, helped also by falling module prices.

The start of 2023 looked a bit gloomy for India, compared with the usual pattern of a strong first quarter each calendar year. Module price and availability prevented many projects from being completed. In May, after the SNEC solar trade show in China, the market turned around. Module prices, excluding import duties, quickly dropped below $0.18 per watt (W) and continued to fall, reaching less than $0.15/W in the July to September period. Installers took the chance to complete pending projects, driving the current installation boom, which is likely to continue through the first three months of next year.

Rising imports

Local developers have grabbed the opportunity offered by module price declines to order in bulk. We believe that will lead to a strong upswing in module imports in the final three months of this year and the first three months of 2024. These modules will go into projects in the first part of next year and possibly even further out, depending on how legislation evolves.

Current regulation allows for government-tendered projects to include modules not named on the ALMM list, until March 31, 2024. Modules imported before that deadline but not installed will not be eligible for installation on government-aided projects. Developers are trying to persuade the government to extend that deadline by another three months, to give them more flexibility in terms of orders and imports.

Expanding production

Module manufacturers have ramped up India’s solar panel output, with annual production capacity expansions driven by national local-content policies. Annual module manufacturing capacity in India has already crossed the 20 GW mark but the factory utilization rate remains below 50% to date. That means, with local manufacturers having brought their prices closer to the cost of imported modules (plus basic customs duty), they will not be able to meet demand.

The fall in imported solar cell prices has resulted in a strong spike of cell imports over the past few months, which is likely to boost solar module-assembly factory utilization rates. The share of Indian-manufactured modules in new installations is expected to increase accordingly, especially after March 2024.

The combined generation capacity of imported and locally manufactured modules is still not enough to supply the 60 GW (AC) or so of solar projects that the Central Electricity Authority reports as being at some stage of construction.

Projects corresponding to more than two thirds of this capacity are unlikely to obtain modules before March 31, 2024. Hence, most developers of government-backed projects will need to procure modules included on the ALMM list. Such constraints on module procurement put the solar project pipeline at risk of delays.

In parallel with the government-backed PV project pipeline that dominates the Indian solar market, there is also growing interest among commercial and industrial electricity consumers seeking to procure solar power via on-site systems or private power purchase agreements. As these are not limited by ALMM list requirements, these segments of the solar industry are in position to benefit from possible module inventories in 2024. India’s PV deployment is, hence, set to diversify further across different market segments.

Given the high number of PV projects waiting to be commissioned and the level of module imports expected for the rest of the year, S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts India will have installed 20 GW of solar this year. Solar installations in 2024 could be even higher than our forecast, depending upon government policy and possible further ALMM relaxations. Deadline extensions are possible, as we have seen previously in India’s solar power market.

About the author: Josefin Berg is an associate director for solar research at S&P Global Commodity Insights, leading a team that covers forecasts, trends, and company strategy in the downstream solar market. Her focus areas include developers and engineering, procurement and construction business strategies, demand for PV in emerging markets, and the role of solar in the power mix. With more than 12 years of industry experience, she writes reports on PV markets and trends and regularly speaks at industry events.

The European Council approved a proposal this week to improve electricity market design in Europe. If the European Parliament approves the reforms, they will result in more stable energy prices, lower dependence on fossil fuel costs, and better crisis resilience, according to Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, Spain's ecological transition minister.

Two-way contracts for difference – only applied after a transition period of three years, but five years for hybrid projects connected to two or more bidding zones – would apply to investments in renewable energy, including solar.

“The council added flexibility as to how revenues generated by the state through two-way CfDs would be redistributed,” it said. “Revenues would be redistributed to final customers and they may also be used to finance the costs of the direct price support schemes or investments to reduce electricity costs for final customers.”

The proposal includes a clause regarding consumer protection, with the amendment establishing the free choice of supplier and the option of accessing dynamic electricity prices. This would be across fixed-term and long-term contracts.

“The council agreed to stricter rules than previously for suppliers in their price-hedging strategies to shield customers from variations on wholesale markets,” the council stated. “It agreed to protect vulnerable customers from disconnections by putting in place ‘supplier of last resort’ systems to ensure the continuity of supply at least for household customers if such systems do not already exist.

From pv magazine France

From pv magazine USA

Qcells announced the successful completion of the expansion of its solar module factory in Dalton, Georgia where it added 2 GW of solar capacity, bringing the factory’s output to more than 5.1 GW.

The company said its Dalton factory is the largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the first solar panel plant expansion since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The expanded factory will manufacture nearly 30,000 solar modules a day, focusing on the new Q.TRON G2 residential solar module and a bifacial module for the commercial and utility markets. The company expects both products to achieve an ecolabel known as EPEAT, which is intended to help customers identify sustainably made products. QCells says the expanded factory will create 510 new jobs.

“Completing this factory marks the third expansion we’ve made in Dalton, and it’s just the beginning of Qcells’ larger mission to build a fully integrated solar supply chain in America,” said Justin Lee, CEO of Qcells. “The Inflation Reduction Act and the efforts of Georgia’s economic development team helped make these ambitious plans possible, and with it thousands of careers in clean energy. As we build new solar technology from Dalton and prepare for the start of Cartersville, it is critical that our local to federal leaders continue to work not only with us, but the larger industry to ensure our collective investments deliver for communities for decades to come.”

In January, QCells announced that it would invest more than $2.5 billion to build a complete solar supply chain in the U.S.. Considered the largest investment in U.S. solar history, it also made QCells, a subsidiary of Hanwha Solutions, the first company to establish a fully-integrated silicon-based solar supply chain in the U.S.  Qcells intends to break ground on a new, state-of-the-art facility in Cartersville, Georgia, where it will manufacture 3.3 GW of solar ingots, wafers, cells and finished modules.

By 2024, between the Dalton and Cartersville facilities, Qcells anticipates its solar production capacity will reach 8.4 GW a year, or enough to power 1.3 million homes annually with clean energy.

Qcells opened its first factory in Georgia in 2019 and hired 750 people to manufacture 1.7 GW of solar. This initial investment was made possible in part by the Section 201 tariffs imposed on solar cells. Last year, Qcells announced a second expansion, which would add 1.4 GW to its manufacturing output and hire 535 more people. This now completed third expansion as well as the new facility that will manufacturing cells, wafers and ingots, follow the passage of the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act (SEMA) within the IRA and are made possible with support from Georgia’s economic development team.

Upon completed construction, Qcells estimates that its production in Georgia could avoid more than 12 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents per year while expanding domestic manufacturing of solar products amidst the push for Made-in-America clean energy solutions.

From pv magazine USA

LG Energy Solutions is set to launch a new residential energy storage system in the US market in November. The enblock S products are stackable, modular lithium-ion batteries designed for easy installation. 

A list of LG installers can be found here.

From pv magazine India

German PV module manufacturer Axitec has revealed plans to set up 600 MW of its own pilot lines to produce solar modules in India.

Tanmoy Duari, chief executive officer at Axitec Energy India, told pv magazine that out of the planned 600 MW, 300 MW will be built in Gujarat. Another 300 MW will be installed in Tamil Nadu to overcome the transportation challenges in catering to the markets in the south.

The two plants will produce n-type TOPCon PV modules in bifacial glass-glass variants with power outputs of 580Wp to 585 Wp, though the same lines can also be used for mono PERC modules.

Duari said the production will begin in the first quarter of 2024.

“Our focus being on quality, we will primarily target the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment, not the massive utility-scale projects,” he added.

From pv magazine Germany

The Austrian government has decided to reduce the VAT for solar modules to 0% from January 2024. Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler announced the new measure as part of a new economic stimulus package.

“As an association, we have been calling for this measure for a long time and are very pleased that the PV expansion in the small segment will be given a boost next year,” said Herbert Paierl, CEO of trade body PV Austria. “This means that our motto ‘Zero sales tax – zero bureaucracy' will finally be implemented. It is the right step at the right time, as the industry is currently experiencing a decline in demand for photovoltaics.”

From pv magazine Germany

The downward trend in module prices across the board could not be stopped this month, but it is clearly losing momentum. Manufacturers and dealers of solar modules are still reducing their prices, but only in small steps, and seek to slowly approach the price level accepted by the market. For a long time now, nothing has been earned from products at this price level.

In China too, it's all about minimizing damage, because unsold stocks generate avoidable costs and the risk of progressive depreciation is always present. In order not to have to pay extra for transport costs, export quantities to Europe have been drastically reduced by Asian producers in recent weeks.

Interestingly, module prices on continents other than Europe and Asia are not as affected by the price decline. The price gap is sometimes drastically different – in the United States, it is up to 100% compared to the European prices for modules with comparatively low efficiency, which means with monocrystalline PERC cells.

However, products produced in China cannot easily be redirected to America because there are strict import restrictions there. This keeps prices there high and market volume low. We will be curious to see whether the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) really has the desired and needed impact on local PV production capacity. At least with the currently very high purchase and installation costs in the United States, it is rather unlikely.

Transferring this model to other markets is risky, although some non-Chinese manufacturers are already celebrating and shifting their sales focus and scope of operations to the United States. An industry cannot be kept alive permanently through subsidies, we should all have learned that by now.

Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers cannot endure a sustained period of low prices for long and are already trying to stabilize prices again through artificial shortages. If demand picks up again towards the end of the year due to the current price situation, the downward trend could soon be stopped. There is hardly a market participant who is happy with the current situation.

Overview of the price points differentiated by technology in October 2023, including the changes compared to the previous month (as of Oct. 15):

About the author: Martin Schachinger studied electrical engineering and has been active in renewables for more than 20 years. In 2004, he set up pvXchange.com. The online platform allows wholesalers, installers, and service companies to purchase a range of components, including out-of-production PV modules and inverters.

From pv magazine USA

Texas-based Plus Power announced financing commitments of $1.8 billion to advance five large-scale battery energy storage projects totaling 2.76 GW/h. The company reports that the transactions will support construction and operations of the portfolio and include construction financing, term financing, letters of credit, and tax equity investments, in partnership with 11 leading industry lenders and investors.

The recent financing includes $707 million for the 250 MW Sierra Estrella Energy Storage facility in Avondale, Arizona, which is expected to be the largest standalone battery facility in Arizona once online. This financing is in addition to initial funding of $903 million.

“Over the last year, Plus Power has raised an unparalleled amount of capital for standalone storage projects from a wide range of leading energy project finance banks and investors,” said Josh Goldstein, chief financial officer of Plus Power. “This capital will support the ongoing buildout of the largest and most diverse portfolio of standalone storage projects in the US. The scale highlights our first-mover advantage in bringing high-quality projects to market as well as the tremendous work by our fantastic team.”

The Sierra Estrella facility is one of two battery storage projects the Salt River Project (SRP) announced in fall of 2022 with Plus Power, with both projects scheduled to come online by summer of 2024. The other, a 90 MW / 360 MWh project is called Superstition Energy Storage, which is planned for Gilbert, Arizona.

Norddeutsche Landesbank and Société Générale acted as coordinating lead arrangers while Mizuho, US Bank, Bank of America, CoBank, and Siemens Financial Services were joint lead arrangers.

The financing for the SRP facilities includes:

• Sierra Estrella (250 MW/1,000 MW/h): $202 million of tax equity from Bank of America coupled with a $505 million construction, term loan, and letter of credit facility.
• Superstition Energy Storage (90 MW/360 MWh): $196 million construction, term loan and letter of credit facility.

The completed transactions were financings totaling $884 million to support construction of 700 MW of batteries on the ERCOT grid in Texas in the Ebony, Anemoi and Rodeo Ranch energy storage projects. Plus Power reports that while the Ebony and Anemoi projects are expected to operate as merchant resources in the ERCOT wholesale market, Plus Power executed an innovative hedge for Goldman Sachs’ commodities group for a portion of the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility. The three storage facilities are expected to be operational next summer and are designed to bring stability to the ERCOT grid during high demand.

The financing for these projects brings Plus Power’s current ERCOT portfolio to 1.57 GW/h. Deutsche Bank and First Citizens Bank were the coordinating lead arrangers, with First Citizens Bank as the administrative agent and Siemens Financial Services, Inc. acting as the joint lead arranger.

The financing for the three ERCOT projects includes:

• Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage (300 MW/600 MW/h): $212.2 million of tax equity financing from Foss & Company, as well as $276 million of construction and term financing, for the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility in Pecos.
• Ebony Energy Storage (200 MW/400 MW/h): $196 million of construction and term financing.
• Anemoi Energy Storage (200 MW/400 MW/h) $200 million of construction and term financing.

Plus Power expects the Ebony and Anemoi projects to operate as merchant resources in the ERCOT wholesale market, while the company reportedly executed an innovative hedge for Goldman Sachs’ commodities group for a portion of the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility.

“These financings demonstrate Nord/LB’s commitment to the battery energy storage sector as the bank continues to play a prominent role financing strategic assets to support the energy transition as part of the broader mission to achieve a net neutral, carbon free grid,” said Sondra Martinez, managing director, Nord/LB. “We look forward to continuing the strong relationship with Plus Power to support both our company’s goals of decarbonizing the energy grid with high-quality projects.”

Plus Power currently has a growing portfolio of large-scale lithium-ion battery systems in more than 25 states and Canada, and the company reports that it is executing on 10 GW of interconnection capacity now in transmission interconnection queues.