12/2023 & 01/2024 | 78538

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 editorial

imprint Innovation shines in challenging time

Publisher
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Kurfürstendamm 64, 10707 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49-30-213 0050 18 | info@pv-magazine.com Records tumble, but not always
Editors pv magazine group for the right reasons. 2023 has
Jonathan Gifford – Editor in Chief – gifford@pv-magazine.com
Mark Hutchins – mark.hutchins@pv-magazine.com been another banner year for the
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Tristan Rayner – tristan.rayner@pv-magazine.com solar industry. And the num-
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Matthew Lynas – matthew.lynas@pv-magazine.com bers speak for themselves. Opti-
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mistic solar deployment forecasts
Michael Fuhs, Editor in Chief pv magazine Deutschland
michael.fuhs@pv-magazine.com
tip global installations to exceed
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Authors: Sara Fountir Benbrahim, Alexia Chappond, Richard
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McCoy, Sergio Matalucci, Zachary Nichols, Bella Peacock, Chris-
tian Peter, Jesse Pichel, Vinay Rustagi, Martin Schachinger,
Vincent Shaw, George Touloupas, James Whittemore
is expected to install over 200 GW.
Proofreader: Brian Publicover Indeed, the signs of solar’s success
Translators: Tim Hanes, Lionbridge
Photo editor: Tom Baerwald are everywhere.
Graphics: Harald Schütt
Cover: Nicole Schaeffer
Sales However, as appears almost always
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Mobile: +49 175 224 89 04 | luigi@pv-magazine.com storage industries, it’s not all good
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Mobile: +852-9732 8266 | calvin@pv-magazine.com news. The oversupply market situ- Jonathan Gifford, with Publisher Eckhart K. Gouras, and
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Mobile: +1-518-560-0179 | matt@pv-magazine.com ation (pp. 10-11, 28-29) is weighing Mark Hutchins
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marina.ramain@pv-magazine.com stalled projects and drive more competi- (pp. 42-59). And high-performance prod-
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www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 1

contents

16 22
Cracking cell-defect detection China’s famine-to-feast solar
Data indicate that cell microcracking is still a serious problem. China’s solar industry rebounded from the
pandemic in 2023.

34 38
Test success for robot inspector Decarbonizing disaster response
Robots are effective for inspecting solar field components. Solar is playing a bigger role in not just providing power, but also
water and shelter, among other benefits.

66 76
Temper tantrum Australian critical raw materials
We look into the mysterious increase in Challenges abound, despite abundant battery raw materials and renewable energy.
solar module glass breakage.

2 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

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contents

6 News
applications & storage &
markets & trends ≥ installations ≥ smart grids ≥
8 Lackluster performance: Jesse 30 Artificial opportunities: German 76 Australian critical raw materials:
Pichel of Roth Capital Partners startup Lade integrates AI in its Challenges abound despite abun-
discusses US market developments energy management tool dant battery raw materials

10 Module rollercoaster heads down: 34 Test success for robot inspector: 80 Agreeing on green hydrogen: An
Martin Schachinger from Robots are effective for inspecting industry plans for its future with
pvXchange sees a European upside solar field components EU rules to govern green hydrogen

12 Shift from p-type to n-type: 36 PPA protection: Europe sees a

Spurring an expansion of n-type surge in power purchase agree-
manufacturing ments (PPA) for acceleration financial & legal ≥
14 Competition heats up: Module 38 Decarbonizing disaster response: 86 Building bridges: Italian mod-
demand is expected to hit 455 GW Solar is playing a bigger role by ule manufacturer FuturaSun has
in 2023, up 53% from last year providing power in times of crisis expansion plans in China

16 Cracking cell defect detection:

Data suggest incidence of cell industry & suppliers ≥ details ≥
microcracking on the rise
42 pv magazine Awards: Winners 90 Roundtables Europe in 2023: See
18 Snub me tender: The Indian gov- announced over eight categories the program for pv magazine’s pre-
ernment is trying to stop utilities mier European virtual event
from cherry-picking public tenders 60 Supply chain visibility: Best prac-
tices in securing supply chain 92 SunRise Arabia in January 2024:
20 New leadership for new solar era: transparency A unique conference identifies
Interview with Sonia Dunlop, the paths toward a clean energy future
new CEO at Global Solar Council 62 Europe’s subsidy conundrum: The in Saudi Arabia
European Solar PV Alliance (ESIA)
22 China’s famine-to-feast solar: is calling for action 94 On the road with pv magazine
China’s solar industry rebounded
from the pandemic in 2023 66 Temper tantrum: We look into the 96 Final thought
mysterious increase in solar mod-
28 UK solar slows, heat pumps grow: ule glass breakage
Midsummer Energy shares insights
on the British market 70 Greener polysilicon: Where
emissions lie in module production
and how to avoid them

74 pv magazine test: The October

2023 energy-yield results from the
Xi’an testing field

advertisement overview ≥
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4 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

news

Photo: 12019, pixabay

Gigawatt tender in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has launched a 3.7 GW solar
tender. Request for qualifications (RFQ)
have been issued in relation to the four
projects included in the fifth round of
Saudi Arabia’s national renewable energy
tender program.
The tender announcement was made by
state-owned Saudi Power Procurement Co.
(SPPC). Installations covered by the tender
are the 2 GW (AC) Al Sadawi plant, the
1 GW (AC) Al Masa’a project, the 400
MW (AC) Al Henakiyah 2 plant, and the
300 MW (AC) Rabigh 2 array.
This latest tender round accounts for more
than one-quarter of the 12.6 GW of energy
capacity being awarded through Saudi
Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Pro-
gram (NREP). The NREP was launched
to “maximize” the Gulf state’s renewable
energy potential.
The Saudi Arabian government aims to
have 27.5 GW of installed solar capac-
ity by 2030. In August 2023, it completed
financing on its largest renewable energy
project to date, the 2.6 GW Al Shuaibah
solar plant. The project is believed to rep-
resent a SAR 8.3 billion ($2.2 billion)
investment. Financing for the project was
led by Saudi Arabia’s National Develop-
ment Fund.

Patent lawsuit pending

Maxeon Solar Technologies has filed a
lawsuit in Germany claiming that Aiko
Solar has breached its patents.
Subsidiaries of Singapore-based Max-
eon filed the patent infringement lawsuit
against Aiko Solar Energy and German
Photo: Maxeon Solar Technologies
wholesaler Memodo GmbH, according
to a press release from Maxeon.
Maxeon alleges that Aiko and Memodo
have breached Maxeon’s European Pat-
ent No. EP2297788B1. The patent relates
to proprietary and fundamental solar cell
architectures for back contact solar cells,
also known as all-back contact (ABC)
solar cells or interdigitated back contact
(IBC) solar cells. Maxeon produces and
sells modules with IBC solar cells.
“The lawsuit against Aiko and Memodo is
necessary to protect our intellectual prop-
erty, significant R&D and other invest-
ments, as well as our reputation and deep
heritage and culture of innovation,” said
Maxeon CEO Bill Mulligan.
Maxeon’s chief legal and sustainability offi-
cer, Lindsey Wiedman, said the company
believes that Aiko uses its technology.
Aiko has rejected the allegations. “Aiko’s
ABC products are fundamentally differ-
ent from the technology protected by the
asserted patent, as has been confirmed
by our IP team and our European out-
side counsel, a renowned IP firm,” it said.
“We intend to robustly defend our posi-
tion with our partners while jointly and
actively seeking a resolution to defend our
legitimate rights and interests, retaining
the right to pursue further proceedings.”
Aiko said it had 1061 patents – including
325 patents for ABC technology – as of
Oct. 31, 2023.

Solar blooms in Barbados

Barbados has finalized plans to construct a
60 MW portfolio, spread across 50 sites. It
adds to the island state’s 30 MW solar port-
folio and pushes it closer to its goal of being
powered by 100% renewables by 2030.
German racking manufacturer Jurchen
Technology and Barbadian renewable
energy developer Blue Circle Energy have
signed a memorandum of understand-
ing (MOU) for the construction of a 60
MW portfolio of solar generation projects
across the Caribbean nation’s 11 parishes.
The project consists of ground-mounted
panels using Jurchen Technology’s PEG
racking solution. The solar plant manu-
facturer states that its PEG system, con-
structed at an 8-degree tilt, produces
225% more land yield than trackers and
fixed-tilt systems. This is due to the mini-
mal spacing between modules, stemming
from their angular design. Racks will also
be situated at waist height, using an aero-
dynamic blueprint that the company says
is engineered to withstand extreme wind
from hurricanes.
The portfolio will include battery energy
storage systems either tethered to Bar-
bados’ primary grid or spread across the
project’s 50 sites, which will function as
community solar gardens.
Photo: JurchenPV

6 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

 news

Charging ahead in South Africa

South Africa’s largest battery storage project to date was com-
pleted in November. Public utility Eskom has switched on a
20 MW/100 MWh Hex battery energy storage system (BESS) in
Worcester, Western Cape province. The BESS has been installed
in a bid to mitigate the challenge of load shedding.
Photo: Eskom
Eskom’s Hex BESS project has been billed as the largest of its
kind on the entire African continent. The utility has claimed it
will help to address South Africa’s long-running electricity cri-
sis by adding more storage to strengthen the grid, diversifying
the energy generation mix in the process.
The Hex site was designed to have enough storage to power a
town for a five-hour duration. This is the first project to be com-
pleted under Eskom’s flagship battery storage rollout, which was
announced in July 2022.
A planned buildout will include large-scale batteries with capaci-
ties of 1,440 MWh per day and 60 MW of solar. The projects will
be implemented in two phases across 12 sites in South Africa.
The first phase will see the installation of around 199 MW/833
MWh of battery storage projects alongside 2 MW of PV, while
the second phase will involve the rollout of 144 MW/ 616 MWh
of battery capacity and 58 MW of solar.
Eskom’s multi-site project represents the first part of a 500 MW
BESS initiative announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, under
the government’s measures to address South Africa’s long-run-
ning electricity crisis.
“If we do more of these kinds of projects in other parts of the
country, which is what Eskom intends to do, we will see the end
of load shedding pretty soon,” Public Enterprises Minister Pravin
Gordhan said at the recent project launch.

Robots at work

Photo: Terabase Energy

Robots have worked on a solar project in the Arizona desert.
In its first commercial project, Terabase Energy successfully
installed 17 MW of a 225 MW solar facility with its automated
Terafab platform.
The robotic installation took place at a solar project in develop-
ment by Leeward Renewable Energy and engineering and con-
struction contractor RES.
The Terafab system makes use of digital twins, logistics software,
an on-site digital command center, a field-deployed automated
assembly line, and installation rovers that can operate 24/7.
In the Arizona project, Terabase said its labor productivity
improved 25% when compared with manual installation.
“[The project] demonstrates that Terabase’s technology can drive
substantial progress in solar construction safety, quality, cost,
and schedule,” said Will Schultek, vice president of construc-
tion for RES.
The installation system cuts the amount of labor needed on-
site and improves working conditions for laborers. Workers are
housed in shaded and cooled conditions, allowing for system
operation and installation in harsh desert environments.
“This milestone marks a pivotal moment in our mission to accel-
erate solar plant deployment to meet the terawatt scale demands
of the future,” said Matt Campbell, chief executive officer of Tera-
base Energy. “Furthermore, the Terafab system was deployed
alongside our Construct digital twin software for managing and Terabase’s field factory also enabled a 100% return on solar panel
monitoring solar power plant construction.” packaging for reuse by the manufacturer.

www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 7

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 market & trends

Photo: EnPal

Large-format modules
Stabilization should be possible for large-
format modules measuring 2 m² or more
in particular, as they are not produced
in such enormous quantities and their
area of application is rather limited. Ger-

500 W
many is the only country that has specific
size restrictions for rooftop applications.
Every other country in the world can and
will use modules either side of the 450 W
mark on the rooftops of homes and vari-
ous industrial buildings. small modules will soon
Our analysis shows that the solar proj- be an option
ect business collapsed in many mar-
kets during 2023 but the production of
modules that had already been ordered
could not be stopped in time. There was
a glut of large-format modules, at least
in Europe. Modules with a surface area
of more than 2 m² are piling up in Euro-
pean warehouses. In Germany, the mar-
ket for small and medium sized systems
is still functioning, but large modules
cannot be used in this segment. By con-
trast, in some European countries the
market for small or commercial solar sys-
tems is patchy.
The loosening up of the 2 m² limit in A relaxation of module size restrictions in Germany’s rooftop PV market could help to clear
Germany could bring some momentum inventories and stabilize prices.
to a static situation, as some of Germa-
ny’s federal states are already allowing the Despite the advantages of smaller
rooftop installation of solar modules with module formats, high module power
a total area of up to 3 m² without requiring output is still an option with continu-
approval from building authorities. ing progress in technological develop-
The German Institute for Building ment and an associated increase in effi-
Technology recently backed a relaxation ciency. With the cell efficiencies already
of restrictions in a recommendation to the achieved in the laboratory with tandem
Conference of German Building Minis- cells, small format modules with 500 W
ters. Nevertheless, the smaller format will and more of output will soon be con-
retain its appeal in this market. Modules ceivable in mass production. Chinese
in the 400 W to 450 W class are simply manufacturers are ahead but perhaps About the author
easier to handle for pitched roof systems development cooperation in the Euro- Martin Schachinger studied electrical
and therefore quicker to install. pean Union with the aim of establishing engineering and has been active in the
Amid the current trend towards dou- multi-gigawatt production, could be an field of photovoltaics and renewable energy for
ble-glass modules, smaller products weigh ideal way to obtain attractive and inex- almost 30 years. In 2004, he set up a business
and founded the pvXchange.com online trad-
around 22 kg and can still be moved by pensive products for local production
ing platform. The company stocks standard
one person. They are also easier to place again, without being constantly exposed components for new installations and solar
on smaller, often angled roof surfaces, to a price war and destructive, cut-throat modules and inverters that are no longer being
thanks to their shorter edge lengths. competition. Martin Schachinger produced.

www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 11

market & trends
Cracking cell defect
detection
After years of improving quality standards, solar cell cracking appears
to be on the rise again, perhaps due to new manufacturers entering the
sector. Clean Energy Associates’ (CEA) senior engineering manager Claire
Kearns-McCoy considers ways to stop the rot.
D ata from more than 150 utility-scale
solar projects in North America
and Europe suggest that the incidence
of cell microcracking is rising, reversing
what had been an encouraging downward
trend. Anecdotal evidence suggests the
reversal is more common in North Amer-
ica than in Europe, and that most defects
occur during manufacturing.
The 47% jump in microcracks observed
in North America between early 2022 and
mid-2023 coincided with ongoing shifts
in the supply chain. Project owners have
often had to find new sources for PV mod-
ules to meet import restrictions set by the
Defects can remain undetected unless EL testing is used.
16
US federal government. As a result, newer
manufacturers are gaining market share
from long-established market players, but
they may not have the same quality assur-
ance steps in place.
Microcracks cannot be detected by
visual inspection alone. With time, cracks
can grow in much the same way that a
chip in a car windshield can spread. Early
detection is thus crucial, not only from a
project performance standpoint but also
as future warranty and insurance claims
may be affected.
Awareness and timely action are the
best tools for project owners and are more
important than ever. Buyers should nego-
tiate technical and quality requirements
and inspection criteria before signing a
purchase contract. They should also per-
form factory audits and inline produc-
tion monitoring and pre-shipment sam-
pling inspections at adequate frequencies
and with tight acceptance limits as per
the ISO 2859 standard with lab testing of
production batches. Pre- and post-instal-
lation quality checks are just as vital since
cell damage can occur anywhere from
transport to handling to installation and
operation.
Common EL defects
Over the last eight years, CEA has con-
ducted electroluminescence (EL) testing
on more than 300,000 modules across
150 projects in 16 countries. Our analysis
found cell damage can occur across the
entire module lifecycle, including manu-
facturing, shipping and storage, installa-
tion and operation.
Many defects remain undetected unless
EL testing is used. This detects defects in
PV cells and panels that cannot be seen
with the naked eye. The EL test process
passes a current through a PV module in
a dark environment to capture the emitted
infrared light with specialized cameras.
Our analysis found four common EL
defects: line cracks (found in 83% of sites
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
 market & trends

Photo: GSC
So, these are realistic targets. We need to see exactly what word-
ing gets agreed where and whether that will be inside the offi-
cial negotiations or as an intergovernmental pledge – we need
both. This global target will then send a massive signal to finan-
cial markets in terms of the direction of travel.

With the current oversupply market dynamic, do you feel

like we are in for a downward ride on the solar coaster in the
months to come?
The solar coaster of days of yore will soon be a thing of the past.
Much of what drove the solar coaster over the last 15 years was
policy – subsidy schemes coming online and creating surges in
demand and then ending abruptly. Now, we’re moving into a new
era which is slightly more predictable, with auctions and tenders
in addition to good policy frameworks for distributed genera-
tion. But we can never be sure what’s around the corner, and I
can assure you that as the GSC we’ll ensure that our members are
ready for whatever comes next. We are also going to provide our
members with market intelligence and intel on where the oppor-
tunities are around the world to make sure that they can make
the right business decisions at the right time.

The oversupply situation has left policymakers pondering how

to respond and support domestic producers. Many are ques-
tioning the efficiency of trade barriers such as tariffs. What is
your view on that?
With demand expected to grow exponentially between now and
2030, I can see a world where there are many different solar PV
manufacturing hubs around the globe. Every region should be
looking to build its part of free, diversified, and resilient sup-
ply chains. I think there is a lot of work that could be done to
identify which region and hubs – Global North and Global
“ can
There is also a lot the GSC
do to facilitate solar
South – can develop which parts of the supply chain that are
most suited to their economic profile and industrial strategies.
There is a real need for more coordination of different indus-
finance in less developed
trial strategies around the world in this area. The GSC wants to
help all national solar associations to stimulate local demand
and local supply chain. A free, fair, just, resilient, and equitable
international trade environment for solar PV is in everyone’s
parts of the world
Sonia Dunlop
”
interests. Interview by Marija Maisch

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market & trends
Famine to feast: China’s
China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related
sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, Vincent Shaw looks back at key
highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.
N ational Energy Administration
(NEA) data indicate China is likely
to have added more than 180 GW of solar
generation capacity in 2023 and could top
200 GW, as it hit almost 143 GW of solar at
the end of October. Those numbers would
represent year-on-year growth of 106% to
129% on 2022 and would eclipse all the
solar added from 2020 to 2022.
When Wang Bohua, honorary secre-
tary of the China PV Industry Associa-
tion (CPIA), addressed a PV conference
in early 2023, he projected installations of
95 GW to 120 GW for 2023. Downstream
solar investment exploded, however, driv-
ing a surge in utility-scale, residential, and
commercial and industrial (C&I) instal-
“An estimated
CNY 2.5 trillion
lations. At the SNEC PV exhibition in
Shanghai in May, executives from tier-
one and tier-two module manufacturers
told pv magazine their annual installation
worth of solar estimates had risen to 160 GW-plus.
The CPIA revised its number to 120 GW
to 140 GW in July. S&P Global and the
production expansion China Electricity Council, a government
agency, raised their estimates to 170 GW
plans have been in October. In November, market research
firm Trend Force projected 194 GW to 210
announced GW of new solar in China in 2023.
Emboldened by China’s “30-60” goal
of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and
since 2020
” net zero by 2060, the nation’s energy-
related state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
have pledged 350 GW of PV generation
capacity. In the first half of 2023, compa-
nies signed more than 80 GW of utility-
scale investment deals. Some 61.8 GW was
connected by the end of September 2023.
The pandemic disrupted the installa-
tion of smaller, “distributed” solar arrays
until late 2022, but China rebounded to
install 34.1 GW of distributed C&I sys-
tems by the end of September 2023. Res-
idential-solar policy, cheaper new prod-
ucts, and rising demand drove 33 GW of
home solar capacity by the end of Septem-
ber 2023, a 30.5% rise on the total figure
for 2022, as more than 1.5 million new cus-
tomers chose to go solar.
22
Panel prices
These numbers have risen on the back of
two years of falling panel prices that have
supercharged solar plant development. A
polysilicon price surge in 2022, from CNY
80 ($11.24)/kg to CNY 300/kg ramped
panel prices to CNY 2/W of generation
capacity, with solar glass costs having also
surged in 2021 and 2022.
Vast expansion in solar produc-
tion capacity since late 2022, however,
has seen panel prices come to around
CNY 1.9/W in January 2023, less than
CNY 1.7/W in March 2023, and CNY
1.3/W in offers submitted for project ten-
ders by tier-one module makers in July
2023. A price of CNY 1.18/W was bid for
one SOE-led procurement exercise in July
2023. A November 2023 procurement by
State Power Investment Corp. and state
utility China Huadian Corp. attracted a
CNY 1.01/W bid for JinkoSolar’s n-type
panels and some passivated emitter rear
contact (PERC) products bid at CNY 1/W,
for a more than 45% price fall during 2023.
Analysts estimate a CNY 1/W to
CNY 1.1/W cost threshold for tier-one
module manufacturers. Liu Yuxi, president
of Longi Green Energy’s China regional
department, recently told a conference
that “if the PV panel price falls below
CNY 1/W, it signifies a complete dip below
the cost threshold.”
Current overcapacity
The current overcapacity in Chinese solar
production is down to the government’s
30 to 60 carbon commitments, with big
players expanding in anticipation of
future market growth.
An estimated CNY 2.5 trillion worth
of solar production expansion plans
have been announced since 2020, with
CNY 700 billion of commitments in 2021
and CNY 900 billion in 2022. While the
investment boom cooled considerably
in 2023, eight leading PV companies
recently announced CNY 300 billion of
production investment. Polysilicon pro-
duction secured more than CNY 700
billion of investment from 2020 to 2022
and solar ingot and wafer manufacturing
snagged more than CNY 290 billion. Cell
and panel production investment topped
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

solar market in 2023
China plans to use big PV projects, like the Dalat array in the Kubuqi Desert, to control sand and wind, limiting desertification in various regions.
CNY 820 billion during that period, while
solar glass attracted CNY 110 billion; eth-
ylene vinyl acetate and polyolefin film
production CNY 18.5 billion; diamond
wire cutting equipment CNY 14 billion;
and backsheet production CNY 20 billion.
Data from the CPIA and the silicon
branch of the China Nonferrous Metals
Industry Association indicate China will
reach three million tons of annual poly-
silicon production capacity during 2023,
plus 800 GW of solar wafer lines, 700 GW
of cell capacity, and 800 GW of module
fabs. Oversupply means factory utiliza-
tion rates are likely to be lower than for
2022, however.
A divergence in opinion between cor-
porations and the government is evi-
dent regarding overcapacity. Longi’s Liu
believes the current overcapacity has
started to impede the innovation capa-
bility of Chinese PV enterprises. That is
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
market & trends
Photo: Huawei
primarily due to the lower selling prices
resulting from overcapacity, which in
turn hamper profitability and the cor-
porate funds available for research and
development.
On the other hand, Liu Yiyang, deputy
secretary general of the CPIA, holds the
belief that overcapacity is an inevitable
occurrence in a market economy. He said
that the issue lies in the structural aspect
of overcapacity and argued that it is cru-
cial to acknowledge that a market econ-
omy inherently experiences overcapacity,
due to competition.
An official from China’s Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology
said that the Chinese PV industry is oper-
ating within a normal scale. The official
said that overcapacity is a regular phe-
nomenon in market competition.
The stock market has provided a stern
response to both viewpoints. China’s PV
23
 market & trends

Photo: Daqo New Energy

Leading panel manufacturer Risen is
also placing its bets on HJT, aiming for
15 GW of cell and module capacity by the
end of 2023. When combined with other
companies investing in HJT, a cumula-
tive panel production capacity of almost
70 GW could be put into production by
the close of 2023. This suggests that a sub-
stantial quantity of HJT modules will be
delivered to the market in 2024.
Longi, together with Aiko Solar, is
actively promoting back-contact (xBC)
cell technology, with Longi presenting its
hybrid passivated back contact solution
and Aiko focused on an all-back-con-
tact approach. Given the industry prom-
inence of both companies, xBC cell tech-
nology is poised to evolve significantly in
2024. The combination of TOPCon, HJT,
and xBC cells is driving the replacement China’s capacity to produce polysilicon reportedly passed three million tons per year in 2023.
of PERC technology, accelerating its exit
from the market. not only streamline transportation and
In a significant development, the major- warehousing processes but also contrib-
ity of prominent Chinese panel manufac- ute to cost reduction within the industry.
turers convened in June to establish a stan-
dardized dimension for medium-format New scenarios
PV panels, ending the practice of individ- In China, utility-scale PV is primarily
ualized sizes. Unified panel dimensions led by state-owned energy companies.

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market & trends
Photo: Huasun
Huasun is one of a number of Chinese players betting big on heterojunction technology.
Limited land availability in eastern and
southern China ensures large-scale power
plants are predominantly located in high-
land desert areas in northern and north-
western regions. Sites face power con-
sumption challenges, however.
To address this, the Chinese govern-
ment plans to construct ultra-high-volt-
age transmission lines to transport the
power generated to economically devel-
oped regions in the middle and east of the
country.
As part of its 14th national five-year
Plan, China aims to establish large renew-
able energy bases in nine regions across
“It is anticipated
that around 100 GW
its western, northern, and northwestern
regions by 2030. The target is to install a
minimum of 450 GW of renewable energy
generation capacity, primarily consist-
ing of solar and wind sites. In 2021, state-
of projects will be owned energy companies initiated the
first batch of projects, with a total gen-
completed within the eration capacity of 97 GW. The second
batch, expected to exceed 400 GW, will
commence construction after 2023. It is
14th five-year plan anticipated that around 100 GW of proj-
ects will be completed within the 14th five-
period
” year plan period, which closes in 2025.
These large-scale energy bases, guided
by the National Development and Reform
Commission and the NEA, have multiple
roles. Apart from accommodating high-
capacity renewable energy installations
for clean power generation, they also
serve as testing grounds for new module
products.
The approach resembles the govern-
ment’s previous Top Runner Program,
but the new utility-scale energy bases
could also test generation measurement
and energy storage approaches for grid
power peak shaving, green hydrogen pro-
26
duction, desertification control, agrivolta-
ics, PV pastures, and even “advanced coal
power facilities” to enhance power quality.
In addition to the development of the
energy bases, state-owned energy compa-
nies have discovered new applications for
solar technology, namely highway and off-
shore PV.
Novel applications
The implementation of highway PV
involves installing distributed PV power
farms on the roofs of buildings within
highway service areas, parking lots, and
along the roadbeds adjacent to service
areas. These power generation systems
can supply clean electricity to serve pas-
sengers and vehicles. Some state bodies
have even explored installing PV systems
in the middle of the highway isolation
zone and on both sides of soundproof-
ing walls. Technical and cost challenges
remain, however. Several local govern-
ments have initiated studies and the for-
mulation of technical specifications and
supportive policy. The future of highway
solar holds great potential and is expected
to gain traction.
Offshore floating PV is also on the rise.
According to data from the China Min-
istry of Natural Resources, the nation
boasts a vast expanse of approximately
710,000 km2 that is designated for off-
shore PV installation and could accom-
modate more than 70 GW of floating PV
capacity. Coastal provinces such as Shan-
dong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have unveiled
ambitious offshore PV development blue-
prints with construction of almost 60 GW
of generation capacity planned.
Despite the current cost of floating solar
being 5% to 12% higher than onshore PV,
the plummeting price of modules has pro-
pelled offshore PV nearer a positive return-
on-investment. In November 2023, the
Haiyang HG34 power plant, boasting an
impressive installed generation capacity of
2.7 GW, commenced operation off the
coast of Shandong province. The growth
of offshore PV still faces hurdles such as
a dearth of supportive policy and height-
ened climate-change related risk, however.
Prospects for 2024
Looking ahead to 2024, there are sev-
eral key areas of focus for the Chinese PV
industry. Firstly, the sector is concerned
about PV module prices. Facing the dual
pressures of production capacity increases
and falling demand, there is speculation
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

module prices may fall further. There have
been unconfirmed reports since Novem-
ber 2023 suggesting that tier-one wafer,
cell, and module producers are facing
more frequent factory shutdowns and
opting for limited production to main-
tain prices and margins. It remains to be
seen whether limited production can sta-
bilize or drive module prices up.
Secondly, China’s PV supply chain is
grappling with overcapacity across all
its nodes. New production capacity is
expected in 2023 and 2024. Overcapacity
could cause substantial losses, bankrupt-
cies, and the restructuring of numerous
enterprises. It remains to be seen whether
any of the large solar manufacturers will
suffer the same difficulties as big-name
predecessors Suntech, Yingli, and LDK.
China’s economy is experiencing a
downturn, with manufacturing output
stagnating or declining and electricity
demand expected to remain flat or to fall.
Given the challenges related to consump-
tion and low returns, power plant inves-
tors could see their appetites significantly
reduced. A decline in installed capacity
may drive an industry-wide recession.
Let’s start with
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market & trends
The primary concern for 2024 is the
volume of new solar generation capacity
that can be expected. Increasing reliance
on renewable energy has raised concerns
about grid stability.
Since October 2023, several Chinese
provincial governments have temporarily
suspended approval for ground-mounted China is set to install more than
or distributed PV projects. Those deci-
180 GW
sions stem from fears that grids will not
be able to accommodate additional inter-
mittent energy sources. Will the situation
improve in 2024? If not, it will undoubt-
edly have a significant impact on new solar
capacity. In fact, annual new PV capacity of PV in 2023
may actually decline in 2024.
What is certain is that TOPCon is on
track to become a mainstream product.
The market space for HJT and xBC cells
remains uncertain, however, and the pos-
sibility of a commercial breakthrough with
perovskites still hangs in the background.
Regardless of the global landscape, Chi-
na’s 30-60 carbon targets safeguard the
long-term trajectory of the PV industry.
While short-term setbacks may occur,
the industry will inevitably experience a
resurgence. Vincent Shaw
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market & trends
Solar slows but heat
pumps set to grow
UK-based solar distributors are
grappling with module oversupply
just like their European peers,
but the British market also has
characteristics distinct from the
European Union. To get the inside
track, pv magazine spoke with
Jamie Vaux, commercial director for
Midsummer Energy.
Founded in 2005, Midsummer Energy is a UK distributor with an Irish subsidiary based in Dublin.
28
M idsummer Energy has been deal-
ing with the effects of oversupply.
Thankfully for the British PV distribu-
tor, it’s a challenge that follows a period of
significant growth. Company accounts for
the year to May 31, 2022, showed turnover
of GBP 50 million ($62 million). It grew to
GBP 122 million the following year.
Approaching the halfway point of the
current UK fiscal year, first-half turnover
was projected at GBP 57 million, on track
to comfortably exceed GBP 100 million
over 12 months. Healthy numbers, but
growth has slowed, perhaps inevitably
given market conditions.
“A large part of that is about panel
prices,” said Jamie Vaux, commercial
director at Midsummer Energy. “They
halved in the space of a few months. We’ve
lowered our prices accordingly, so that
takes a big chunk out of revenue.”
Founded in 2005 by former climate sci-
entist Andy Rankin, Midsummer Energy
operates with 120 staff across three com-
pany-owned warehouses and three third-
party warehouses used for stock and logis-
tics. The company also has a team of 10
software developers and promotes its free
web-based solar and heat-pump design
tools, Easy PV and Heatpunk.
Distributed responsibility
In the current environment, Vaux told
pv magazine, it’s the shared nature of the
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

module price problem that causes real dif-
ficulty. “It’s not fully in your own control,”
he said. “In a market where there is over-
supply across the board, even if you man-
age your own inventory, if your competi-
tors are overstocked then as soon as they
drop [prices] to clear it, then that’s avail-
able to all your customers.”
Vaux said that there has not been a race
to the bottom in the United Kingdom, as
prices have ratcheted downwards – dis-
tributors have reacted incrementally to
changes in the market.
“It’s very reactive. All the manufactur-
ers are overstocked as well, so every week
there’s new pricing and you have to make
decisions,” he said.
Residential decline
There’s more to the picture than mod-
ule pricing. Other factors influencing the
United Kingdom’s PV market include a
fall in demand, particularly in the resi-
dential segment. The pandemic and the
period that followed were high times for
home improvement as many consumers
with savings opted to invest in their prop-
erties, fueling demand for solar.
“During that period, there was a lot of
spending on upgrading people’s homes,”
said Vaux. “There was quite a lot of
demand coming out of that and then there
was the energy crisis [of winter 2022] and
you had the invasion of Ukraine and the
impact of that.”
All those factors put demand into over-
drive and Vaux suggested that, at least in
the residential sector, many of those with
money to spend will have spent it in 2022.
That, combined with inflation applying
pressure to the cost of living in the United
Kingdom in 2023, drained the well of resi-
dential demand.
Things are different in the commercial
space, according to Vaux, who said that
many UK businesses are “really keen”
to invest. Here, the issue is a bottleneck
around grid connections as companies
await approval from the regional district
network operators (DNO) responsible for
electric power distribution.
Heating up
PV demand may have stalled slightly in
a turbulent 2023 but it’s not the only ave-
nue for growth at Midsummer Energy.
In 2021, the company expanded into the
renewable heating sector with new part-
ners including heat pump manufacturers
Samsung, Valiant, and Sunamp. The deci-
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
market & trends
Photos: Midsummer Energy
Midsummer expanded into the heat pump market in 2021.
sion to expand the offer comes as policy-
makers in the United Kingdom plan for a
future with heat pumps playing a key role
in decarbonizing household heating. That
comes despite cynicism towards the tech-
nology in some quarters, Vaux explained.
“There’s a lot of negative press in the
UK about heat pumps and what it really
overlooks is that in so many other markets
they are just much further ahead, like ten
times more of it happening in France,” he
said. “[People have] issues with it working Midsummer Energy’s
in cold temperatures, overlooking the fact turnover hit
that Scandinavia runs on it.”
GBP122
While Vaux agreed with one argument
put forward by heat pump critics – that
there are many other issues with housing
stock in the United Kingdom – he said
million
that using that as a reason to refrain from
investment is faulty logic.
“Saying houses are badly insulated and
leaky, so it’s fine if we just carry on burn-
ing gas – it’s not a compelling argument
environmentally,” he said. for the year to May 2023
The British press may not be on the
side of heat pumps at this stage but the
government has targeted 600,000 instal-
lations per year by 2028. That represents
a big opportunity for businesses such as
Midsummer Energy.
“That’s more than an eightfold increase
in what’s currently happening,” said Vaux.
“We’re already seeing an increase in install-
ers who offer both technologies, and cus-
tomers looking to source the whole pack-
age from us.” Matthew Lynas
29
applications & installations

Artificial opportunities
Artificial intelligence (AI) is hot right now and is finding central applications in homes and businesses as they
move from simple grid connections to self-generation, energy storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and load-
shifting revenue streams. With AI everywhere, what’s the difference between advanced control via simple
algorithms, and true intelligence?

A I might be a buzzword but when it

comes to energy management it is
currently the only tool that can take huge
amounts of data and make meaningful
forecasts to optimize the use of renew-
able energy and storage, especially as EVs
proliferate.
Energy startup Lade, based in Mainz,
Germany, focuses on optimizing renew-
able energy consumption across EV charg-
ing and energy management. AI is already
proving to be a useful tool deployed for
customers’ benefits.
Lade founder and CEO Dennis Schul-
meyer told pv magazine that an internal
team of seven dedicated employees are
working on AI in combination with their
LADEgenius product that can handle
200 EV chargers, to interface with local
data inputs from PV modules, energy
storage systems, and EV chargers, along
with inputs and outputs to fulfil grid reg-
ulations. LADEgenius is basically an on-
site load manager and connector that can
make decisions with the help of cloud
intelligence. That cloud intelligence uses
AI and machine learning, via a system the
company calls Lana.
“Lana is AI because she is able to
forecast the availability of energy,” said
Schulmeyer. “Lana can gather data from
weather services in Germany and fore-
cast up to five days to ascertain how much
renewable energy will be available.
“We also forecast the availability of
local renewable energy for the building,
for generation, reading inverter data and
weather values for the installation, and
forecast consumption as well. Our main
[unique selling point] is also being able
to forecast car arrival and departure times
LADEgenius functions as an on-site load manager and connector that can make decisions and how much energy the cars will really
with the help of cloud intelligence. need up to five days into the future, and

30 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

 applications & installations

Photos: Lade

Lade chargers get better at estimating the

“is The
energy needs of EVs over time.
advantage of a startup
[we] calculate the optimal charge plan for
that time.” that we run many models
All of that comes at a “high cost,” said
Schulmeyer, as the AI trains on data and
runs on models hosted on cloud servers,
and AI technologies,
with Lade adding some additional costs for
itself by paying for the use of strictly renew-
able energy, with offsets for the servers.
“Our internal team developed the AI
and we adapt
Dennis Schulmeyer
”
for the past three years,” said the CEO.
“We initially trained it to use open source
data while adding real data from our char-
gers and, for example, data from custom-
ers from their PV generation, and even
our own real-world setup here in Mainz.”
Schulmeyer confirmed that adding addi-
tional customer data to Lana’s training
data has improved predictions further.

www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 31

applications & installations
Optimizing with AI
SolarEdge’s product vice president, Ido Ginodi, explained how AI is
being used to optimize energy management systems and how it
handles fundamentally tough optimization problems and forecast-
ing in a way that traditional control algorithms cannot – even in
the home.
Israel-based SolarEdge is well known in the PV industry and as
complexity emerges between energy generation and storage, EV
charging, data, and forecasting, Ido Ginodi shows considerable
enthusiasm for how his company is using AI’s advantages.
“The lines between good solid algorithm approaches and AI are
blurry,” Ginodi said. “But after spending a few years researching AI
in academic settings, a lot of what people are doing, including us,
in this field is truly AI-driven and it promotes our ability to offer
state of the art energy optimization.”
Ginodi explained that AI is not only required when an application
grows in size from a single dwelling with just one EV charger to
multi-dwelling buildings and commercial and industrial sites with
multiple, possibly hundreds, of chargers.
“I actually want to argue something a bit different: In the residen-
tial use case, AI is extremely important,” said Ginodi. “The problem
of energy management is fundamentally a tough optimization
problem. We started our journey with the concept of power opti-
mization, optimizing the amount of juice that can be squeezed out
of solar arrays. Now we are taking it a few steps ahead, optimizing
a whole-site performance, which is an order of magnitude more
complex.”
The SolarEdge executive explained that an energy management
system can optimize metrics for the end customer’s benefit. It
does so while orchestrating elements such as PV generation, bat-
tery dispatch, EV charging, and load orchestration. Systems can
also optimize heating, ventilation, and air conditioning integra-
tion for pre-heating and cooling, while accommodating dynamic
tariffs and market participation, and even preparations for out-
ages, by using data to make decisions.
A commercial PV rooftop and carport in Germany, featuring SolarEdge technology.
32
“It ends up having multiple degrees of flexibility,” said Ginodi. “It’s
a lot and it’s fascinating, and in some places AI-driven solutions
may generate results that are significantly better than what a naive
algorithmic approach could have achieved.
“But we go further. We develop predictive models based on
machine-learning regression techniques for consumption, produc-
tion, import and export tariffs, and one for grid events. Once you
have those four models, you can have classical algorithms make
the decision on how you want to dispatch the different resources
you have in a system.”
For the end user, this translates to the management system either
optimizing for profit, as is common, or optimizing for convenience
or for decarbonization, per user preferences.
Ginodi added that SolarEdge portfolio companies also work closely
to incorporate AI capabilities into its offering. In particular, EV
charging management company Wevo works to cost-effectively
scale EV charging with predictive load management and capac-
ity management. While static and dynamic load management
technology is becoming more abundant in the industry, AI in the
form of predictive modeling offers significant improvements to the
concurrency factor – that is, the ability to fit more chargers under a
given grid connection point.
“Say an enterprise wants to offer electrified parking spots in its car
park,” said Ginodi. “It’s extremely costly to offer 100 new spots at
11/22 kW each. That’s 1 MW or 2 MW of extra power required. A brute
force approach would be to require the full power provisioned for
the system. But you don’t have to charge the vehicles together
and you don’t even have to statically attach capacity to each char-
ger. That’s dynamic load management. One step further, you can
incorporate the predictions Wevo generate and build an optimal
schedule for charging. The model assumes that cars will appear in a
parking lot at a certain velocity and what will be the levels of local
production and total consumption at each point in time. “With
these predictions at hand, one can serve more vehicles and drivers,
up to 20 times more compared to a naïve implementation.”
Photo: SolarEdge
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
applications & installations
Test success for
robot inspector
Utility-scale installations are
accelerating while labor shortages
prompt the industry to explore
alternative strategies for delivering
and operating solar plants. Utility-
scale solar construction company
McCarthy Building Companies
and robotics company OnSight
Technology recently teamed up to
test a robotic tool to inspect field
components.
OnSight’s ground-inspection robot docks at
a solar-generator charging station next to
a large-scale solar project.
34
G rid-scale solar segment growth
and increasing labor costs are driv-
ing solar site managers to find new ways
to expand inspection capabilities while
reducing overheads. Solar sites require
extensive preventative maintenance to
keep equipment running optimally. The
detailed visual inspections currently being
conducted by field technicians can be
laborious and time-consuming.
“Most maintenance contracts include
service-level guarantees requiring respon-
siveness and insight into system perfor-
mance, and the demand for these insights
is increasing each year,” said Scott Can-
ada, from McCarthy Building Companies’
renewable energy team. “Current exam-
ples of monitoring systems and methods
used include stationary monitoring sys-
tems or aerial drones but these methods
often have inadequate capabilities and
practical limitations.”
Researchers at robotics startup OnSight
Technology have developed the Bulldog
McCarthy partnered with OnSight to test the
effectiveness, quality, speed, and accuracy
of ground-inspection robots on utility-scale
solar projects.
robot to help bridge the gap and provide
an alternative monitoring system. After
incorporating enhanced technology that
increases battery life, wireless charging,
thermal camera resolution, outdoor-
rated components, and advancements
in machine vision training techniques,
the latest ground-inspection robots were
ready to be field tested.
“By automating the process, inspec-
tions can be systematically completed
Photos: OnSight Technology
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

with a higher level of accuracy and effi-
ciency by the robot, reducing human error
and maintaining a consistent level of high-
quality checks,” said Graham Ryland, chief
product officer with OnSight. “Not only
does automation increase operational
efficiency, it frees up human resources
to focus on more complex tasks, thereby
optimizing overall workflow.”
Field testing
McCarthy partnered with OnSight on sev-
eral solar projects and use cases. The robot
maker built out barcode-scanning capa-
bilities for a 195 MW project in Arizona
that included barcode scanning and geo-
location as a contractual requirement to
ensure ease of operation and warranty ful-
fillment. A head-to-head comparison was
conducted using human labor versus the
latest technology in ground-based robotic
inspection.
“Through a three-phased approach,
OnSight made improvements to barcode
scanning on-site that increased the scan-
ning speed from two modules per min-
ute to 18 modules per minute, rivaling the
human field technician’s rate of 21 mod-
ules per minute,” Ryland said. “This was
achieved by adapting the technology on-
site to optimally perform inspections.”
The OnSight robot was equipped with
a 4k color camera, 33x optical zoom and
high-precision GPS. It operated on battery
power for eight hours daily and recharged
using solar generator charging stations.
The robot was managed remotely by a
human operator using manual and auton-
omous modes to undertake the scanning
process, instead of eight-hour shifts and
two-and-a-half-hour roundtrip com-
mutes by field technicians to the site.
Accurate and reliable
Human module scanning is quicker than
robot scanning but only when skilled
and reliable personnel are available on
site. With human scanners coping with
extreme weather conditions, their over-
all time scanning throughout the day was
significantly less than that of the robot,
ensuring the per-day performance of
modules scanning by a human and robot
were similar.
Where the robot excelled was in the
accuracy and reliability of scanning mis-
sion results. This was due to the robot’s use
of an auto-stop functionality, serial num-
ber integrity verification, and constant
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
applications & installations
Test results
Production rate Current
Quantity of robots or crews 1
Total modules 470,892
Module scanning start date Aug. 2, 2023
Financial close date (due to owner) Aug. 15, 2023
OnSight McCarthy
Modules per work minute 18 21
Modules per hour 810 945
Total modules per day 6,480 6,615
Total modules – 20-day period 129,600 132,300
Months to complete 4 4
Estimated completion date May 20, 2023 May 18, 2023
Based on this analysis, the robot cost was one third the cost of humans performing the same task
mission recording, which combined to
prevent the robot from missing a barcode
while scanning a row. This level of preci-
sion is important because the robot’s scan-
ning results aligned exactly with the proj-
ect’s as-built drawings and made locating
a faulty module much easier.
Access to a high-power, radiomet-
ric thermal camera enabled the robot to
perform back-of-module hotspot and
MC4-connector infrared inspections
and barcode scanning missions at the
same time. This occurred without nega-
tively affecting barcode scan rate unless
an issue was discovered and needed to be
documented.
Lessons learned
The McCarthy and OnSight collabora-
tion illustrated that time-consuming,
repetitive, and detail-oriented tasks, par- A ground-inspection robot uses its thermal camera to
ticularly focused on data collection and conduct solar module inspections.
identification, are better completed with
technical solutions, especially when it
involves the rapid deployment of multi-
ple automated robots. The potential ben-
efits of ground-based robots include: cost
savings on quality inspections by elimi-
nating the need for quality engineers and
manual inspections; efficient remedial
work by having all issues identified with
geotags; less rework for quality inspec-
tions; and higher revenues, thanks to
higher DC availability.
“Rather than replacing humans in the About the author
construction and commissioning of these Zachary Nichols is director of operations
projects, we anticipate these tools can be and maintenance for McCarthy Building
used to free up specialized workers and Companies renewables group. He provides stra-
technicians to do higher-value work,” tegic guidance for operations and maintenance
of solar projects. With more than 15 years of
OnSight’s Ryland said. “With labor short-
experience in commissioning, O&M, and war-
ages and demand only expected to increase, ranty programs, he works to deliver value to
ground-based robots make sense to incor- project owners and shareholders through inno-
porate on projects.” Zachary Nichols vation and client-service program strategies.
35
applications & installations
PPAs offer protection
Europe is witnessing a surge in power purchase agreements (PPAs). Over the past four years, the number of
European PPA transactions has trebled. More than 180 deals were signed in 2022 alone and the trend is expected
to continue, especially for solar projects, says IB Vogt power analyst Sara Fountir Benbrahim.
F or corporations with sustainability
targets, PPAs are an optimal tool to
accelerate the transition to clean sources
of electricity while ensuring cost stability.
Long-term contracts featuring fixed or
predictable prices offer a practical solu-
tion for raising corporate sustainability
and mitigating price volatility.
Countries with favorable solar condi-
tions, such as Spain, Italy, Greece, and
Poland, have seen substantial growth in
PV power projects and solar PPAs. Other
EU member states are also increasingly
recognizing the potential of investing in
solar energy.
IB Vogt signed a
12-year
PPA with Google in Spain
For example, the Spanish market is experi-
encing a solar PPA resurgence due to com-
petitive prices and abundant sunshine. IB
Vogt has seen large-scale solar attracting
significant attention from corporations
and utilities. The main driver behind this
growth stems from the combination of low
PPA prices and the ample scale of projects
with strong wind and solar resources, cre-
ating a conducive environment for corpo-
rate renewable PPA buyers.
Compelling projects
One of the most compelling projects IB
Vogt closed in Spain in 2022 was the 149
MW Garnacha solar power plant located
in the province of Zamora. The project
signed a 12-year PPA with Google. The
successful close of project financing was
a notable example of the combined power
of different industries such as renewable
36
energy, global tech, and financial services
all working together.
Along with Spain, the German and
Italian markets have emerged as strongly
competitive in terms of solar PPAs. PPAs
are the third pillar of PV growth in Ger-
many alongside invitations to tender and
self-consumption, according to the cur-
rent EU Market Outlook from SolarPower
Europe. Italy has witnessed a resurgence
in its solar industry, with the revised
National Integrated Plan for Climate and
Energy for 2030 envisaging a leading role
for solar in the nation’s energy mix, with
PV expected to represent more than half
of Italy’s renewables capacity.
While the surge in these markets may
not be surprising, given their relative
maturity, central and Eastern Europe has
also seen rising PPA potential. Emerg-
ing markets such as Poland, Romania
and Greece have recently increased their
renewables targets, removing red tape for
PPAs and becoming more attractive for
corporate electricity purchasers.
Key benefit
Despite the surge in interest for corpo-
rate PPAs, the market for large-scale solar
investments is in its early stages.
Intense competition for access to
renewable energy projects has led to inno-
vative deal structures and a wide range of
contract terms. Fixed prices offer budget-
ary certainty and risk mitigation, ensur-
ing stability but potentially missing out
on market savings. Minimum price guar-
antees offer downside protection but may
come with a cost premium.
Physical settlements offer direct energy
supply and hedge against physical risks
but can be logistically complex, while
financial settlements provide risk man-
agement and increased flexibility but
expose buyers to financial market risks
and basis risk.
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

IB Vogt has around 28 GW of renewables capacity under development in Europe.
Decisions should align with risk toler-
ance, budget considerations, and strategic
goals, weighing the pros and cons of each
pricing element to determine the most
suitable approach.
Future PPAs
The future for solar PPAs in Europe
appears bright. These agreements play a
pivotal role in achieving EU targets for
renewable energy adoption and reducing
carbon emissions. As more corporations
commit to sustainability goals and coun-
tries implement supportive policies, the
market is poised for substantial growth.
A diverse array of players participate
in these agreements. Project developers,
large corporations, utilities, and financial
institutions are key stakeholders, and all of
these players are contributing to the flour-
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
applications & installations
Photo: IB Vogt
ishing PPA ecosystem. Integrating capa-
bilities is therefore essential to delivering
end-to-end solutions for the execution of
the PPA deals.
IB Vogt’s commitment is to contrib-
ute to the growth and transformation of
energy landscapes across the region with
a pipeline of more than 45 GW of gener-
ation capacity of projects under develop-
ment, of which around 28 GW are located
in Europe.
Our growing pipeline in the region
has put us in a position to serve increas-
ing customer demand and has enabled IB
Vogt to forge strategic partnerships with
About the author
our customers. These partnerships have Sara Fountir Benbrahim is a power
helped to steadily provide reduced emis- market analyst at utility-scale solar devel-
oper IB Vogt. She has extensive experience in
sions and reduced cost power supply solu- power markets and shaping regulatory frame-
tions across Europe and are poised to works in the European Union and Middle East
continue doing so. Sara Fountir Benbrahim and Africa regions.
37
applications & installations
Decarbonizing
disaster response
Diesel generators have been the workhorse of disaster relief for decades
but as the frequency of extreme weather events rises, so do calls to
decarbonize the emergency response. Sustainability may not be the only
benefit to using solar in a crisis, as pv magazine discovers.
W ater, power, and shelter. Whether
earthquakes, extreme weather,
or sudden refugee crises occur, all three
are crucial when disaster strikes. Solar is
playing an increasing role in providing all
three for first responders.
While a mature technology, solar is a
relative newcomer to emergency response.
PV’s technological advances and afford-
able price mean non-profits and private
companies are taking solar to places in
desperate need of power.
In September 2017, Hurricane Maria
struck the US territory of Puerto Rico
causing destruction and almost 3,000
deaths. Energy infrastructure was
wrecked and more than 90% of the island’s
residents lost power. US-based non-profit
Empowered by Light was one of the first
Nanogrids can be set up in 15 minutes, according to groups on the ground.
Sesame Solar.
38
Founded in 2011, Empowered by Light
began as a charity providing solar to
remote schools in Zambia. It has com-
pleted more than 80 solar and energy stor-
age projects in nine countries. Develop-
mental work still makes up the core of the
non-profit’s activity but executive direc-
tor and co-founder Moira Hanes told pv
magazine that when Hurricane Maria hit,
Empowered by Light had the chance to
show how quickly solar can be deployed.
“We’re not normally an emergency
response disaster relief organization,” she
said. “But after the hurricane, we imme-
diately went out to the island. We started
putting solar energy [with] storage on
fire stations so that they could continue
to operate, or be operating again because
a lot of them had been on these generators
which had broken down. They couldn’t
even receive 911 calls or effectively dis-
patch their personnel.”
Why solar?
Reliability was a main benefit of solar on
Puerto Rico, Hanes said. Not only were
Photo: Sesame Solar
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

some diesel backup generators failing, it
was occurring at the worst possible time
regarding replacement parts.
“Diesel generators break down and
you can’t get the part in a timely man-
ner because your supply chain and sup-
ply routes have been constrained because
of the disaster,” said Hanes, “PV is reliable
and renewable and it’s not polluting.”
Empowered by Light has installed solar
arrays on 11 Puerto Rican fire stations, in
partnership with other charitable groups
and businesses. The charity has also pro-
vided PV support to communities on
Maui, Hawaii, following the outbreak of
wildfires on the US island in early August
2023. In Maui, innovative approaches to
disaster PV include the use of what Hanes
described as “powerfield buckets,” made
up of rows of solar modules connected to
donated Tesla Powerwall batteries.
“That was immediately deployed to
power the aid distribution site,” said Hanes.
“It’s powering refrigeration, lighting.
They’re cooking three meals a day there.”
Empowered by Light is not a manu-
facturer or installer. The charity works
with local PV companies where possible,
ensuring relief efforts provide new oppor-
tunities for a community’s solar industry.
“We will use a local [engineering, pro-
curement and construction company]
that is as close to that community as pos-
sible,” said Hanes. “That way, we’re helping
build local capacity. We have advisers, our
engineers can weigh in on the design but
we’re trying to make certain everything is
done on as local a level as possible. We’re
also trying to procure hardware in the
country, wherever possible. So you’re not
shipping modules from the US, for exam-
ple, to Africa, which is cost prohibitive.”
Cost is the other factor that comes up
when discussing PV in a disaster context.
A can of diesel is a lot cheaper than a PV
module and cash is a precious resource in
communities facing the cost of rebuilding.
Empowered by Light has a diverse group
of backers providing financial assistance.
OpenSolar in particular has made a sig-
nificant contribution to Empowered by
Light, with the solar design software com-
pany pledging to donate 1% of its annual
revenue to the charity’s projects.
Duck curve financing
Footprint Project is another charity sup-
porting solar relief efforts on Maui. The
organization has partnered with Empow-
ered by Light in the past and the pair
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
applications & installations
Photo: Empowered by Light
Empowered by Light was one of the first organizations on the ground when disaster struck San
Sebastian, in Puerto Rico, in 2017.
expect to collaborate on longer-term solar
projects on the island.
When it comes to disaster funding, Foot-
print Project operations director and co-
founder, Will Heegaard, said he would like
to see greater investment ahead of time –
although that can be a challenge for relief
organizations. Much as with solar gen-
eration and grid capacity, there is a gap
between the peak funding period for disas-
ter relief and demand for finance. Most
donations come in the wake of a disaster.
The money is obviously welcome but a cash
injection in the weeks and months before
incidents occur could arguably go further.
That way, more resources and infrastruc-
5-20 kW
ture would be in place to react.
“We need to solve the duck curve of
disaster financing,” said Heegaard. “If
we’re going to be successful in expanding
adoption of renewable technologies in
disaster affected communities, we need is available from Sesame
the industry to pony up and invest in our Solar’s nanogrids
work ahead of time. Otherwise, we will
not be as successful as we could be.”
The resources deployed can vary at
Footprint Project. Jamie Swezey, the orga-
nization’s program director, described his
employer as technology agnostic.
Broadly, the non-profit seeks to replace
the 2 kW to 10 kW diesel generator. Its
microgrids, therefore, operate in and
around that range. That can mean a 2 kW
or smaller set-up handy for charging cell
phones in a crisis or a converted shipping
container fitted with 10 kW to 20 kW
solar arrays and 100 kW of battery stor-
age. Footprint Project’s biggest microgrid
to date, with a capacity of around 80 kW,
can be found in Napili Park, on Maui.
39
applications & installations
Photo: Sesame Solar
Sesame Solar manufactures an all-in-one, towed “nanogrid” trailer.
Those PV installations don’t just supply
power for relief work, they improve qual-
ity of life for first responders, according
to Footprint Project. Swezey said that the
non-profit has considered finding a way
to record decibel levels, as one of the most
frequent benefits cited by first responders
when PV is installed is the reduction in
noise level.
Sound isn’t the only thing that can make
diesel generators a pain. First responders
working around generators often com-
plain of headaches, which Heegaard
described as a symptom of low-grade car-
bon monoxide poisoning. Things can get
much worse depending on where and how
fossil fuel generators are used.
“After Hurricane Laura hit the gulf [of
Mexico], more people died from carbon
monoxide poisoning from running their
gas generators in their garage, to power
their house, than died from the hurricane
itself,” said Heegaard. “It’s a huge health
risk for a number of reasons.”
Photo: Empowered by Light
EPL has put “powerfield buckets” to good use in Honokowai, Maui.
40
Business case
Using solar in disaster response is more
than a charitable endeavor. At Michigan-
based start-up Sesame Solar, the potential
to use mobile “nanogrids” in a crisis serves
as the foundation of a business – one that’s
been steadily expanding. Founded in 2017,
the nanogrid manufacturer has picked up
a diverse range of clients with an interest
in disaster response.
US communications giant Comcast
has used Sesame Solar nanogrids in the
aftermath of hurricanes in both Loui-
siana and Florida. The U.S. Air Force
makes use of the company’s nanogrids as
a mobile medical base and for command
and security. In Santa Barbara County,
California, the local government has
invested in Sesame Solar nanogrids that
are towed to locations using all-electric
Ford-150 trucks.
Now with financial backing from insti-
tutional investors such as Morgan Stan-
ley, VSC Ventures, PAX Momentum, and
Belle Capital, as well as endorsements
from the likes of US President Bill Clin-
ton’s non-profit Clinton Foundation and
Time magazine, Sesame Solar is well posi-
tioned to make the shift to a global busi-
ness, as co-founder and chief executive
officer Lauren Flanagan explained.
“We’re already international,” she said.
“I would like to be global through our
partnerships. We have a subsidiary in
India already but we still make everything
in the United States. But it’s a global set of
problems with a global marketplace.”
At Sesame Solar, the focus has been on
creating a turnkey solution that requires
no installation and is simple to use. Fla-
nagan said the company’s trailer-mounted
nanogrids can be operated with a small
amount of training. Once up and running,
she said, Sesame Solar offers a continu-
ous energy loop that allows for consistent
power from 5 kW to 20 kW, depending
on system specification. The trailer which
houses the nanogrid also provides shelter
from the elements.
Consistency is key. The intermittent
nature of solar is not ideal in a disaster
relief context, if left unaddressed. Sesame
Solar solves this problem through a com-
bination of battery storage and hydrogen
electrolyzing capability.
It is a straightforward concept. Solar
power is generated during daylight hours
and can be used to power disaster response
and charge the nanogrid’s battery storage.
Stored power can then be deployed and
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
 applications & installations

Photo: Footprint Project

any excess can be used to power hydro-
gen generation on board. Nanogrids fitted
with a green hydrogen system for backup
power include a large tank of deionized
water. When the tank gets low, there is
an integrated atmospheric water genera-
tor that generates distilled water, which is
then deionized for use in hydrogen pro-
duction. The hydrogen itself is stored
as a solid, at low pressure, which means
transportation does not trigger permit
requirements.
“We make the deionized water we need
to make the hydrogen gas we need, and
you don’t do it all at once,” said Flanagan.
“It’s in a sequence. You start out with full
tanks of hydrogen and water and then
you’re topping them up as needed because
you’re not running the fuel cell full time. Footprint Project says better funding before disaster strikes would mean more effective solar
The whole point is that it’s a continuous interventions.
green energy loop that allows for consis-
tent, continuous power draw.” It’s a total solution, according to Flana-
Potable water is also on the menu, gan, with further scope for innovation in
thanks to a partnership between Sesame areas such as electric vehicle charging.
Solar and Watergen Ltd. The Israeli com- “That’s the idea,” she added. “Trying to
pany manufactures atmospheric drink- eliminate the supply chain of having to
ing water devices that create potable water bring hydrogen or fossil fuel or water into
from the air. an emergency zone.” Matthew Lynas

Advertisement
industry & suppliers
Staying on top
of traceability
Today, it is not enough for
developers, owners and lenders to
have internal environmental, social
and governance (ESG) metrics or
corporate social responsibility (CSR)
policies. Now, they must trust, as
well as verify, their partners’ ESG
metrics and CSR policies, especially
regarding labor practices. James
Whittemore, senior manager for
quality assurance and quality
control at Enertis Applus, offers a
guide to best practices.
Factory visits to observe processes and verify
documentation are a vital part of assuring ESG and
CSR compliance along the entire PV supply chain.
60
A ction to monitor supply chains for
sustainability and social responsi-
bility performance is not yet government-
mandated for companies purchasing
PV modules/cells, but they are indirect
“good business practices.” These actions
enable companies to learn about and pro-
tect themselves from various unexpected
setbacks. Having a clear understand-
ing of a partner company’s ESG metrics
and CSR policies provides more clarity
about the risk of engaging in a commer-
cial relationship.
Ethical and regulatory risks associated
with alleged use of unethical labor prac-
tices within the PV module supply chain
and the complexity of those supply chains
necessitate clear supply chain traceabil-
ity (SCT) through chain of custody doc-
umentation. Execution of SCT and ESG
audits in the PV industry involves an ever-
expanding scope of factors that demand
more and more documentation. Even if
the insatiable thirst for documentation is
quenched, suppliers are frequently given
a grade of “B,” and the question remains:
“Will this be detained at customs?”
If this still needs to be asked, it demon-
strates failure on two fronts. First, a lack of
clear communication about the expected
deliverables after audits. The intention is
to flag suspect behavior or situations and
to clear gaps within a supplier’s SCT pro-
cess. However, the audit does not preclude
a detention under the US Uyghur Forced
Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), nor does
it indicate how much time a manufacturer
will need to obtain a detention release.
The second failure is in procedure,
which is best introduced with a quote by
Photo: Enertis Applus+
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

Jamie Barsimantov, COO of SupplyShift,
shared in the 2022 Elevate Global Trace
Protocol Project Context Analysis Report:
“The term traceability is used too
broadly, without first identifying the spe-
cific goal or underlying reason to engage
the supply chain. This can lead compa-
nies to over-collect data, spend too much
time setting up complex systems, and
sometimes even collect the wrong data.
We find that companies have the most
success in understanding and addressing
risks in their multi-tiered supply chains
by first gaining basic mapping visibil-
ity into key materials. It is amazing how
easy it is to layer on information requests
and more granular detail based on an ini-
tial level of transparency and technology-
based engagement.”
Barsimantov’s quote offers guidance on
SCT and ESG audits to ensure that these
reviews are performed with relevance,
efficiency, and prioritization. The quote
implies there are two clear options – a top-
down or a bottom-up approach – both of
which are very similar. The key differenti-
ating steps are identified in bold in the box
to the right. While the top-down approach
is a more thorough methodology, the bot-
tom-up approach enables faster action
and risk mitigation. A proactive par-
ticipant within the PV industry could
engage in both strategies: the bottom-up
approach first to identify clear risks and
gain protection in the short term; then the
top-down approach, for the participant to
gain a more holistic view of risk assess-
ment and engage in long-term systematic
practices to avoid those risks.
Currently, the PV industry is stuck in
a reactionary bottom-up approach. Gov-
ernment action drives priorities through
detentions and risks of delay. Potential
current or future partnerships with unsa-
vory suppliers put the entire industry at
risk of another knee-jerk government
action to move industry behavior.
Ideally, buyers can protect themselves
and their partners from risks through
SCT and ESG due diligence on their sup-
pliers. They can further protect them-
selves, and by extension the industry, by
bringing in experts to perform a bottom-
up risk assessment. These assessments
would likely flag the need for additional
SCT and ESG due diligence on PV mod-
ule glass and frames and energy storage. A
more process-driven methodology would
be instituted internally by implementation
of the top-down approach.
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
industry & suppliers
Approaches to supply chain audits
Top-down approach
• Establish internal ESG metrics and CSR policies.
• Identify key materials and services.
• Perform basic supply chain mapping of those key materials. This will result in the
formation of multi-tiered supply chains for the key materials.
• Perform or obtain a subject matter expert(s) to perform a risk assessment of the key
material tiers components. Information such as white papers, webinars, research librar-
ies, web articles, publications, news, statistics and best practices from recognised and
official entities related to ESG and CSR will inform the risk of unethical labor practices
within specific key material tiers.
Bottom-up approach
• Establish internal ESG metrics and CSR policies.
• Identify key materials and services.
• Perform or obtain a subject matter expert(s) to perform a risk assessment of the key
materials and services using information such as white papers, webinars, research librar-
ies, web articles, publications, news, statistics and best practices from recognised and
official entities related to ESG and CSR . This will inform the risk of unethical labor prac-
tices within specific key material tiers.
• For those key materials and services identified as risky, perform basic supply chain
mapping of those key materials. This will result in the construction of multi-tiered
supply chain maps for the key materials.
SCT audits
A conventional scope for this project starts
out with a desktop review and gap analy-
sis of the supplier’s ESG policies, chain of
custody documentation, document reten-
tion policies, actual documentation reten-
tion practices and sub-supplier SCT and
ESG audits. It is common that gaps will
be identified here. Most likely, these can
only be remedied by a visit to the manu-
facturer’s factory to obtain documentation
and observe processes that are not avail-
able externally.
In that situation, one of Enertis Applus’
local inspectors will visit the relevant fac-
tory to perform a more in-depth audit. If
the supplier has not satisfactorily com-
pleted upstream ESG/SCT audits on
their suppliers, and with sufficient coop-
eration, our inspectors will visit the
upstream factory as well. As a rule, visi-
bility lessens as the process moves up the
supply chain. Many suppliers are unable
to provide satisfactory traceability back
to metallurgical grade silicon, let alone
quartzite.
While it is important for our industry
to continue to normalize traceability and
ESG/CSR, it is just as important to grow
verification for other components pro-
actively, rather than react to regulatory
orders. Transparent, clear, and mutually
About the author
verified ESG and CSR expectations for James Whittemore is a technical adviser
downstream and upstream entities alike with 12 years of experience in the PV indus-
try. He serves as a senior manager of quality
will continue to drive our industry to a assurance and quality control at Enertis Applus,
more ethical, stable and less reactionary where he is responsible for vendor inspection
state. James Whittemore services in the United States.
61
industry & suppliers
Europe’s subsidy
conundrum
On Nov. 6, the European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) published a
recommendation paper in which it set out how its members envisage a
European support scheme to foster the development of European solar.
But what chance does it have of actually achieving its goals?
Götz Fischbeck delivers an assessment.
A recent ESIA recommendation paper
illustrates the ways in which Euro-
pean policymakers could support a
domestic PV production industry. The
industry alliance paper sets out two key
principles: support for local PV com-
ponent content, and the creation of a
protected segment of the market that
would only be accessible to European
manufacturers.
At the same time, the authors of the
paper stress that they are not asking for
import duties or minimum import prices.
They explicitly write that, outside of the
protected-market volumes they want to
have introduced for European manufac-
€450bn
turers, free-market prices should reign to
“leave the other segments free of NPCs
(non-price criteria) in order not to impact
the accelerating pace of cost-effective
solar PV development.”
is spent by the European Union This assurance refers back to a recent
on agricultural subsidies history of misplaced protection attempts.
In 2013, when the European Union tried
and failed to support manufacturers with
the introduction of import duties and
minimum prices. These measures ham-
pered the industry for three years, while
virtually none of the manufacturers tar-
geted survived in the solar industry.
Bonus payments
Other than the desire for a designated
chunk of the marketplace for European
manufacturers, there is nothing espe-
cially revolutionary about the content of
this recommendation paper. The basic
principle is that PV modules with more
local content should be eligible for higher
bonus payments.
62
The ESIA lays out how its members
would like to see the creation of an envi-
ronment in which there is a realistic
chance to re-establish a European PV
industry that could grow to a level where
it could supply 40% of estimated Euro-
pean solar demand of 100 GW annually by
2030. In order to achieve this goal, ESIA
proposes that rising yearly solar genera-
tion capacity volumes should be included
in “resilience auctions” and “resilience
procurement” exercises that would only
be accessible to European manufacturers.
For the private sector, ESIA suggests
compensating customers directly for any
price differential they incur by purchasing
components with a higher European con-
tent than the benchmark set.
Likely costs
ESIA also describes mechanisms as to
how such cost differentials could be
established, and suggests they should be
reviewed on a regular basis. Again, those
proposals contain nothing extraordi-
nary and have clearly been devised with
the objective of avoiding any semblance
of disadvantage for other market partic-
ipants. The chances that such propos-
als could actually achieve Europe’s solar
manufacturing goal can only be assessed
by examining the implications for Euro-
pean PV manufacturers.
A closer look at the likely costs of the
support measure outlined, (see table on
page 64), indicates that these could be
much lower than industry insiders might
expect – certainly when compared to the
amounts the European Union spends on
other industries on a regular basis.
Raising the annual volume of “resilience
auction” generation capacity in order to
establish predictable, growing demand for
European components would give invest-
ment assurance for private investors. Here,
the ESIA paper states three concrete fig-
ures: 5 GW for 2025, 10 GW for 2027, and
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

ESIA wants to see European manufacturers supply 40% of European solar demand by 2030.
30 GW for 2030. As the auctions would
only cover part of the market in which
European manufacturers would be pro-
tected, column four of the table shows the
overall protected market volumes, as esti-
mated in accordance with the general aim
of reestablishing a 40 GW solar industry
in the European Union by 2030.
Considering that solar market prices
in November 2023 were at €0.14 ($0.15)/
Wp to €0.16/Wp of panel generation
capacity produced, a price differential of
€0.10/Wp would suffice to bridge the
cost gap to establish a state-of-the-art,
100% European manufacturing facility
on a multi-gigawatt scale. Taking a fur-
ther bonus of €0.05/Wp into account
for the use of a European-manufactured
inverter would see an upper level of
€0.15/Wp in support of a 100% European
product. Given the fact that the majority
of the products would most likely have
lower domestic content, the overall costs
could be lower than outlined in the table
shown over the page.
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
industry & suppliers
Photos: Meyer Burger
Even if we assume that the European
Union were to double its 2030 target of
40 GW of annual European production
volume to 80 GW by 2040, and we imag-
ine a worst-case scenario in which Euro-
pean manufacturers make no progress
in closing the cost gap, despite having
reached multi-gigawatt production vol-
umes – we still come to the conclusion
that annual subsidies would be in the
range of €8 billion to €12 billion.
EU subsidies
That figure should be compared to the
€450 billion that the European Union
annually spends on agricultural subsi-
dies, or the billions of euros Germany is
willing to grant to highly profitable semi-
conductor companies in order to con-
vince them to establish manufacturing
sites in Germany. The cumulative sum of
subsidies spent over 15 years to 2040 to
re-establish a solar industry with at least
80 GW of annual production capacity,
would amount to less than one-quarter of
63
industry & suppliers

That said, there is still significant value

Questions remain over how to incentivize private investors to back PV manufacturing in Europe.
the annual agricultural subsidies granted
in the European Union today.
Of course, it could be problematic to
establish new EU industry segments that
are dependent on support schemes, since
they could have a hard time competing on
the global market.
in having a domestic industry capable of
supplying at least 40% of the projected
demand required for the energy transition.
ESIA says that its proposal is “intended as
opex [operating expenditure] support for
the European PV manufacturing industry.”
Will ESIA be able to convince EU govern-
ments to make this concession – something
that Brussels and European governments
have always tried to avoid?
For almost all publicly funded sup-
port schemes, the basic rule has been that
granting investment subsidies is OK but
granting opex support is somehow abhor-
rent. The reason for that clear distinction
is twofold. Firstly, an opex subsidy rises as
the companies benefiting from its support
scheme grow and expand production.
Investment support is a one-time fixed
sum. Secondly, there is no real incentive
for manufacturers to improve the cost-
efficiency of their production processes
as long as they benefit from opex support.
This immediately leads to the second
drawback of opex subsidies. They isolate
the companies selling into this walled-off
market segment from market price signals
and market price pressure.
Cost pressure is always a driver of inno-
vation. Without declining bonus payments,
protected European players could fall
behind in their drive for innovation and the
cost-gap could widen instead of becoming
more narrow. But how can this be avoided?

ESIA assumptions on future EU subsidy spending, resilience auctions, and protected PV installations
Annual Implied annual Annual protected Amounts in Cumulative sum Amounts in Cummulative
“Resilience” “Resilience” European € billion of of spent subsi- € billion of sum of subsidies
auction corridor auction corridor PV installations annual subsidies dies [€ billion] annual subsidies spent [€ billion]
as stated in the [GW] [GW] required @ €0.1 required @ €0.15
ESIA paper [GW] cost differential cost differential
2024
2025 5 5 6 0.6 0.6 0.9 0.9
2026 7 9 0.9 1.5 1.4 2.3
2027 10 10 13 1.3 2.8 2.0 4.2
2028 15 19 1.9 4.7 2.9 7.1
2029 22 27 2.7 7.4 4.1 11.1
2030 30 30 37 3.7 11.1 5.6 16.7
2031 40 4.0 15.1 6.0 22.7
2032 45 4.5 19.6 6.8 29.4
2033 50 5.0 24.6 7.5 36.9
2034 55 5.5 30.1 8.3 45.2
2035 60 6.0 36.1 9.0 54.2
2036 65 6.5 42.6 9.8 63.9
2037 70 7.0 49.6 10.5 74.4
2038 75 7.5 57.1 11.3 85.7
2039 80 8.0 65.1 12.0 97.7
2040 80 8.0 73.1 12.0 109.7

64 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

 industry & suppliers

The described support for the PV industry would need to

come with a clear signal that, in the long run, manufacturers
would have to be cost-competitive and economically sustainable
without external support. Without a time limitation for support,
such companies would always be confined to solely supplying
the domestic market as they would not be able to compete on
price and performance metrics outside the walled-off sandbox
in which they operate.
This dynamic illustrates the necessity of a pre-defined phase-
out path for opex subsidies. Without a gradual decline in bonus
payments, there is no path to establishing an industry that would
actually be self-sustaining and able to compete on the global
market.
The big question is whether such an incentive embedded into
the European regulatory framework would be enough to incen-
tivize private investors to put their own money into PV manu-
facturing in Europe.
Thus far, the willingness of private investors to make such a
commitment has been less than lukewarm. The motivation to
invest private capital in PV manufacturing could further deteri-
orate if the current pricing developments observed in the global
solar market continue. Even so, the solar industry may yet ben-
efit from a historical precedent of creating consortia in Europe
to counter a lack of private money in production invesment, as
the Airbus group did back in the 1970s to establish a civilian air-
craft industry. Götz Fischbeck
Outside of protected-market volumes, ESIA says that free-market pricing
should reign.

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industry & suppliers
Temper tantrum
Reports of broken module glass with no obvious cause have begun to
crop up at large PV projects. Module design, glass manufacturing, and
interactions in the field between modules and trackers are at play, but
a clear solution has yet to emerge. Early signs suggest an update to
certification standards may be needed, as industry stakeholders told Mark
Hutchins.
A worrying trend is emerging in large-
scale PV as project owners report
high levels of broken module glass. Few
of them are willing to share details from
specific projects at this stage, but quality
experts say reports have been received
relating to hundreds of megawatts of
installed PV capacity. And the problem
could be much bigger.
Broken glass details vary but appear
to share factors in common: All concern
dual-glass-module projects featuring
“ There are signs
that the move to
2 mm glass on both sides. None have been
exposed to strong wind, hail, heavy snow
loads or other events that might explain
the broken glass. Data thus far suggest
the problem is not confined to any region
thinner glass and or technology. “We have seen reports of
unexplained broken glass coming from
larger modules may Brazil, Chile, Australia, the US and else-
where,” said Tristan Erion-Lorico, VP of
sales and marketing at solar equipment
mean current testing testing lab PVEL. “This isn’t region spe-
cific, isn’t system-type specific, and it isn’t
standards don’t take manufacturer specific. That’s why this is
so concerning.”
the role of glass Manufacturers, quality assurance pro-
viders, certification bodies, and the PV
research community have noted the issue.
into account Theories exist about the root of the prob-
lem and best course of action. One mod-
well enough
” ule manufacturer described a project
where owners of a PV plant approached
it to report of widespread broken glass.
The manufacturer began an investi-
gation at the project site and was able to
prove the breakage was caused by lawn-
mowing robots that flicked up rocks from
the ground hard enough to damage mod-
ule glass. In a recent pv magazine Webi-
nar, Thomas Weber of quality assurance
experts PI Berlin shared details of mul-
tiple investigations where it was able to
identify causes including improper instal-
lation and use of the wrong clamps.
66
In other cases, investigations have not
been able to reach such a clear conclu-
sion and there is likely a combination of
causes out in the field. Most of the possi-
bilities boil down to two things – weak-
nesses stemming from the use of larger
modules with thinner glass, and a possible
gap in testing and certification standards
that modules that are highly susceptible to
glass breakage have slipped through.
Module glass
With most modules now generating
power from both sides, and a long his-
tory of reliability problems with polymer
backsheets, many manufacturers have
made the switch to using glass on both
sides. This has plenty of advantages but
also necessitates a switch to thinner glass
in order to keep the weight down – glass-
backsheet modules typically use 3.2 mm
thick glass, while glass-glass products slim
this down to 2 mm per sheet.
The thicker glass can be fully tem-
pered, greatly increasing its strength, but
the tempering process relies on a temper-
ature difference between the outer surface
and inner portion of the glass. A thick-
ness of just 2 mm does not leave enough
of an inner portion between the two sur-
faces for the glass to be fully tempered (at
least cost-effectively).
At the same time as glass has been get-
ting thinner, frame designs have also been
shrinking while the modules themselves
get larger, leading to a significant change
in module design that appears to have
been widely overlooked: That glass is now
playing a much more significant role as a
load-bearing material in panels.
“If you’re using the glass as part of the
support structure that’s actually bearing
significant load, the failure mechanism
you’re confronting is brittle fracture,” said
Henry Hieslmair, principal solar engineer
at DNV. “Preventing that depends on how
well you control defects along the edges
and surfaces and that can have a huge
variation. So you could easily pass a few
modules in a load test but then have some-
thing like 1% fail in the field.”
Module manufacturers state that they
carefully qualify glass suppliers and test
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

Researchers are developing methods to
look more closely at defects in module
glass and the heat-strengthening processes
manufacturers use when full tempering
cannot be achieved.
products before using them in mass pro-
duction. “We qualify glass from many
aspects such as size, durability, reliability,
bending strength, drop-ball test, hail test,
appearance, etc,” a representative of mod-
ule manufacturer Trina Solar told pv mag-
azine in a statement. “With each glass type
from each supplier, we go through com-
prehensive reliability tests beyond [the]
industry standard within Trina Solar’s
own lab as well as third party labs for cer-
tification. We do regular quality checks for
incoming glass deliveries from suppliers.
We also do regular quality and reliability
test checks for our modules in mass pro-
duction. It is a fully controlled process.”
There are signs that the move to thinner
glass and larger modules may mean cur-
rent testing standards don’t take the role
of glass into account well enough. “In my
mind, the root cause is that as an indus-
try we’ve been treating glass as a com-
modity,” said PVEL’s Erion-Lorico. He
explained that IEC standards currently
allow for module makers to switch glass
manufacturers without a need to retest
for certification as long as the thickness
and high-level strengthening process
haven’t changed. With thicker, fully tem-
pered glass this may have made sense as
there was very little difference between
manufacturers, but with various types of
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
industry & suppliers
Photo: PVEL
“heat strengthening” on the market, that
may no longer be the case. “Now we’re
seeing that glass from different manu-
facturers could have significantly differ-
ent strength and mechanical properties,”
added Erion-Lorico.
Module-tracker compatibility
The way modules are attached to track-
ers and fixed racking is another topic that
pops up regularly in discussions about
glass breakage. The issue here seems sim-
ilar to that related to glass thickness:
Module designs have changed without
an accompanying update covering how
they are attached to racking. “In the last
10 years, a lot of systems have been
attached only with edge clamps,” said
DNV’s Hieslmair. “The glass was thicker,
the frames were thicker, and we didn’t see
a lot of glass breakage. Now, with these
really large modules, the ratio of load
bearing glass to frame is not the same.”
Module manufacturers provide a letter
of compatibility for specific racking sys-
tems, which should be the result of rigor-
ous testing. The signs are that small sam-
ple sizes and limited parameters for these
tests mean they haven’t always picked up
on susceptibility to glass breakage. “If any
evidence of the ‘compatibility’ is provided,
the evidence is one successful result of a
67
industry & suppliers
Photo: PVEL
A module is put through stress testing in PVEL’s lab.
In a live webinar held on Nov. 20, experts from
PI Berlin and PVEL got together for a detailed dis-
cussion and live Q&A on the topic of glass break-
age. The hour-long program featured case studies
from projects with high levels of reported glass
breakage, and plenty of discussion focused on
the root causes and potential solutions.
Scan the QR code or head to pv-magazine/webi-
nars to listen back for free.
68
single static mechanical load test with the
module on the tracker mount, followed
by a visual inspection,” wrote DNV in a
blog post on the issue. “The tested load
is then de-rated 1.5 times to obtain the
design load. No additional information
is provided in the compatibility letter, or
elsewhere, describing any potential addi-
tional testing or analyses that may have
been performed by the manufacturer to
certify compatibility.”
Testing standards
Whatever root causes are eventually found
for glass breakage, the next step is to find
tests that can reliably spot the problem
before systems are installed. That is some-
thing the solar industry is only just wak-
ing up to.
“If a module-tracker combination
passes the static load test according to IEC
standards, we say our module is compat-
ible,” said CJ Fu, director of product solu-
tions at Longi Solar US. “But, based on my
personal experience, this may not be ade-
quate to reflect compatibility in the field.
There you can have some surprises, mul-
tiple stresses happening at once. We do
feel that there is room for improvement
in developing a more thorough compat-
ibility testing sequence.”
Tracker manufacturers also confirm
that they see interest in more detailed
compatibility testing, thought not neces-
sarily from all players.
“Some have requested supplemen-
tal tests to the IEC and UL standards,
but ultimately that is at the discretion of
the module supplier,” said Greg Beard-
sworth, senior director of product mar-
keting at Nextracker. “It’s up to them to
define the maximum loads they are com-
fortable with, while our job is to define the
loading for each application as accurately
as possible. The standard is based on the
static mechanical load test and it varies by
manufacturer whether there is anything
supplemented on top of that.”
Members of the PV research and reliabil-
ity community have also noted the increase
in reports of broken glass at solar projects
and are looking for the right set of tests to
address the issue, but that will take time.
“These codes and standards committees
can take a long time to evolve but I wouldn’t
be surprised if we see additional testing
requirements on top of what we have at
present,” added Beardsworth.
In the United States, researchers at the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) have begun investigating new
tests and additions to standards, both for
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
 industry & suppliers

Photo: Nextracker
separate testing of glass quality and for
module-tracker compatibility.
“Products are changing faster and faster
and it’s hard to get ahead of the game,”
said Ingrid Repins, senior research fel-
low in the photovoltaics reliability group
at NREL. “This glass breakage has caught
us by surprise, though I think we knew
to some extent there were weaknesses
and holes in the testing. Now we’ll try to
understand root cause and design tests so
that this doesn’t happen again.”
The lab is currently designing tests to
investigate the various hypotheses con-
cerning glass breakage. Firstly, by looking
into glass manufacturing. NREL scientists
have begun using optical techniques to
measure the temper and heat strengthen-
ing of glass, aiming to spot differences in
module glass that has cracked.
“There is a hypothesis that it’s really
the heat strengthening that’s varying
across these different modules and that’s
what our scientist will measure when we
look at these modules that have cracked,”
said NREL’s Repins. “Are they less heat
strengthened than they should be? And is
that varying across the modules that break
or don’t break?”
In another project, NREL scientists are
studying the way that cracks form in the Careful testing and inspection is necessary to confirm compatibility between different models of
glass, aiming to build this into existing trackers and modules.
models of the whole module. That way,
they can model different scenarios and binations and the need for larger test sam-
guide the most effective testing strategies – ples. “At this point we have research and
also an important factor given the number we have questions but we don’t yet have
of possible component and material com- answers,” added Repins. Mark Hutchins

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 industry & suppliers
Greener polysilicon
It is not only solar module manufacturers that need to reduce their carbon
footprint. The same applies to their material suppliers, not least polysilicon
producers, given the emissions associated with the earliest stages of solar
manufacturing.
T hough still the cleanest way to gen-
erate electricity, renewable ener-
gy’s own carbon emissions are coming
under increasing scrutiny. Production of
the many different metals, polymers, and
other materials that end up in a PV mod-
ule comes with a sizable environmental
impact. As more module manufacturers
commit to net zero along their entire sup-
ply chains, upstream suppliers are taking
note and looking at ways to reduce their
emissions. Though Asia’s PV manufactur-
ing giants have their own net zero strate-
gies in place, those in other regions are
hopeful that taking a faster route to reduc-
ing emissions will be a factor that helps
them maintain market share, despite sell-
ing products at higher prices.
Electricity consumption represents the
largest part of PV manufacturing’s carbon
footprint, meaning Europe can already
claim an advantage as it has a higher share
of renewables in its energy mix. A 2022
study by scientists at the Fraunhofer Insti-
tute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) found
that, compared to production based on
China’s energy mix, module manufactur-
ing in Germany would reduce emissions
by 30% – and by 40% if based on the over-
Initiative partners all energy mix in the European Union.
“Module efficiency, energy requirements,
pv magazine thanks our UP Initiative supporters silicon consumption, and electricity mix
for their guidance and ongoing commitment to used at the production location are signif-
sustainability across the solar supply chain. icant levers for future reductions of envi-
ronmental impacts,” the researchers stated
in the paper.
Having an advantage to begin with, on
the energy mix, producers in Europe are
looking to pull some of the other levers
identified in the ISE study, beginning with
raw materials.
Curbing emissions
“Polysilicon with a low CO2 footprint is
not only a requirement on the part of our
customers, it is also increasingly a require-
ment in European tenders,” said Christian
70
Westermeier, vice president customer and
quality management at Wacker Polysili-
con. “In the end, a lower CO2 footprint
will ultimately lead to an industry which
increasingly uses clean energy to manu-
facture solar modules that, in turn, pro-
duce clean energy.”
Polysilicon production accounts for
the biggest chunk of solar manufactur-
ing’s carbon impact, with the first three
stages before a silicon ingot is cut into
wafers accounting for more than half of
the emissions produced in module man-
ufacturing (see chart on p.71). Wacker
already makes some bold claims regard-
ing its sustainability and places its cur-
rent carbon footprint at just below 50 kg
of CO2-equivalent emissions per kilogram
of poly. It states that through use of inno-
vative, efficient processes, it requires only
around 50% of the energy as some com-
petitors to produce the same amount of
polysilicon. Wacker says it uses closed
loop systems to reduce waste and make
use of byproducts.
“One year’s production of Wacker
solar-grade polysilicon avoids more than
450 million metric tons of CO2 emissions
globally,” said Westermeier. “One kilo-
gram of Wacker’s polysilicon saves more
than 7,000 kg of CO2 emissions during the
entire lifetime of a solar cell.”
Additionally, Wacker has set itself the
target, at group level, to halve its scope
1 and scope 2 emissions by 2030 and to
reach net zero emissions by 2045. Scope 1
emissions are generated directly by com-
pany processes and scope 2 come as a
result of a company’s third-party services,
such as electricity supply.
For Wacker’s production of solar-grade
polysilicon, emissions reduction will pri-
marily mean sourcing more green elec-
tricity. “More than 90% of the energy
required for polysilicon production is
electricity,” said Westermeier. “With the
help of green electricity, we can signifi-
cantly reduce our CO2 footprint.”
The company has a target in place to
reduce energy consumption in polysil-
icon production processes by a further
10% over the course of the next decade.
Even with potential for a reduction in
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
industry & suppliers
Wacker claims a carbon footprint of just below 50 kg of CO2 -equivalent emissions per kilogram of polysilicon.
Recycling silicon
For now, JPM sees polysilicon produc-
tion as too difficult a market to enter and
has switched its commercial focus to recy-
cling polysilicon from solar panels that are
reaching their end-of-life stage. Opportu-
nities for emissions reduction may present
themselves more quickly in that market.
40 %
Significant progress has been made
in recycling efforts and the reutilization
of polysilicon. Recycling cuts out much
of the energy-intensive early stages of
solar manufacturing, but reaching the
lower emissions are same high purity levels that ingot and
possible from European- wafer manufacturers require is a major
made panels than challenge.
from Chinese JPM has found that returning recycled
material to an even earlier stage of pro-
duction can still have a significant impact
on emissions, without complex and costly
purification.
“We focus on delivering silicon as a
feedstock for polysilicon production,
so the product from our recycling is,
for example, metallurgical grade sili-
con which can then be used by polysili-
72
Photo: Wacker
con producers as a starting material,” Mai
explained.
That is good for reducing emissions
because producing metallurgical silicon
is the part of the process that requires
coal as a reductant and is the most dif-
ficult to make greener. Meanwhile, the
large energy requirement for refining
metallurgical silicon into solar-grade
polysilicon can be effectively decarbon-
ized using renewable electricity.
Mai estimates that if recycling oper-
ations are also powered by renewable
energy, second-life metallurgical silicon
could halve the carbon footprint of poly-
silicon production in Europe.
The biggest obstacle to implementing
recycling like that is reaching the vol-
ume of material required. “If you want
to have an impact on the polysilicon
industry then you need to be working at
a scale of at least 10,000 tons of silicon,
and that means, roughly speaking, pro-
cessing 200,000 tons of solar panel waste,
said Mai. “That is still at least five years
away.” Mark Hutchins
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
industry & suppliers

pv magazine test
October 2023 results
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the
October 2023 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.

T he first chart to the right shows the

meteo station data with irradiance
and ambient temperature for October
2023. Due to an issue with the collection
of information, system data is missing
for Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. We observed that
the energy yield figures of several top-
performing products are very close, and
this could render the numbered ranking
method we have been using less meaning-
Bifacial boost ful. CEA is currently working on a new
All in Wh/Wp Total July Total August Total Sept. Total October ranking system that will adapt to these
2023 2023 2023 2023 new trends and be more representative of
Average monthly yield 124.66 133.43 103.62 98.71 product performance.
Average monthly bifacial yield 134.30 142.29 108.65 101.83 The average bifacial boost is 10.20% for
Average monthly monofacial PERC yield 120.42 129.12 99.28 96.11 October 2023. Bifacial boost is defined as
Operation days 29 23 29 28 the relative advantage of the average spe-
Average daily yield 4.05 5.80 3.57 3.53 cific energy yield of all bifacial products
Average daily bifacial yield 4.39 6.19 3.75 3.64 compared to the average specific energy
Average daily monofacial PERC yield 3.90 5.61 3.42 3.43 yield of all monofacial mono PERC prod-
Bifacial TOPCon boost - - 10.88% 10.44% ucts. George Touloupas
Bifacial PERC boost - - 8.21% 10.00%
All technologies: Bifacial boost 11.01% 10.20% 9.16% 10.20%

Specific energy yield ranking of bifacial modules – historical

# Installation Product Type
Sample Total Total Total Total July August Sept. Oct.
Month selection July 2023 Aug. 2023 Sept. 2023 Oct. 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023
method Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Rank Rank Rank Rank
37 5/1/2021 LONGi LR4-72HBD-445M Bifacial PERC 3 137.27 146.60 111.11 104.81 2 1 2 1
26 8/28/2019 LONGi LR6-72HBD385 Bifacial PERC 1 136.23 145.67 110.44 104.03 4 4 4 2
50 9/1/2023 Astronergy Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 / / 112.05 103.53 / / 1 3
CHSM72N(DG)/F-BH-580
42 6/5/2023 DAS DH144NA Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 139.50 146.49 110.65 103.52 1 2 3 4
27 6/5/2023 Jolywood JW-D72N-400 Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 136.85 145.78 110.31 103.49 3 3 5 5
45 8/15/2023 Trina TSM-NEG9RC.27 Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 / / 109.31 102.35 / / 7 6
41 12/18/2022 Tongwei TH550PMB6- Bifacial PERC 1 134.44 140.75 108.40 102.27 5 6 8 7
58SDC
38 10/18/2021 LONGi LR5-72HBD-535M Bifacial PERC 3 131.16 139.65 106.44 100.74 6 8 10 8
47 9/1/2023 HY NT10/72GDF-565 Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 / / 110.01 100.66 / / 6 9
28 4/15/2020 Risen RSM114-6- Bifacial PERC 3 130.56 139.89 106.36 100.39 7 7 11 10
405BMDG
43 6/23/2023 Tongwei TWMND- Bifacial n-TOPCon 3 / 143.57 108.18 100.29 / 5 9 11
72HD565
32 7/1/2021 Risen RSM150-8- Bifacial PERC 1 128.76 137.13 104.54 98.84 9 10 13 12
500BMDG
34 6/23/2023 JA JAM72D20-445MB Bifacial PERC 2 128.72 137.36 104.73 98.83 8 9 12 13

Specific energy yield ranking of monofacial modules – historical

# Installation Product Type Sample Total Total Total Total July August Sept. Oct.
Month selection July 2023 Aug. 2023 Sept. 2023 Oct. 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023
method Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Wh/Wp Rank Rank Rank Rank
44 9/1/2023 AIKO A600-MAF72Mw n-type Back Contact 3 / / 104.79 98.47 / / 1 1
29 7/7/2020 CSI CS3U-390MS Monofacial PERC 2 123.44 132.83 102.12 98.26 1 2 3 2
31 10/1/2020 JA JAM60S10-345/MR Monofacial PERC 2 121.70 131.09 101.57 98.25 4 4 4 3
30 7/7/2020 GCL GCL-M3/72H380 Cast PERC 1 123.20 133.26 102.23 98.22 2 1 2 4
35 7/1/2021 JA JAM72S20-445MR Monofacial PERC 2 122.85 131.80 101.13 96.81 3 3 5 5
20 11/21/2018 Phono PS380MH-24/TH Monofacial PERC 1 120.72 130.80 100.39 96.39 5 5 6 6
36 7/1/2021 JA JAM72S30-540MR Monofacial PERC 2 119.41 127.13 97.98 93.49 6 6 7 7
21 3/1/2019 Risen RSM120-6-320M Monofacial PERC 1 106.27 116.96 89.54 93.48 7 7 8 8
10 5/24/2018 Recom RCM-275-6MB- Mono 1 96.20 105.36 86.05 87.72 8 8 9 9
4-BB21
22 5/4/2019 Znshine ZXP6-60-275/P Multi 1 93.70 102.95 84.92 85.56 9 9 10 10
Note sample selection method categorization: Sample 1 randomly selected by CEA from a large production lot; Sample 2 purchased from the market by CEA; Sample 3 provided by supplier, without random selection

74 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

storage & smart grids
Australia’s battery
Australia is geologically equipped
to become a battery critical
minerals hub, but the nation is
stumbling upon sticky structural
issues. Sensitive diplomatic and
trade ties, delicate forests and
ecosystems, and a devotion to free
markets and small government are
among the major hurdles, writes
Bella Peacock.
Australia’s first commercial lithium hydroxide plants
started production in 2022.
76
I n October, China restricted the export
of graphite products – a key ingredi-
ent in lithium batteries. The move built
on an embargo of critical materials gal-
lium and germanium that was introduced
in August. China’s domination of critical
minerals supply is well known and the
country’s “willingness to employ export
restrictions on critical minerals as a retal-
iatory measure,” as US Commerce Secre-
tary Gina Raimondo labeled the embar-
goes, has exacerbated Western fears.
Australia is at the center of a global crit-
ical minerals frenzy. Home to one of the
world’s most advanced mining industries,
Australia has abundant critical mineral
deposits, access to affordable renewable
energy, and is a politically stable ally to the
United States and European Union. The
multibillion-dollar economic opportunity
is clear, with governments and industry
scrambling to position battery minerals
at the center of their focus. Mining mag-
nate Gina Rinehart, for example, is pour-
ing billions of dollars into lithium projects
as fossil-fuel exports wane.
The nation’s battery minerals industry
has multiple new mines – including for
vanadium – beginning construction or
hitting advanced stages in 2023. Refining,
which is a comparatively new industry for
Australia, is opening up. The nation’s first
commercial lithium hydroxide was pro-
duced in 2022 thanks to a joint venture
between Tianqi and Australia’s IGO – and
a separate project by US giant Albermarle.
These projects are not easy to bring
online, though – Australian miner TNG
was renamed Tivan after its leadership was
removed by shareholders. The time and
finance needed to realize mining projects
is immense, especially with companies
wanting full-value-chain “pit-to-prod-
uct,” from mines, processing, and mate-
rials production. In October, Australia’s
government doubled low-interest loan
funding for miners and critical mineral
processors, taking the pot to $2.59 billion
– an “entirely insufficient” figure, said Tim
Buckley, a financial analyst and director at
thinktank Climate Energy Finance (CEF).
What the government fails to appreciate,
Photo: Albemarle
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
storage & smart grids
Photo: Kate Arebon
The WA Forest Alliance campaign argued that
biodiversity must be taken into account when
assessing the viability of mining sites.
status as a “domestic supplier” under the
US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), dur-
ing October. Despite Australia’s Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs and Trade work-
ing on this from within the United States
for the last six months, no announcements
have been made.
While Australia’s politically aligned
allies are waiting to wolf down its mineral
supply, the true price of adjacent deals
may prove less palatable.
“ Should we really
be building luxury
Fragile ecosystems
The environmental cost of Australia’s bat-
tery mineral vision has, to date, received
Mercedes Benz with almost no airtime. Community opposi-
tion and the rapid erosion of the renew-
able energy industry’s social license is
112 kWh batteries already a big issue for solar and wind
projects, and battery materials have likely
when electric buses only been spared because of the industry’s
infancy.
are a good idea Battery minerals sit on an extremely
uncomfortable paradox: The extractive
industry is necessary to store the renew-
instead?
” able energy which will help save our cli-
mate, but to get the minerals, we need
to destroy natural environments. That
is because, as Australian Electric Vehi-
cle Association (AEVA) President Chris
Jones explained, rare plants and ecosys-
tems tend to occur near rare minerals.
“Basically, you get lots of diversity where
some key resource is limiting,” he said. “If
you have rock formations that are very
close to the surface, that’s where those
78
deficiencies are going to be really obvi-
ous. All of that speciation, that incredible
plant and animal diversity that forms in
the millions of years post that rock forma-
tion, that diversity is basically as a result of
the rock formation being there.”
That is not to say there are no rare min-
erals outside delicate ecosystems – the
deposits just tend to be deeper, making
them harder to mine. The demand for the
minerals and the technologies they are
used in are comparatively new, so map-
ping and exploration in Australia is only
just heating up. This year, federal agency
Geoscience Australia launched its new
nationwide Mineral Potential Mapper.
Meanwhile, the state of Western Austra-
lia has seen a land grab for critical battery
minerals with the number of exploration
claims jumping 8% in the past 12 months.
The majority of Australia’s known critical
mineral deposits are in Western Australia
and, to a lesser extent, Queensland.
As Australia begins assessing its min-
eral deposits in earnest, both AEVA’s Jones
and Jess Beckerling, the WA Forest Alli-
ance campaign director, say it must simul-
taneously assess where it would be appro-
priate to mine.
“We are in the twin crises of climate
and biodiversity. Separating them out and
only looking at climate while continuing
to exacerbate the biodiversity and water
crises is not a solution,” Beckerling said.
“We need a very mature discussion about
this and we need to start from the point of:
What are we trying to achieve?”
The climate is at the sharp end of the
need to tackle emissions and ecological
crises, so it is vital to protect forests, one of
our only proven carbon sinks, while accel-
erating decarbonization, argue Jones and
Beckerling. “Triage is, probably, exactly
the right way to explain it,” said Jones. “So
should we really be building luxury Mer-
cedes Benz with 112 kWh batteries when
electric buses are a good idea instead?”
Environmental impacts only become
more pronounced when mineral min-
ing eventually turns to onshore refining
and processing. As CEF’s Buckley noted,
“refining makes mining look good.” Those
sensitivities continue as batteries reach
their end of life, with spent devices classed
as dangerous goods unsuitable for ship-
ping, making onshore recycling neces-
sary. This is not yet a problem in Austra-
lia, where the uptake of electric vehicles
– the main demand source for batteries –
has been slow.
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

Time to act
Nonetheless, it is a sector that Mark
Urbani, founder of battery recycling com-
pany Renewable Metals, is adamant needs
to be addressed today. “We know permit-
ting is going to be a big issue and we basi-
cally need a two-year permitting period
before we can even build the plant, and
then there’s probably an 18-month build
time. So if you wait five years to start your
work, then you’re really eight, nine, 10
years away and that’s too late,” he said “We
should be taking care of our backyard.”
Renewable Metals has just completed
piloting a recycling process at its plant
near Perth. The main issue the company
is encountering is not technical but inves-
tor hesitancy, due to limited volume of
used batteries. Without any serious gov-
ernment support, nor any tangible recy-
cling policy, Urbani said, “there’s no real
benefit in the short term, aside from doing
the right thing.”
Both he and Buckley believe Australia’s
heavy haulage mining trucks could offer a
clever way to kick start recycling and Aus-
tralia’s overall battery ecosystem. Mining
trucks work around the clock, meaning
storage & smart grids
that if they were electrified, the batteries
would likely only last 12 months, due to
constant cycling. “So you have a perpet-
ual recycling rate,” Buckley said, as well as
local materials and manufacturing. Given
the balance books of Australian miners,
it is entirely feasible for those companies
to transition their haulage fleets quickly if
the government incentivized it.
Underlying basically all of this is per-
haps Australia’s most insidious hurdle –
decades of slimmed down government. Exploration claims
“‘Small government’ means we’ve de- increased
funded and de-skilled the government
8%
bureaucracy so now they don’t have the
capacity to move fast,” Buckley said.
There is a near unanimous consensus
that Australia needs a comprehensive crit-
ical minerals and battery strategy, and pol-
icy reform to enable it. These need to be in Western Australia
clever, strategic, and bold because, unlike
China, the United States, and the Euro-
pean Union, Australia can’t rely on scale.
Yet, the frameworks delivered to date –
maybe with the exception of Queensland
– have included very little in the way of tan-
gible, actionable policies. “We need a stra-
tegic plan,” Buckley said. Bella Peacock
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storage & smart grids
Agreeing on
green hydrogen
In November 2022, Germany’s Energie Baden Württemberg and steelmaker
Salzgitter Group signed one of Europe’s first power purchase agreements
(PPAs) for hydrogen production. More have followed and with the
European Union introducing rules to govern green hydrogen, an industry
is planning for its future.
reen hydrogen and solar will be
G intricately connected, as is evident
in early green hydrogen projects. Most
of the first green hydrogen plants could
give a second option to existing renew-
ables plants.
In September 2023, French green
hydrogen company Lhyfe and renew-
ables developer VSB Énergies Nou-
velles signed a 16-year electricity supply
contract. All the electricity from VSB
Énergies Nouvelles’ 13.2 MW wind farm in
the Morbihan region of Brittany, France,
will supply Lhyfe’s new 5 MW hydrogen
production site.
Wind has been making waves in hydrogen PPAs and there is scope for solar growth.
80
The deal is representative of a trend.
In this first phase of the market, a decen-
tralized approach offers the best route
to commercial viability. Hydrogen pro-
duction is co-located with consumption,
electricity generation is co-located with
electrolysis, and costs are cut. Even so,
PPAs can be an ideal instrument for the
electricity supply.
Legislation strengthens the case for co-
location. Electrolyzers are exempt from
grid charges in Germany but still face
tariffs when purchasing from the grid.
France’s Turpe grid tariff offers no elec-
trolyzer exemptions.
Adrien Appéré, head of development
at VSB Énergies Nouvelles, told pv mag-
azine that the Lhyfe PPA will be followed
by more. “A PPA with a hydrogen pro-
ducer is an opportunity to [enhance the
value of] the energy produced by wind or
PV farms,” he said.
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

Hydrogen will be a driver for renew-
ables in France and further afield, accord-
ing to analysts.
“We have seen a couple of PPAs of
renewables assets for hydrogen pro-
duction closed in France but the bigger
potential is [elsewhere],” said Thekla von
Bülow, co-head of advisory at Aurora
Energy Research. “We expect new PPAs
for hydrogen production to be closed in
Germany in the next months.”
Four green hydrogen electricity PPAs
have been closed in France and seven in
Germany, according to von Bülow’s data.
The largest were closed in Germany, at
hydrogen facilities in Thierbach and Ros-
tock where production has not yet started.
“PPAs are usually signed well ahead of
the operation of the electrolyzer,” said von
Bülow. “As per our knowledge, there are
currently no hydrogen projects producing
green hydrogen utilizing PPA-contracted
electricity. The first PPAs are expected to
start delivery by the end of 2023.”
Winds of change
Things are moving fast. In terms of
expected operational capacity in 2030,
Aurora said Germany leads, with
14.5 GW, followed by the Netherlands
(11.6 GW), the United Kingdom (8.4 GW),
and Spain (5.8 GW). France’s expected
electrolyzer capacity is 2 GW.
“Germany will require quite complex
PPAs,” added von Bülow. The high average
carbon intensity of German grid power
will drive new renewables capacity and
changes in electricity trading conditions
could fuel hydrogen growth. “Should Ger-
many split up its market zone, the north
of Germany will likely achieve a 90% RES
[renewable energy source] share, which
would allow electrolyzers in the north of
Germany to run on grid power.”
The renewables mix powering green
hydrogen could change, too. Wind led
hydrogen production PPAs in the fall of
2023, but solar could become more attrac-
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
storage & smart grids
Photos: Lhyfe
New European Union rules defining green hydrogen could shape the industry’s development.
tive as decades-old deals expire. VSB’s
Appéré said the first wind feed-in-tariffs
were signed between 2002 and 2005, for
15 years. For solar, contracts were longer.
“For the PV assets, we have simulta-
neously signed the first feed-in-tariff for
20 years,” he said. “So, since 2017, the first
projects free of tariff are the wind farms.
In a few months and years, you will see
more and more PV projects assigned for
PPAs as they do not, any more, receive
feed-in-tariffs.”
Those PV assets can have a second life
through hydrogen PPAs. Industry insid-
ers say switching from wind to a mix of
renewables would reduce risk. Hydrogen
economics improve with a lower cost of
electricity and higher utilization. A mix
of renewables enables this. Hydropower
from large reservoirs is the closest to a
What is green hydrogen?
In February 2023, in line with the European calendar month as its renewable energy
Union’s Renewable Energy Directive, the supply, to be considered green. That will
European Commission adopted regula- change on Jan. 1, 2030, when hydrogen
tions defining renewable hydrogen rules will have to be produced during the
and clarifying “additionality” criteria for same one-hour period as the renewable
renewable electricity. energy.
• Green hydrogen producers must ensure • Hydrogen producers must ensure that
the electricity they use is matched by the energy suppliers are near their plants.
production of renewable energy. This The “geographical correlation” rule relates
“additionality” rule mandates the renew- to bidding zones: regions in which the
able power for green hydrogen produc- same electricity price is applied.
tion must not come from a renewable Exemptions apply, including that if grid-
asset that started operation more than power emission intensity is lower than
36 months before the electrolyzer was 64.8 g of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt-hour,
operational. Hydrogen plants that begin the additionality requirement does not
operations before Jan. 1, 2028 are exempt apply. Also, if renewables provide, on
from this rule until Jan. 1, 2038. average, more than 90% of grid electric-
• “Temporal correlation.” Until Dec. 31, 2029, ity, additionality and temporal correlation
hydrogen must be produced in the same rules do not apply.
81
storage & smart grids
French hydrogen company Lhyfe and renewables developer VSB Énergies Nouvelles have signed a 16-year contract.
cost-competitive, 24/7 baseload power
renewable energy source, said Simon
Kornek, vice president for south European
origination at Norway’s Statkraft.
“In Scandinavia, where power markets
are already largely carbon-free, hydro-
gen projects can tap into existing hydro-
power,” said Kornek.
Statkraft has signed four PPAs for
hydrogen production, none of which
are co-located. PPAs include supplying
renewable electricity to Fortescue Future
Industries’ (FFI) 300 MW Holmaneset
green hydrogen and ammonia project
in Norway, a green steel project in Swe-
den, and a 20 MW green hydrogen plant
in Germany.
15-20 years
is needed for a flexible
hydrogen market
Statkraft is owned by the Norwegian
state and Kornek argued that the best way
forward is to tap into the larger portfo-
lios of market integrators such as utilities.
He said creditworthy integrators for PPAs
offer project sponsors cheaper finance via
non-recourse funding for which only
project cashflow is used as security.
What comes next?
There is more to green hydrogen growth
than PPAs. Jack Eastwood, director and
corporate operations officer at Brit-
ish green hydrogen company Protium
Green Solutions, said the market will also
depend on pipelines connecting Europe
to North Africa. The infrastructure could
82
be ready by the next decade, but Eastwood
said he expects mass hydrogen production
in Africa to start in the 2040s.
Pipelines can drive hydrogen growth in
Africa and Europe. Many unviable Euro-
pean projects could take off as a result.
“We see companies looking to deploy
electrolyzers at their renewables sites to
mitigate the loss from [electricity] curtail-
ment,” said Eastwood. “It is now difficult
because the hydrogen consumption is not
necessarily close to hydrogen production.
Over time it will become more attractive
because you’ll be able to inject it in the
grid in the long term or sell it to hydro-
gen consumers.”
The next steps for PPAs divide opinion.
Eastwood said the market is very demand
driven, meaning hydrogen producers
have to adapt to buyer needs, leading to
baseload-type PPAs with obligations on
generators.
“Pay-as-produced [structured PPAs]
is an interesting space, because proton
exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis,
by its nature, is able to match the produc-
tion curves of solar and shift that energy
supply to later,” added Eastwood. “We will
definitely see more pay-as-produced, more
large-scale hydrogen, rather than baseload
PPAs. It will not need to match demand
and supply. I can, for instance, store it.”
As grid injection and large-scale storage
become feasible, Eastwood expects hydro-
gen suppliers will have more flexibility.
“Therefore, ability to take power as pro-
duced becomes easier over time,” he said.
Kornek did not necessarily agree. “We
see quite some challenges for hydro-
gen projects to deal with pay-as-pro-
duced solar or onshore wind PPAs,” he
said. “Projects will either have to oversize
the electrolyzer to absorb all the energy
or they will have to deal with significant
excess volumes that have to be sold back
to the market at an unknown, and prob-
ably very low price.”
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

The Statkraft VP said several business
models could coexist. Big, energy-inten-
sive processes will need stable hydrogen
supply, meaning reliable power or signifi-
cant storage. Other projects could require
lower utilization rates and produce hydro-
gen when electricity prices are low.
Kornek and Eastwood agree storage and
transportation will be the major drivers of
change, ultimately leading to a commod-
itized market. Industry insiders expect a
flexible market in the next 15 to 20 years.
In this decade, Eastwood expects
the first hydrogen projects to become
operational. The first large-scale elec-
trolyzer projects should go live toward
the end of the 2020s, he predicted.
“Over the 2030s, we’ll start to see these
‘backbones’ developing into hydro-
gen regions with networks of piping
which, in turn, will start to connect to
one another,” he said.
New landscape
There’s more to hydrogen evolution
than market mechanisms. The Euro-
pean Union’s latest Renewable Energy
Directive split opinion among respon-
storage & smart grids
dents approached by pv magazine.
Aurora Energy Research said there was
a lot more clarity in the regulation, but
Kornek argued European Union regu-
lations are holding back investment. He
said the first indication of how new rules
would impact the sector should emerge
“isPay-as-produced
an interesting
over the next 12 to 24 months.
“The Delegated Act as currently writ-
ten makes it very complicated to realize
space, because proton
the green hydrogen targets in Europe,”
said Kornek. “In particular, the strict
exchange membrane
requirements on additionality, temporal-
ity, and geographical correlation will be (PEM) electrolysis, by
extremely difficult to comply with and
will make green hydrogen more expen-
sive than necessary.”
its nature, is able to
New European Union rules on green
hydrogen could also affect the viability of
match the production
different kinds of PPAs. Protium’s East-
wood said that an obligation to correlate curves of solar and
energy generation and hydrogen produc-
tion on an hourly basis, which would come
into effect in the 2030s, would reduce the
shift that energy
value of pay-as-produced PPAs while at
the same time, consumption on demand
would come at a premium.
Sergio Matalucci
supply to later
”
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 storage & smart grids

green hydrogen
Photo: Verdagy
price and the availability of given facilities.
It also makes it possible to secure an offtake
for RE production and reduce the risk of
grid-related electricity curtailment.
The choice of RE sources, mix, and loca-
tion will also determine the size and uti-
lization rate of an electrolyzer. While the
capex costs are fixed, regardless of how
long the electrolyzer operates, it is essen-
tial to optimize the system as a whole. That
is a financial calculation but obviously it is
not possible to design RE assets to cover
the maximal production of an electrolyzer
every hour.
Solar and wind are often complemen-
tary for shorter and longer periods, as
solar production is higher during sum-
mer and available during the day, while
wind is often higher during winter and at
night. Other opportunities lie in hydro-
power plants. Hybridized electricity gen-
eration will average out the load factor The European Union wants green hydrogen production to increase.
and reduce seasonal variability and inter-
mittency in hydrogen production.
Another consideration is whether green A green electrolyzer project is not as About the author
hydrogen production is going to fulfil the simple as a renewable energy project; it Alexia Chappond has been working
needs of the offtaker. While it is possible is not only about pushing green electrons in the renewable energy industry since
to simply sell whatever green hydrogen is to the grid. It is a multifactor puzzle that 2010, in solar and wind. She has experi-
ence of all phases of project development,
produced, many clients may have a spe- will require many iterations and a holistic construction, and operation. She recently
cific demand pattern. This means that in approach to coordinate electricity genera- started specializing in technical audits, perfor-
addition to all the complexity mentioned tion, hydrogen production, and consump- mance analysis, construction monitoring, and
above, production output will still need tion. Resolving the complexity of green PV plant commissioning and also completed
professional training in hydrogen. At Everoze,
to be modulated. If a client needs hydro- hydrogen projects will be necessary to
she has worked on technical due diligence and
gen when it is not being produced, hydro- progress to the next stage of the energy is involved in the development of hydrogen pro-
gen storage significantly increases costs, transition. Alexia Chappond duction in France.
so ensuring optimal sizing requires care.

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financial & legal
Building bridges
between East and West
Italian module manufacturer FuturaSun has big expansion plans in China,
with the first phase of a 15 GW silicon cell fab due online in Huai’an in the first
quarter of 2024, in addition to 1 GW of module production in Taizhou. Erik
Eikelboom, technical adviser to FuturaSun, offers a closer look at the project.
F uturaSun was founded in 2008, in the
medieval town of Cittadella in Italy’s
Padova province. After a phase of origi-
nal equipment manufacturer production
and international sales of Chinese-made
PV modules, the company opened a 1 GW
module facility in Taizhou, Jiangsu prov-
ince in China. FuturaSun makes modules
for large-scale arrays and rooftop PV sys-
tems, as well as building-integrated PV
products and solar components. With a
Expansion for FuturaSun also means business for European base in northern Italy and Asian
equipment manufacturers.
86
headquarters in Suzhou, China, steady
growth has opened an exciting phase of
upstream expansion with solar cell pro-
duction in Huai’an, Jiangsu province. The
city of five million inhabitants is in the
same province in which FuturaSun’s head-
quarters and module production facilities
are based.
A new industrial complex is being real-
ized in two phases that will house 15 GW
of solar cell production. The first-phase of
construction will finish in 2023, with the
first cells due in early spring 2024.
Government backing
The lightning-fast development is the
result of a unique support system the Chi-
nese government offers those it deems
Photos: FuturaSun
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

worthy after stable growth and with a
solid business case and strong project
team. Chinese cities and district govern-
ments can offer support to jump-start
enterprises considered important for the
region. FuturaSun should generate jobs
and tax revenue and attract more busi-
nesses to expand the supply chain and
boost regional knowledge.
The support package includes the pro-
vision of land, construction finance, and
access to state-related investment, while
repayments can be made over a desig-
nated period. The land will be leased for
at least 30 years and may be renewed.
The land and buildings can be used
as collateral for loans and other finance.
That is a big difference from European
financial arrangements, where collateral
to back finance has to be provided by a
company. While it could be argued that
the Chinese approach is only possible in
a planned economy, the West could still
learn from the arrangement.
Risk remains
Success for an individual enterprise is not
guaranteed and it is ultimately up to the
company itself to realize its dream. The
government does not provide free money
and does not support a failing company;
enterprises in China can – and regularly
do – go bankrupt.. Although the USA and
China often focus on their differences,
the striking resemblance between the
two financial ecosystems is that both sys-
tems enable rapid and large-scale entre-
preneurship due to a willingness to “burn
cash” in large amounts. In Europe, finan-
ciers tend to be more cautious and risk-
averse, resulting in smaller projects with
much longer lead times that are also sub-
ject to complex decision making processes
and bureaucracy.
It can be difficult to keep up with the
speed and scale at which China expands its
production capacity, especially in the field
of photovoltaics. The nation’s large size
gives economy-of-scale effects that result
in lower production costs. Large-volume
production gives more stable processes,
resulting in higher yield and efficiency.
Scale also enables substantial investment
into research and development.
There is the human factor as well. It
is difficult to compete with a nation of
highly educated, highly motivated people
that work more or less around the clock
amid an environment featuring rapidly
increasing automation, rising quality
www.pv-magazine.com | 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024
financial & legal
Italian manufacturer FuturaSun is expected to
generate local jobs and tax revenue in China.
levels, and an excellent knowledge base.
While Europe discusses a four-day work-
ing week, China populates R&D labora-
tories 24/7 and moves forward at light-
ning speed.
Seizing opportunity
FuturaSun is making use of the unique
opportunities offered in China while
maintaining and expanding its strong base
in Italy, building bridges between East
and West. The company provides a wel-
come counterpoint to what has become a
more strained relationship between China
and western countries. FuturaSun’s plans
include developing new headquarters in
Suzhou, with a considerable expansion of
its module production capacity, an R&D
400 GW
center, and a new office building.
In Cittadella, a piece of land has been
acquired for a new Italian headquarters
and a gigawatt-scale module produc-
tion facility to be erected. The company
has also invested in the startup Solertix, a of TOPCon solar production
spin-out from Rome’s Tor Vergata univer- equipment has been sold by
sity that specializes in the development of the leading supplier
perovskite modules.
FuturaSun has engaged in a partner-
ship with German PV research institute
ISC Konstanz and licensed its Zebra tech-
nology for back-contact solar cells. Zebra
cells will be produced in the new cell fac-
tory in Huai’an and incorporated into
state-of-the art modules in Cittadella.
87
financial & legal

FuturaSun is constructing 15 GW of cell manufacturing in Huai’an, alongside The company has also invested in new technologies including back
plans for new module capacity in Italy and China. contact cells and perovskites.

Fast pace in on a seemingly endless line of trucks.

Earlier in 2023, I had the pleasure of visit-
ing several suppliers of production equip-
ment for solar cells and modules for Futur-
aSun’s new production plant. In my role as
its technical adviser, I was asked to assess
I remembered that many years ago, I vis-
ited companies in China that were visibly
struggling with quality and organization.
Today, a very different picture emerges.
The latest factories are clean, well-orga-

15 GW
of cell production will
feature in FuturaSun’s
new fab
About the author
Erik Eikelboom holds an MSc. in solid
state physics. He has been active in
the PV industry since 1992, in vari-
ous roles ranging from fundamental
materials research through to PV systems.
He works as a consultant and technical adviser
with FuturaSun.
quality and the industrial readiness of the
different systems and processes available.
In what I experienced as an intense two-
week road trip, the team and I visited sev-
eral suppliers and manufacturers per day,
traveling all over the region.
Technical meetings alternated with offi-
cial receptions and banquets with local
government to learn about support pro-
grams and opportunities offered by dif-
ferent regions. Government officials pro-
actively try to invite businesses in the
renewable energy industry to invest in
their region and even compete – some-
times fiercely – with other regions.
The speed and scale of things I wit-
nessed were mind-boggling. From max-
imum 30-day decision-making periods
on big projects advertised by some local
governments, to machine-building com-
panies that can assemble the equivalent of
40 GW of modern PV production equip-
ment per month, to the construction site
of a well-known tier-one PV manufac-
turer we visited. This is where, in less than
nine months, a 600,000 m² green field was
being transformed into a fully operational
multi-gigawatt factory complex for cells
and modules.
On leaving the site, where newly erected
buildings were still visibly missing win-
dows, and excavators and other machinery
were crisscrossing the location, we passed
by a whole range of production equip-
ment that was already waiting to move
nized, and efficient. The scale and speed
of development are hard to grasp.
The leading turnkey company, for
example, has already supplied 400 GW
per year of production equipment to mar-
ket for tunnel oxide passivated contact
(TOPCon) cells, the latest in commercial
crystalline silicon technology. And that in
little more than a year. In its workshops,
endless rows of machines are assembled
by thousands of workers.
Ambition required
I left humbled and impressed by what I
had seen. Europe struggles to bring back
part of the value chain for the production
of renewable energy products – items
that should be, and are, fortunately, now
increasingly regarded as highly strategic
and critical for national safety and sur-
vival. Now all Europe needs to do is to
put cash to work as it can vicariously learn
from its neighbors to the east and west.
Bringing back the solar industry
requires bold entrepreneurship and huge,
potentially risky, investment. Only suffi-
cient scale, hard work, and clever innova-
tion can bring back an industry that can
be competitive and, ultimately, successful
in today’s globalized market. To achieve
that, Europe should try to cooperate with
China rather than exclude it or revert to
blunt protectionism. The greatest strength
lies in joining forces. Erik Eikelboom

88 12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com

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Where we’ve been: All-Energy Australia
Record numbers braved ferocious winds,
hail, and tumultuous temperatures to
attend this year’s All-Energy trade show in
Melbourne from Oct. 25-26, 2023. More
than 11,000 visitors traversed the trade fair
Down Under.
The products on display mostly dealt with
a distinctively Australian problem: the sat-
uration of rooftop solar. Storage, virtual
power plants (VPP), “full stack” strate-
gies, and third-party subscription busi-
ness models – the market for these rests
on the fact that Australia’s rooftop solar
fleet now has more capacity than coal.
Far and away the most peddled prod-
ucts on the floor were batteries. Brands
continue to push household technology
stacks integrating solar, batteries, energy
Photo: pv magazine/Dave Tacon
Where we’re going: Intersolar North America
Intersolar North America and Energy
Storage North America – to be held on
Jan. 17-19, 2024, in sunny San Diego, Cal-
ifornia – is a conference featuring keynote
speakers, full- and half-day workshops,
and more than 24 conference sessions
examining policy, technology, and mar-
ket developments in solar, storage, clean
energy systems integration, and EV charg-
ing infrastructure. The conference also
features an exhibitor hall that is expected
to draw more than 500 exhibitors repre-
senting industry players in solar, storage,
and clean energy integration.
The Solar Games competition is back on
the exhibition floor this year, pitting top
Photo: Diversified Communications
94
management platforms, VPP, and electric
vehicle chargers into one super solution.
But this year, a number of companies
were proposing to make this techno-
logical ecosystem available to custom-
ers at no upfront cost with a subscrip-
tion model.
In the conference rooms, discussions
around sustainability within renewables
were furthered, with numerous experts
highlighting the need to consider Indig-
enous heritage and culture, agriculture,
biodiversity, community cohesion, and
soil degradation within the frame of the
industry. Meanwhile, swirling rumors
of battery subsidy schemes were again
unmet as views on how to hit net zero
diverge.
solar installation companies against each
other in a tournament with prizes of up
to $10,000. Competing teams are judged
on rooftop solar installation quality, safety,
and speed.
The event will also feature the return
of Hub sessions, made up of 20-minute
speaking sessions delivered on the exhibit
floor. pv magazine USA Editor Ryan Ken-
nedy will deliver a Hub session on distrib-
uted solar and energy storage policy, so
stay tuned for the schedule.
Intersolar North America is expected to
draw more than 9,000 attendees from over
70 countries, with about 120 expert speak-
ers. We look forward to seeing you!
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com
 details
Can pigs fly?
By Christian Peter, Managing Director of Solarlab Aiko Europe
S olar reached new heights in 2023. In
Europe and the United States, mea-
sures were discussed and introduced to
accelerate the energy transition off fos-
sil fuels and revamp the local produc-
tion of PV components. China invested
massively to expand production capaci-
ties. This resulted in overcapacities that
drove down costs and increased market
demand. This is what German econo-
mists call a “Schweinezyklus,” meaning
a “pig cycle.” The term, which is bor-
rowed from agricultural economics,
describes when farmers observe a high
pork price and start breeding pigs all at
the same time, which means that a year
later (when pigs are ready for slaughter)
the market will be swamped with pork.
What makes these metaphorical pigs
Photo: Aiko Solar
so fast in the PV industry? It’s innovation
and capital. Capital is massively invested
in China, and that’s why, despite all discus-
sions, the global workbench for PV will
remain in China.
Innovation is still driven globally, as is
clear from most leading PV conferences.
Preview of issue 02/2024
Photo: MTAI Armenia
Photo: The Everlanders
Cautious Caucasus Solar on the move
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia may Portable power stations and batteries are a
commission nearly 1 GW of solar by 2030. substantial growth sector. But who’s buy-
For all three, this means a move away from ing these relatively expensive items, and
dependence on Russia. what does the future hold?
96
And as the PV community is thriving
asymptotically toward single-junction
crystalline silicon PV efficiency limits,
global cooperation is becoming more and
more essential to overcome the main tech-
nical hurdles.
TOPCon became the leading cell tech-
nology in 2023, making the existing PERC
lines more and more obsolete. There is
no way around back-contacted cells and
modules that became commercially visi-
ble in 2023 and will increase their market
volume within the next few years.
When celebrating the 1 TW of global
PV installations in 2022, we all dreamt of
the exponential growth of PV. And with
the aforementioned metaphorically ultra-
fast pigs, it looks like these dreams are
becoming reality.
While it is clear that PV is a key solu-
tion to the energy and climate crisis, the
dream would be a globally diversified sup-
ply chain, reducing the carbon emissions
of transportation, and securing the sup-
ply chain. We can already see that pigs can
indeed fly, and hope still remains.
Photo: Fraunhofer CSP
Measuring perovskites
New techniques address many challenges
in the measurement of perovskite PV
devices, including the complexities posed
by tandem applications.
12 / 2023 & 01 / 2024 | www.pv-magazine.com