[June 2011 Issue]
BUSINESS IN BRIEF
MARKET UPDATE
PV Modules 2010 Top 10 Rankings High Growth for BIPV Fuelled by France and Italy PV Cost Reduction Goals Announced
PV Equipment Spending in 2011 at Risk Japan Nuclear Crisis Boosts European Solar Markets The Jasmine Revolution Opens the Door for Solar Development in MENA
COVER STORY
Solar as an Asset Class: It¡¯s about More than Technology Today, the promise of solar PV is not about technology, but rather about creating the financial, legal and regulatory frameworks that allow for significant cost reduction, especially for the residential and commercial distributed solar sectors. - By Dirk Michels
GLOBAL LEADERS IN PV
Roth & Rau: Converting Innovative Solar Technologies into Mass Production Roth & Rau has been a specialist in the field of customized plasma enhanced thin-film deposition techniques in the nineties. In particular, Roth & Rau produced tailor-made equipment for applications in the semiconductor, optical or automotive industries as well as for R&D purpose. -By Jeanny H. Lim
FINANCIAL & INVESTMENT
Solar Call: Q1 2011 Roundup After a slow fourth quarter at the end of 2010, the solar industry rebounded with stocks advancing well ahead of the S&P 500 during the first quarter of 2011. -By Jack Calderon, Chaim Lubin
VIEWPOINT
From Now On, There Will Be: Before and After the Arab Revolts and Fukushima Two major new events are bound to have significant consequences on the world¡¯s energy markets. -By Nicolas Sarkis
Interconnection Requirements for Utility-Scale Solar Power Grid interconnection has been identified as one of the most significant barriers to the installation of distributed generation technologies. To overcome this barrier, various requirements and standards have been implemented for interconnection. -By Perry Schugart
GLOBAL MARKET REPORT
India Solar Scenario¦¡Market and Policy The India of 2030 will almost entirely be built in the next two decades. Then, India will need energy to fuel the aspirations and will drive its demand exponentially. -By Dr. Ashish Pandey
CELL & MODULE
Facade Integration in Sight The dye solar cell module is still a young photovoltaic technology. However, in the last few years, this technology has started to extend beyond the laboratory level. The ultimate aim is the successful integration of these solar modules into the building facade. -By Andreas Hinsch
Spoilt for Choice Thin-film or crystalline ¡®thick-film¡¯? Mono or polycrystalline? German, European or Asian? The huge choice of solar panels available on the market makes deciding on one or the other a real headache. -By Antje Stephan
PV Module Production: Overcoming New Challenges The production of PV modules has been forced to evolve very fast during the last years, shifting from manual processes to inline automated ones. The need to reduce costs is key to understanding this evolution. -By Leandro Bento
COMPONENT & MATERIAL
Trusted Name in Module Manufacturing
INTERPV magazine met with Hiroshi Nakano, President of Nisshinbo Mecharonics at EXPO Solar 2011. As the head of one of the most respected Japanese solar equipment companies, Nakano has been busy with many visitors at Nisshinbo Mechatronics¡¯ booth.
- By Stella Lee
PRODUCTION & INSPECTION
Introduction of the Selective Emitter Technology in Practice This article introduces the combined printing and etching process of the Schmid Group and, then, focuses on the challenges involved in the sector of measuring technology, which apply to all selective emitter technologies. -By Dr. Christian Buchner
How Do We Make Efficiency Gains? InterPV met with Injea Lee, Vice President of Sales for Korea, South East Asia and India for Manz, to listen to their stories. He strongly believes in the bright future of PV technology. -By Stella Lee
Laser Driling of Thin-Film Solar Glass Lasers are widely used for different kind of glass machining processes like cutting, marking, welding and glass inside engraving. Drilling of solar glass by laser is a very new approach with several advantages over conventional drilling techniques used in the thin-film PV industry. -By Dr. Marco Lentjes
COMPONENT & MATERIAL
Free of Carbon Emissions by Truly Green Energy OPV Specialist Konarka sees growing demand in thin-film solar technologies based on organic photoactive materials. -By Stella Lee
The Benefits of Trackers
Efficient use of photovoltaic modules has been steadily increasing in importance in view of decreasing public subsidies for solar energy in many countries. Tracking systems have come into focus, systems with advantages such as substantially higher yield compared to fixed installations. -By Alexander Lenfers
POWER SYSTEM
Mission Critical Criteria for Inverters Critically, inverter system availability, which is easily overlooked, has the most important effect on the overall plant yield. What are chances of an inverter fault occurring, how long recover from the fault and what are the consequences on plant profitability should the worst happen?
DESIGN & INSTALLATION
Bring Solar to the Mainstream InterPV had a Q & A time wih REC Solar CEO, Angiolo Laviziano about the company¡¯s growth strategy and the PV market. -By Stella Lee
CASE STUDIES
Solar Energy Made Accessible Standard Solar is leading the way to energy independence combining extensive expertise with creative financing and professional energy assessments. Standard Solar is telling their stories of making solar energy systems accessible to residential and businesses customers. -By Mike Sloan
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