Opinion & Analysis

In a world where electricity defines sovereignty, allowing foreign-made devices to sit at the core of India’s solar infrastructure is nothing short of national negligence. In today’s age, power is not just electricity—it is sovereignty. We cannot afford blackout-level vulnerabilities induced by foreign-made solar inverter hardware with security loopholes.

The solar energy industry is capitalising on the integration of automation and AI. These technologies play an integral role in transforming solar operations from reactive and manual processes into intelligent, predictive and highly efficient systems. 

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, reports that TOPCon modules from China held steady at $0.083/W. Meanwhile, the spot price for U.S. TOPcon modules over 600 W was assessed this week at $0.263/W.

Manufacturers are integrating polymer-based frames into mass production, optimizing for rooftop and bifacial modules, and creating hybrid frames for challenging climates. The goal is consistent: reduce total cost of ownership without compromising durability.

Renewable energy projects that should take 12-18 months to complete often take twice that. More often than not, land acquisition challenges, regulatory overreach and delayed transmission planning are the reasons behind this.

US-based software provider Solesca presents new ways of handling PV system unavailability and solar module degradation. Engineers have a key role to play in this evolution, ensuring more accurate and reliable energy predictions for solar projects.

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, powering everything from consumer electronics to electric vehicles, residential PV storage systems, and, more recently, mitigating curtailment in large-scale wind and solar power plants. EVs are driving large-scale demand for Li-ion batteries which will result in substantial volumes of spent batteries in the near future. This scenario highlights the potential for repurposing EV batteries for second-life stationary applications, which could maximise their value before recycling. However, to fully realise this opportunity, several economic, technical, and regulatory challenges must be addressed and resolved.

Energy is not merely a utility for lighting and basic operations; it also functions as a critical instrument of geopolitical influence. When access to power is disrupted or strategically weaponized during times of conflict, the economic consequences can be severe and far-reaching. 

While generation capacity from renewables has grown steadily, and commendable strides have been made to reduce the cost of solar PV cells for example, our ability to store, intelligently manage and distribute that energy still remains a massive challenge. This gap isn’t just a technical bottleneck, but also a strategic vulnerability that requires much attention across the entire renewable energy value chain.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.