Europe

A British study has found co-location of solar and storage may accelerate the deployment of profitable merchant renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom. The report predicts installed solar capacity in the U.K. could increase from around 13 GW next year to 19 GW in 2030 and 32 GW in 2040.

Trade tariffs are spreading across the global PV industry. The United States has been especially active with its sandwich of old antidumping and countervailing duties coupled with new Section 201, 232 and 301 duties. Some of these are part of the Sino-U.S. trade dispute; others impact not only Chinese producers, but manufacturers around the world. So, what will be the impact of this new era of PV protectionism on the solar sector?

The invention converts energy produced by PV cells directly into mechanical motion without batteries or power electronics. Its developers claim the solar motor can drive irrigation water pumps and ventilation turbines for more than 20 years without maintenance.

With the 200 hydrogen bikes offered to journalists and world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France proving popular, manufacturer Pragma Industries has received an order for 1,000 of them from Chilean president Sebastian Pinera. The company’s founder, Pierre Forté, wants the bike to have a societal impact in developing countries.

Vehicle-to-grid functions could soon become increasingly important. While policymakers discuss the necessary regulations in other nations, the Netherlands government is motoring ahead with the technology.

While China hosts the lion’s share of production capacity for solar modules, many other parts of the world harbor the ambition to build manufacturing industries of their own. Italy’s Ecoprogetti is building production lines all over the world in 2019, and pv magazine had the chance to catch up with the family-owned company’s CEO Laura Sartore, who sees India and the Middle East as the key markets for the PV production equipment business.

The global installed capacity will grow from a modest 9 GW/17 GWh as of 2018 to 1,095 GW/2,850 GWh in the next two decades. Just 10 countries will account for almost 75% of the overall gigawatt market, with China, USA, India and Germany leading the pack.

According to the latest market forecast published by Wood Mackenzie, it seems that global PV installation figures will rise to 125 GW per year from 2020. Continued global capacity expansion will come in through a growing gigawatts-club.

With India losing major solar markets to stiffer competition from cheaper products, it’s high time to change the game by playing on quality and innovation—according to Vikram Solar Chief Financial Officer Rajendra Kumar Parakh, who spoke to pv magazine on the challenge of shrinking markets before Indian solar manufacturers.

Since 2017, several European governments have announced bans on sales of conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. Countries like France and the United Kingdom have set bans to come into force by 2040, while Norway has set a more ambitious goal of 2025. Raquel Soat, Research Analyst at Navigant, looks at how policy might affect European electric vehicle markets over the coming years.