Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

One of the most important ways in which inorganic thin-film photovoltaics (TFPV) and organic photovoltaics (OPV) can distinguish themselves from more conventional crystalline silicon photovoltaics (c-Si PV) in the marketplace is through the commercialization of flexible photovoltaic products using those technologies. But flexible photovoltaics brings with it some challenges of its own in terms of excluding air and moisture from the cells; challenges that translate into opportunities for suppliers of advanced encapsulation materials and systems as well as for TFPV and OPV firms.

The U.S. solar PV market is suffering not from a lack of demand or high prices, but rather from an inconsistent labyrinth of rules and regulations which complicate and prolong uptake. There is significant pent-up demand in the U.S. among developers and especially manufacturers; there is not, however, a commensurate regulatory framework that will enable and encourage this demand to be realized. This paper takes a closer look at the obstacles and costs associated with large-scale implementation of PV in the U.S.

This paper first appeared in the Solar Power International 2010 edition of Photovoltaics International Lite.

The U.S. solar PV market is suffering not from a lack of demand or high prices, but rather from an inconsistent labyrinth of rules and regulations which complicate and prolong uptake. There is significant pent-up demand in the U.S. among developers and especially manufacturers; there is not, however, a commensurate regulatory framework that will enable and encourage this demand to be realized. The U.S. political landscape is deeply divided, and policies that would directly or indirectly effect solar demand are no different from any other in this regard.

Mainland France’s photovoltaics market is substantially different from the situation in the country’s overseas Départements (DOM) and Corsica. Feed-in tariffs, tax breaks, financing and market players all differ in these territories. This paper takes a look at France’s mainland market, providing a projection for the country’s future market and some resources for more information on the DOM and Corsican markets [1].

The upper and lower houses of the German parliament took their time finding a compromise on the degression of PV tariffs. Cutbacks were finally decided on at the start of July. The German PV market is now headed for another record-breaking year in 2010 despite or maybe even as a result of these reductions. EuPD Research, the market research institute, is making a conservative projection of approximately 5.5GW in newly-installed capacity. Nevertheless, pressure is set to increase, particularly on German solar companies. New marketing strategies have to be developed in the mid-term in order to survive and explore new segments in the long term.

The French Ministry for the Environment, Ecology, Sustainable Development and Sea (MEEDDM) officially published a new decree concerning photovoltaic electricity generation and feed-in tariffs (FiT) on January 12th 2010. This was followed by a second decree, published on March 16th 2010, which contained some additional information and revisions to the first. This paper outlines the effects the revisions will have on France’s solar industry and provides guidelines for future developments in the country.

The vital importance of the regulation framework to trigger the development of a PV market has been recognized these last few years in many European countries. For policymakers today, one of the key challenges is making the best choice to initiate and stimulate PV markets. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, EPIA has launched the PV Observatory initiative. This paper describes this new initiative, which aims at analyzing the current state of regulatory frameworks in a set of countries, starting with the main European PV markets.

As 2009 comes to a close, many equipment suppliers are reflecting on the fact that the photovoltaic industry, despite its huge growth potential, can be a brutal place to do business. In the first half of the year many equipment suppliers had the unnerving experience of falling off a cliff, going from record order levels to no orders at all in the space of a few months. This sobering moment served as a reminder that the PV industry needs both access to finance and government support to continue growing. Indeed, it should be remembered that photovoltaics would still only be an interesting technology serving niche markets were it not for government subsidies. The one good thing about this year has been the accelerated drop in cell and panel prices. This is bringing ever closer the day when the price of PV generated electricity reaches parity with electricity generated from non-renewable sources and subsidies are no longer required. It is also driving a new round of investment in more efficient manufacturing equipment.

Solar currently represents less than 0.5% of global electricity generation. However, as renewable electricity gains importance in the US$1 trillion global electricity market, we forecast solar photovoltaic shipments to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 50% for the next four years. We expect an increasing number of countries to promote solar energy as the cost gap between solar and fossil fuel-generated electricity closes. This paper provides an overview of what to expect from the PV market in 2010.

The global PV market is undergoing fundamental change. According to a new survey by EuPD Research, Germany is once again the most important PV sales market worldwide this year. Current market conditions are tightening, but within Germany there is still plenty of undiscovered potential. The transformation of the PV market from a supply-driven sellers' market to a demand-driven buyers' market is, however, an accelerated process rather than a slow development.