Opinion & Analysis

With installers who cater to African businesses making the headlines this year, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg – whose C&I solar business was recently bought by Shell – explains here how the story of the continent’s commercial and industrial (C&I) solar segment was far from an overnight success.

Faced with undulating terrains, solar PV companies are leveraging modern technologies to achieve terrain flexibility across challenging sites to deliver unmatched efficiency improvement and bring production gains to solar projects.

Robotics is evolving to ease the maintenance of solar power plants. From drones combined with thermal imaging to the robotic cleaning crew for large-scale solar PV plants, automation and robotics are constantly evolving for the cleaning and maintenance of PV plants.

The growth of utility-scale solar PV in India is marred by several challenges such as availability of land, limited local manufacturing capacity, high transmission and distribution losses, grid integration, and other inefficiencies.

With software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, EPC users can manage different silos as per the solar project requirements. The software ensures that the silos are integrated and accessible during all phases of the EPC to maintain transparency. 

At the end of 2021, the total capacity of the solar power plants throughout the world was estimated to be 940 GW. According to the forecasts of solar association SolarPower Europe, the total capacity could reach 2 TW by 2025. With the rapidly growing popularity of solar power plants, experts predict that the next breakthrough in this sector will be smart batteries. In the future, solar power plants will not be able to operate without them.

Sun simulator is considered to be the heart of a testing or a calibration lab used to test solar PV panels, indoor under controlled and repeatable conditions. There are various parameters to be considered while selecting one.

Perovskite solar cells have the potential to produce more energy at significantly lower costs than conventional silicon PV cells. Efforts are underway to speed up their commercialization by addressing issues such as limited stability.

Advanced solar panels, inverters, batteries and plant monitoring technologies are revolutionizing the solar sector.

CareEdge Ratings has analyzed the key drivers of rising PV module prices and the impact on projects in India. It has also assessed the tariffs expected in upcoming bids, to ensure that developers get the same returns they were previously getting.