Power & Energy Solutions

The premier renewable energy publication

Ask the Experts, Exclusive Articles, Solar

Here we present a different take on our usual PES Ask the Experts. Patricia Darez, a director at 350renewables, interviews Marc Korevaar, a physicist at Kipp & Zonnen, to find out what makes the new RaZON+ stand out from its competitors. Patricia Darez: Congratulations on the new product, I haven’t had a chance yet to test it out in the field but I already like the name, in Spanish it translates as Reason. Could you introduce the RaZON+ and tell us a bit about how it works? Marc Korevaar: The RaZON+ is an all-in-one Solar Monitoring Station that was developed and engineered by a dedicated team at Kipp & Zonen. Apart from the Spanish meaning we also chose the name because ZON means sun in the Dutch language. The system provides the three solar radiation components: direct, diffuse and global. Direct and diffuse are measured and the global is calculated using the time and location from the GPS. The way the system is designed it is more resistant to soiling than traditional systems; mainly because of the way the PH1 pyrheliometer is designed. Using the Smart PH1 and PR1 fast response pyrheliometer and pyranometer the system can rapidly follow changing

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Solar

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Intersolar North America will once again be the first major solar event of the year. It takes place July 11-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and is co-located with ees North America and SEMICON West. These combined events bring together professionals from the solar, energy storage and semiconductor industries to share knowledge and innovation, network, and accelerate business goals. With its consistent growth to 18,000+ attendees in 2017, Intersolar North America is the most-attended solar event in North America. This year Intersolar will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in conjunction with its long time event partner California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA), also celebrating an anniversary – its 40th year of service to the California solar community. Intersolar, CALSEIA and SEMICON will party in grand style at the largest solar networking event ever at AT&T park, home of the San Francisco Giants major league baseball team. With the financial support it receives from Intersolar, this is CALSEIA’s largest fund raising event of the year. Intersolar is the solar event most trusted for its intent to foster innovation and curate high-quality speakers, exhibits and connections. From the biggest names in solar to startups, nonprofits, students and under-represented

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Solar

PES brings you previews to the Intersolar shows, kicking off with the Intersolar Europe and followed closely by Intersolar US. These shows reflect the expansion of solar energy across the globe and bring you the latest technology, innovation and a chance to meet the regular players in the market and new ones. Prepare to be wowed. Intersolar Europe 2017: Showcasing the future of the energy industry The international solar market is booming. Market researchers from Mercom Capital have put the global rise in photovoltaics for 2016 at 76 gigawatts. Southern Europe is one of the sunniest regions in the world, making it the perfect location to drive forward the global energy transition and further promote solar energy growth. And as the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners, Intersolar Europe will serve as a source of inspiration from May 31–June 2, 2017 in Munich for manufacturers, distributors, service providers and suppliers. This year, Intersolar Europe will once again be accompanied by ees Europe, the continent’s largest and most visited exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems. At both exhibitions, the industry sheds light on topics such as energy generation, storage, grid integration and energy management, smart renewable energy

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Think Tank

The ongoing trend to push high-efficiency PV cell devices to higher efficiency levels is more and more accompanied by the adaption of semiconductor device fabrication standards. One of the reasons is the rising sensitivity of p-i-n PV cell structures of thin film layer stacks to the impact of impurities, which may be increasingly harmful with respect to the proper functionality of the layers themselves or their surface interaction. Therefore, suitable measures have to be implemented to suppress such film contamination in the manufacturing process. From the equipment point of view, it is highly desirable to avoid potential contamination sources upfront and to implement efficient treatments for avoiding so-called memory effects. Specifically, for the manufacture of HJT devices Indeotec has produced a successful design with its PECVD Mirror Reactor concept, which eliminates the need of wafer flipping and hence eliminated the potential contamination source of flipping automation. Additionally, Indeotec successfully tested a plasma treatment method which means it’s possible to put the intrinsic and the subsequent doped a-Si:H layer in one reactor, which could reduce the number of required deposition chambers by half.

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Solar

Driven by the accuracy requirements of the solar renewable energy industry, solar radiation measurement reaches the next level. Sensor technology is improving, user access to calibration is getting easier, practices for instrument maintenance and measurement uncertainty evaluation are now being standardised. Hukseflux Thermal Sensors, a technology leader in this field, is actively involved. The weakest link Until now, measurement of solar radiation has often been often the weakest link in PV system performance assessment. The equipment used for this, pyranometers, is an optical instrument. Their measurement uncertainty under perfect conditions is in the 2 to 3 % range. However, conditions at a solar power plant are frequently imperfect. A major error source is instrument fouling, for example by dew, frost, rain or dirt. The frequency of pyranometer maintenance is often low. To reduce the impact of fouling, cleaning is essential, but it may not be part of the standard maintenance program. Recalibration, the most common way of verifying the true performance of the instrument, may only happen from time to time. The overall result of this lack of cleaning and calibration is a much larger measurement uncertainty than that under perfect conditions; typically no better than 5 %.

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Talking Point

As the world transitions to a low carbon electricity system, one of the key challenges is responsiveness. Traditional forms of power generation provide a reliable base load that can be dialled up and down as needed. In contrast, renewable energy generation is intermittent and cannot be increased as efficiently in response to peaks in demand; the sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow. As solar’s share in global energy generation continues to rise exponentially, the industry’s ability to innovate expands too, as large corporations continue to invest in this sustainable clean energy source. Thanks to rapid innovations in the application of digital technology the solar sector is able to offer one of the most flexible forms of power generation available. Industry 4.0 The world has seen a series of epochs: the first industrial revolution transformed production with mechanics, Industry 2.0 saw electricity enable mass production, and Industry 3.0 drove forward the increased use of electronics and IT. Today, a digital revolution is firmly underway and is considered by many to be the dawn of Industry 4.0. Smart technologies, including the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and other forms of advanced communication, are fundamentally changing

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Ask the Experts, Exclusive Articles, Solar

Moritz Meixner, the general manager at h.a.l.m. elektronik gmbh, came back to PES to catch us up on the developments in their high quality range of testers. He is also enthusiastic about the need for R&D and training – both for staff and the customer. PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. Thanks for talking with us. For our new readers you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organisation and how you currently serve the solar/PV industry? Moritz Meixner: h.a.l.m. elektronik gmbh is a family owned business with high ethical standards and a strong belief in the future of renewable energies. Established in 1984 in Frankfurt am Main / Germany, h.a.l.m. has worked for numerous industrial sectors like material testing, chemical, pharmaceutical, and automotive, before turning the focus on the photovoltaic industry 15 years ago. Today, we provide complete measurement systems for the characterisation of solar cells and solar modules. Our PV product range offers cell testers, module testers for production and for R&D use as well as outdoor testers for solar systems. PES: h.a.l.m is well known for delivering high-end measuring systems for photovoltaic technologies. Can you give us more information about your tools for the

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Ask the Experts, Exclusive Articles, Solar

Experienced in back-contact module manufacturing since 2007, Eurotron is taking module manufacturing to the next level. “Back contact is no longer a concept. It is a proven technology and our clients are currently in mass production,” says Bram Verschoor, Commercial Director at Eurotron. PES caught up with Bram and Jan Bakker, Technical Director at Eurotron, to corroborate this claim and learn why the solar industry is ready for back-contact modules. PES: Could you begin by introducing your organisation and explaining to us how it serves the solar/PV industry? Bram Verschoor & Jan Bakker: Eurogroup is a group of companies dedicated to back-contact module manufacturing and everything that relates to it. The group consists of Eurotron, Eurolab, and Eurotec. Eurotron produces equipment for manufacturing of solar panels and will be the topic of our conversation. Eurolab is a lab facility that enables testing of back-contact modules, while Eurotec is dedicated to general industrial technology applications. PES: Back-contact technologies offer an interesting ratio between efficiency and price. What are the advantages in terms of power generation? BV & JB: We believe that back-contact panels are the best way forward for power harvesting. With a single Eurotron manufacturing line clients produce between 10 and 90 modules per

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Talking Point

Market development of PV storage solutions in Germany There was hardly any awareness of storage systems in the German market until the introduction of a federal subsidy program for the usage of home storage systems in 2013. In the beginning the new technology was met with scepticism from various market players; however, the federal subsidy program was able to slightly compensate the high price level for end customers. After around 5,000 storage installations in 2013, the installation numbers in the German market almost doubled in the years to come, so that by the end of 2015 a total of approximately 30.000 storage systems had been installed. This market development was initially carried by the first subsidy program, which expired at the end of 2015. More or less every second storage system was installed with the help of the federal subsidy system during this period. After a phase of uncertainty, a second federal subsidy program was initiated in March of 2016, to accompany the development of storage solutions for small roof-top systems until the end of 2018. When taking the current market development into account, the subsidy budget of 10 million euros per year was too limited to offer sufficient market stimulation

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Talking Point

In a drive for even lower costs and higher efficiency, the photovoltaic industry is hugely dominated by the standard rectangular panels of 60 or 72 cells optimised for installation in large fields and flat roofs, in dry and accessible environments. This has proven a good model for utility-scale electricity production but people want more. This is exemplified by Elon Musk’s announcement last year, that Tesla will market a solar roof tile, going viral; a demand exists for PV elements integrated into the environment around us—in ways that are efficient, economic, and beautiful. Products for varied applications like PV roof tiles, PV building skins, floating PV, PV on landfills, and PV noise barriers are still required to be economic and manufacturable. The best system design choices for these products often require a novel module concept or set of materials. Dutch energy research centre ECN has established the Solar Elements Living Laboratory (SELL) to work with customers to develop their custom-integrated PV products from the initial idea to market introduction. Starting with economically and mass-manufactured solar cells or laminates, the SELL is equipped with tools and experts to design, prototype and test integrated PV products of all sizes, shapes, colours, and applications.

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