Power & Energy Solutions

The premier renewable energy publication

Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Solar

PES brings you two great show previews, Solar Power International (SPI) and Energy Storage International (ESI), September 10th to 13th 2017, Las Vegas and European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) September 25th to 29th 2017, Munich Germany. Hopefully we will see you at one of them. Fusing solar energy and technology for the future The cost to install solar has dropped by more than 70% since 2010, which has helped make the industry more ubiquitous throughout the world. The United States is no exception. Nearly 260,000 Americans work in solar, more than double the number employees compared to 2012 - at more than 9,000 companies in every U.S. state. This has led the industry to expand into new markets and deploy thousands of systems nationwide. With nearly 1.4 million solar installations in the U.S., there are projections that the market will hit 2 million installations by 2018, and 4 million by 2022. This has helped the success of North America’s largest solar & energy storage trade show, Solar Power International (SPI) and Energy Storage International (ESI). This September, over 18,000 energy professionals and 650 exhibitors from more than 110 countries will make Las Vegas their home for three days to experience

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Exclusive Articles, PES Essential, Solar

Our second preview is of the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2017). Once again this will be an exciting event with the possibility of seeing the latest innovations, meeting up with the key players in our industry and a golden networking opportunity. Conference: 25 – 29 September 2017 Exhibition: 25 – 28 September 2017 RAI Convention & Exhibition Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands EU PVSEC is a fixed appointment in the calendar of PV experts – and has been for decades. In the 33rd edition from 25 to 29 September the global PV R&D community will meet in Amsterdam to discuss the latest developments and innovations. Research and technology innovations, as well as policy and strategy framework conditions – the future of photovoltaics will be shaped by a unique alliance between researchers, industry, and politics at the EU PVSEC 2017. Over 1250 abstracts have been received for the Call for Papers of the 33rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC). Arno Smets, General Chairman of the upcoming EU PVSEC 2017 commented, ‘I am very happy with the large number of abstracts submitted. The submissions demonstrate that the interest in photovoltaics keeps on growing.’ The abstracts were received from corresponding authors in 70

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Corporate Focus, Exclusive Articles, Solar

AlterPower AG is a consultancy and development company in the renewable energy sector. The team consists of professionals with over 15 years’ expertise in the solar/PV industry from investment to implementation. In July they announced the signing of joint contract with its partners and local developers in emerging markets, for a pipeline of over 3 GW of high quality projects, in different stages of development. We have been working on these 3 GW of pipeline projects for over 18 months of intensive searching, screening and negotiations with partners. We are committed to helping the renewable energy sector to optimise its costs, to reduce LCOE and to increase the returns of investment. Putting together different partners and knowledgeable professionals, understanding and auditing geographical markets and specific projects in the renewable markets, has made it possible to reach this milestone of high quality projects with high expectations on IRR. With AlterPower’s local partners, the company follows the complete project development process from scratch, starting with securing the necessary permits, the land and after careful fulfilment of legal compliance, assuring the connection point to the grid and completing the different steps to ensure it’s a valuable and competitive project once it is built. The procurement team acquires the

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Think Tank

In the PV industry the demand for solar modules used to be much higher than the production capacity. Nowadays companies are fighting for every part of the market share and obtainable margins are minuscule. And laser processes play a major role in this competition. The end customers have become picky about quality issues to do with PV products and project financiers keep a careful eye on the overall system costs. The constantly growing photovoltaic industry market and the development of new technologies got an additional push, as a lot of money has been put into research and development, especially close to industrial application. The survival of the fittest is basically fought on two key parameters. The production costs in USD/Wp (costs per watt peak) on the one hand and highest module power values on the other. The former was achieved by heavy reduction of consumable costs. Over the past decade most of the low hanging fruits have been picked. New sawing techniques sped up the wafering process and allowed thinner nominal wafer thicknesses, consuming less Si. Development of widespread used printing screens, metal pastes and printers reduced the consumption of silver on a cell. Both supported by falling prices for silicon and silver.

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Ask the Experts, Exclusive Articles, Solar

Michael Geib, Vice President of Global Sales and Christian Went, International Account Manager at TESVOLT, came in to PES to catch us up on their latest lithium-ion battery storage systems. The UK market is of interest, one reason being the flexible tariffs. PES: We are pleased to welcome you back to PES Solar/PV magazine. For our new readers, could you please begin by explaining a little about the background of your organisation and how you currently serve the solar/PV industry? Christian Went: TESVOLT specialises in high-performance lithium-ion battery storage systems. These systems are used primarily in the commercial and industrial sectors, where battery performance requirements differ from those in the domestic storage market. To meet these requirements, we combine top quality battery inverters and lithium cells with a proprietary battery management system (BMS). Our aim is to minimise the loss of power when the battery is being charged and discharged. Lithium batteries are more energy-efficient than other storage technologies and thanks to the unique BMS from TESVOLT, they can be flexibly combined and easily expanded, even after several years. Our systems can be configured to any value from 4.8 kWh up to several megawatt hours, depending on the client’s requirements. The exceptional reliability, high

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Exclusive Articles, Solar, Think Tank

Driving the development of high performance heterojunction solar cells from R&D up to industrial mass production. PES asks Meyer Burger to bring us up to date on the continuous improvement which is enabling high efficiencies and reduced costs. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015, a climate agreement was signed by 194 countries. Subsequently, these ratifying countries have set ambitious clean energy goals for the years to come. In order to keep up with the resulting growing demand for photovoltaic products, PV manufacturers along the entire value chain are expanding their production capacities tremendously. When acquiring PV manufacturing equipment, the focus lies on reducing production costs and increasing energy yield. With this in mind, Meyer Burger has developed the industry-proven Heterojunction Technology (HJT) and in doing so is setting the industry standard in the field of solar cell coating. Meyer Burger is continuously improving the HJT production process, today achieving an impressive > 23% in cell efficiency with minimal production costs by reducing the number of manufacturing steps compared to standard cell processes.

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Exclusive Articles, Talking Point, Wind

Words: Antti Turunen, Head of Global Service, ZF Wind Power The wind energy industry has grown up. Sophisticated technologies and a tough market call for more than just a professional repair of faulty equipment. Up to the medium power range it has become a commodity market where quality has become a given and where typical commodity linked drivers like timing and cost push the turbine manufacturers into continuous optimisation of the value chain. In recent years, in the gearbox service market, we have seen a similar trend. The general drive for lowest energy cost is gaining momentum and demanding solutions. Historically the service business has been closely linked to the new gearbox business of the large OEMs. For years the business required only one solution for servicing a gearbox and that was to bring it back in the best possible state. In practice, due to the learning curve and related upgrade, this means that a repaired gearbox is now becoming even better than the original serial product. The market is changing now and seeking significantly greater flexibility. This flexibility originates from the drive towards lowest cost of energy. Segmentation is taking place in the market and within every segment the customer has a different

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Exclusive Articles, Think Tank, Wind

PES brings you WInspector, an advanced and innovative approach for on-site inspection of wind turbine blades. A research and innovation project which is part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme. A consortium, composed of five members, TWI, WRS, Innora, Gamesa and London South Bank University has come together to find a solution for wind turbine blades inspections, by means of the development of a laser shearography system placed on a robotic platform, under the project WInspector. Overview Nowadays, Wind Turbines (WT) are one of the most efficient ways to produce green and sustainable energy, contributing in a high percentage to all renewable electricity. However, due to the stress suffered by the blades and caused by wind gusts, there is a continuous need for inspection and maintenance. According to CWIF an average of 3,800 blade failure incidents annually are attributed to poor maintenance, with a cost varying between 90,000€ and 900,000€ each, involving many accidents resulting human injury and fatalities. Blades reparations can be costly in downtime and expensive, and at the same time this fact reduces turbine’s operational efficiency. For these reasons, preventive planning through more frequent inspections is a necessity.

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Exclusive Articles, Think Tank, Wind

Words: Shelley Regan Across the renewables industry, UAV technology is now an established and essential part of maintenance inspections and surveys. The accessibility and capability of the mission-critical data gathered for asset integrity inspections has been a ‘game changer’. It is not just the savings in terms of time- and cost-efficiency that are decisive, but the numerous operational benefits that include improved monitoring and planning and the removal of risks to personnel. The technology has proven itself against so many long-established ways of working. The UAV inspection method avoids the need for rope-access inspections and associated costly asset shutdowns, saving time and money as well as removing the risks of working at height. Work scope for fabric maintenance can be quantified much more quickly and accurately through close visual inspection for example. CVI inspections generate thousands of images and high-definition video. All of this provides data to inform engineering decisions in a fraction of the time that it would take a large rope access team to cover an area such as a full turbine.

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Exclusive Articles, Talking Point, Wind

PES is pleased to bring you a preview of the latest multipurpose vessels: the new R-Class, from Spliethoff, buit in the Zhejiang Ouhua shipyard in China. The ships will be just the ticket for the offshore wind industry. Amsterdam-based shipping company Spliethoff has placed an order for six multipur-pose vessels at the Zhejiang Ouhua Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., shipyard in China and are looking forward to a long partnership. Spliethoff is a dry cargo and multi-purpose specialist. It was established in 1921 and over the years has built up an excellent reputation for its high quality standards and for being a reliable, loyal partner. These new, state of the art, R-Class vessels have been designed to comply with the Polar Code and are therefore highly suitable to trade in remote areas such as the Arctic. Working for the wind industry means it’s very important to be ecological, both in terms of the environment and emissions. So with this in mind, they will be optimised for fuel efficiency and equipped with scrubbers which will also reduce their environmental footprint to a minimum, and ensure they are ready for SCR and Tier III compliance.

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