Islands around the world provide ideal conditions for trialling new approaches to energy provision. David Pratt reports on some of the work going on globally to bring the benefits of cutting-edge renewable energy, storage and smart grid technologies to the world’s geographically isolated communities.

Welcome to the latest edition of PV Tech Power. Installed solar power capacity already rivals nuclear power and could well surpass it by the end of 2018. Rapid improvements in solar cell technology, module configuration, system design and financial innovation have been a big driver. Increasingly, we are seeing this mammoth legacy fleet continue to benefit from technical improvements ranging from intelligent monitoring to using machine learning and energy storage to predict when charging a battery offers a better return than feeding the grid. We’ll explore a range of activities covering hardware and software, from module to market, that are helping asset owners maximise the value of solar.

PV Tech Power’s annual Africa-focused special report is an opportunity to gauge the fortunes of solar and other renewables in a region where they arguably offer the most. Last year we charted some of the sector’s key milestones and argued that it looked as though the pace of progress was set to gather pace. A year on, that certainly seems to have been the case.

2017 was tet another record-breaking year for energy storage. Riding high on expectation, the industry is braced for challenges and successes in equal measure this year too. We canvassed opinions from some of the world’s leading trade associations and representative bodies on the year just gone and what 2018 could bring

The commercial and industrial segment is one of the most promising sub-sectors of the energy storage space. Julian Jansen of IHS Markit describes recent efforts to model the US C&I storage landscape and what it reveals about this dynamic emerging market. As told to Andy Colthorpe

Islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes. John Merritt looks at some of the emerging solutions to building more resilient energy systems through the deployment of microgrids that combine multiple energy generation and storage technologies

Welcome to the first 2018 edition of PV Tech Power. The focus of our cover story is an area that has been exciting the editorial team here at PV Tech Towers for some time. Floating solar presents an entirely new pillar of solar deployment, as discussed at length by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). In our Market Watch section we have expert coverage from Apricum of the booming Chinese market, exploring how the country’s vast demand, the so-called ‘hungry dragon’, will be satisfied in 2018 and beyond. With PV Expo returning to Tokyo this quarter, Japan’s RTS consultancy provides an update on a market that, despite its challenges in recent years, continues to represent a multi-GW opportunity and so much more.

Issue 13 of PV Tech Power is finally here. This volume includes a three-part inverter special report, insight from First Solar about how its recycling procedures impact a project’s lifecycle costs, and must-read material from our colleagues at Energy-Storage.News. Alternative views on the role of blockchain in a modern power grid are revealed, and we bring you an exclusive report from the U.K.’s first unsubsidised, large-scale solar plant. A clean power investor offers his inside look at clean energy finance, energy storage as a replacement for traditional grid infrastructure is explored and so much more.

Storage integration | Our team profile 10 of the leading global system integrators working in energy storage today. This is a handful of the names that are designing systems, solving problems, executing projects and shaping the industry around us. By: Andy Colthorpe and John Parnell with Tom Kenning, Danielle Ola, David Pratt and Liam Stoker

Policy | State governments and agencies have a key role to play in fostering the growth of energy storage. Todd Olinsky-Paul of the Clean Energy States Alliance looks at the key policies, programmes and incentives being used by America’s pioneering storage states