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

Markets | The UK government has placed energy storage at the forefront of its industrial strategy. David Pratt and Lauren Cook report on how this is creating the right conditions for what many believe will be a boom market in years to come

Grid storage | The advent of grid-scale energy storage means a whole raft of new technical, safety and risk-mitigation requirements for the industry to understand. Martijn Huibers, PhD and Paul Raats, MSc of DNV GL report on guidance designed to help stakeholders get to grips with this fast-emerging sector

This edition’s bifacial focus looks at cell types and module configurations, IEC standards to improve labelling and system design under varying climatic conditions. As an important component of utility-scale PV, we cover a range of energy storage news, analysis and technical briefings. We also take a look at module failure detection, the role of robotics, executing commercial scale projects, a summary of the core arguments involved in the US ITC section 201 vote and much more.

It wouldn’t be an Intersolar Europe edition of this journal without a look at a solar market closer to home; we touch on the resurgent French solar market which looks set to provide a major source of demand. As module and inverter swap outs are a growing line of work for O&M providers, we also examine the issues that emerge, such as potential induced degradation and exposing the shortcomings of projects built without adequate monitoring capabilities. TUV Rheinland presents a technical paper that could prove to be an investor’s best friend by providing a method to push energy yield performance calculations for modules beyond an extrapolation of their standard test conditions. We also introduce our new conference, PV ModuleTech, to be held in Malaysia this November, dedicated to scrutinising the technical performance claims of manufacturers and seeking out best practice.