Welcome to the eighteenth edition of PV Tech Power. Bifacial system costs come under the spotlight. DNV GL looks at floating solar design. We also have papers on O&M business models, the European solar finance market that is supercharging the post-subsidy pipeline, an in-depth look at Turkey from the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright and much more. Our regular Storage and Smart Power section returns with Andy Colthorpe at the helm as always.

The solar industry endured an eventful 2018 with the US establishing its trade tariffs on module imports and China hitting the brakes on deployment, yet, through sheer determination, everyone ended the year feeling fairly optimistic. There is lots of cause for hope in 2019. Module prices are down for the timebeing, seeding subsidy-free markets. We are on the cusp of technological gains that can tilt that balance even further in solar’s favour. Traction with energy storage is clearing up grid headaches and creating new sources of revenue. Our ultimate 2019 briefing addresses all this and more. Our regular Storage and Smart Power section, meanwhile, includes an in-depth look at California’s vibrant market as decrees turn into deployment.

This year’s Solar Power International trade show dedicated what seemed like almost as much space to energy storage as solar. As Andy Colthorpe reports, this is likely a strong indication of the way the world is adopting renewable energy, particularly California, where storage looks set to play a key role in helping the Golden State realise its green ambitions

Andy Colthorpe speaks to Janice Lin of the California Energy Storage Alliance on what sort of role energy storage will play in reaching the ‘100% carbon-free retail electricity’ goal of the state’s SB100 legislation

Energy storage projects often fail to deliver value because of economic miscalculations. These computational issues, however, can now be mitigated by applying software, analytics and machine learning, write Enrico Ladendorf and Bryce Evans

Meet the world’s largest dedicated solar inverter company as it bears the fruits of its R&D origins. In this special collaboration between PV Tech and Sungrow, we’ll investigate the company’s roots, its technology, its stable finances and its all-encompassing product line up covering every solar application. We’ll take a deep dive, no pun intended, into what many are calling the third pillar of PV, floating solar. Mark Osborne will assess the market for floating solar and where Sungrow’s place in this emerging sector lies in the wake of its research and development efforts. Together with Sungrow, we’ll also demonstrate the company’s product selection philosophy and meet some of the key customers already putting Sungrow at the heart of their work. We’ll look at how Sungrow is matching the market’s requirements, be it for central or string inverters or even the inclusion of energy storage.

Smoothing and firming are often discussed to make renewables appear more like conventional generation to the grid operator, but how smooth and how firm does that generation need to be? How can the attributes and operations of energy storage be appropriately measured relative to cost? Andres Cortes and Ben Kaun of the Electric Power Research Institute discuss recent work addressing these issues

Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept

First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the second of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe dives deeper into questions of bankability, market segmentation and manufacturing strategies

In the sixteenth edition PV Tech Power we examine the ever complex module technology market and the best routes to ensuring module quality for your project from manufacture to in the field performance. We also examine the bifacial plus tracker options available, review India’s latest policy challenges (and opportunities) as well as virtual power plants, flow batteries, solar contract standardisation and much more.