Market Watch

Carrie Xiao on a recent workshop held by TÜV Rheinland where PV developers, buyers and investors exchanged views on module quality and buying strategies.

As solar power projects mature, panels increasingly lose efficiency. What do operators do with solar panels once they have reached the end of their lifespan? Will Norman finds out.

Scores of new green hydrogen projects have been announced in the Middle East and North Africa in recent months, as countries look to take advantage of high levels of irradiation and available space to deploy renewables. Jonathan Tourino Jacobo explores the challenges and opportunities for the region’s burgeoning green hydrogen sector.

Cheap and quick to deploy, solar PV can provide a vital source of power to areas impacted by war, supporting critical infrastructure and helping to keep day-to-day life running. Molly Lempriere details how the technology is helping communities in Ukraine and other war zones.

With grid availability, plenty of land and a new contracts for difference scheme that is set to go live this year, Romania is proving an increasingly attractive market for solar developers. Lena Dias Martins finds out more.

While solar has been the backbone of Japan’s renewable energy push, deployment has been stalling in recent years. Chris Wilkinson of Rystad Energy details the benefits of the country’s feed-in premium scheme, the potential for corporate PPAs and the importance of battery storage.

Sky-high electricity prices and an increasing urgency to curb fossil fuel use have led to a surge in European solar additions this year. Jules Scully charts how the continent’s ongoing energy crisis is affecting EU renewables policy and PPA appetite.

While collecting verified bottom-up project data in real time has previously been cost-prohibitive, satellite data can now be leveraged to make comprehensive market intelligence attainable for investors. Daniel Cruise and Joseph Triepke, partners at energy intelligence firm Lium Research, reveal how satellites can provide more reliable insights into the construction of US utilityscale solar projects.

Earlier this year, ex-UK Prime Minister Liz Truss labelled solar projects “paraphernalia”, while her successor, Rishi Sunak, promised to not let the country “lose swathes of our best farmland to solar farms”. Molly Lempriere investigates how much land the UK needs for utility-scale PV plants as it transitions to net zero, and whether the sector’s growth poses any threat to food security.

Singapore is battling the need to decarbonise without the land availability to establish sufficient large-scale renewables plants. With the government looking to import electricity from overseas, Jules Scully looks at prospective power import projects and the consortiums behind them.