PV Society Blogs
Will PV Markets Be Affected by Climate Change Skepticism and Policy Delays?
In the wake of the somewhat muddled outcome of the COP15 climate change conference in Copenhagen, there has been a growing myopic backlash against years of UN-led climate change findings. Washington, D.C.’s recent record blizzard has stoked further those skeptical voices, who chortle about the irony of Senate hearings on climate change being delayed because of the severe weather in the nati ... More
About this blog
Oerlikon Solar’s Chris O’Brien discusses relevant policy issues -- both national and international -- and how they impact the PV industry.
To Cap or Not to Cap – That Is the Question
Whether ‘tis nobler to allow a market to be oversold, thus suffering the risk of a significant decrease in the available tariff or a cessation of the program altogether, or to set a reasonable cap that encourages growth while controlling costs and extending the life of the incentive. Using (and admittedly abusing) the third-act soliloquy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to make a point about ... More
About this blog
Paula Mints, principal analyst for the PV Service Market Research Program, and an associate director at Navigant Consulting Inc., offers perspective on the photovoltaics market and its changing dynamics.
In Search of Large-Scale R&D for Photovoltaics
In a 2006 op-ed titled “A Million Manhattan Projects,” Thomas Friedman applauded the U.S. approach to developing clean energy technologies. He wrote, “Because we have this incredibly flexible, open, unrestricted, competitive economy…no one is waiting for Washington to declare the next big Manhattan Project, for, say, energy independence. American innovators are growing ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the development and commercialization of new solar technologies.
PV’s Top EHS Concerns
2009 was, in many ways, a “PV production year.” Streamlining processes, seeking smarter ways of supply chain management, and standardizing the obvious cost bottlenecks have contributed much to a more robust production cycle. What we need to talk more about is how we can achieve cost saving objectives without compromising the “green” agenda the PV industry has been proud ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the photovoltaics industry from the perspective of SEMI’s PV Group, with Bettina Weiss and other SEMI staff weighing in on such issues as standards, EHS, public policy, market trends, and more.
Quantifying Q3’09 Results
I mentioned in my first blog that the PV market has recovered in Q3′09, but let me now try and quantify it. The exact details can be found in our latest Weekly PV Supply Chain Health Report. As indicated:Revenues surged for most layers of the PV supply chain in Q3′09, as shown in Figure 1. This data is segmented by primary output of the company, so a company that produces wafers, cel ... More
About this blog
This blog focuses on the economics and health of the PV supply chain, examining which layers and business models of the PV supply chain are the healthiest and why. It covers polysilicon, wafer, cell, module, inverter and systems integrators, supply, pricing, demand, government policies and more.
Utilization Effects on Profitability for Solar Cell Manufacturers
In my first entry in this blog, I noted that the rapid buildup of solar capacity over the last several years has led to utilization levels of 50% for 2007 and 64% for 2008, with our forecast for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 at 41%, 40%, 48% and 65%, respectively. Since that first entry, we have added additional companies to our database as well as making other updates based on newer information. We c ... More
About this blog
Drawing on his company’s Solar Watch database of global solar cell manufacturers, Scotten Jones, president of IC Knowledge, provides insight into the trends in solar fabs around the world.
