[July 2010 Issue]

BUSINESS IN BRIEF

MARKET UPDATE

2010 Global PV Demand Analysis and Forecast

2010 will mark the beginning of a global PV market diffusion.

Bounce-back in Global Clean Energy Investment Continues

Bounce-back in global clean energy investment continues with first quarter total up 31% year-on-year.

VIEWPOINT

Emerging Trends in PV Testing and Certification

Test labs are now moving beyond the tests of the IEC standards and now developing benchmark testing and harsher criteria.

- BY LUKE P. JOHNSON

Speaking Renewable Truth to Nuclear Power

The nuclear industry is using the climate change as an opportunity to say, “Since the problem is carbon, the answer must be nuclear.” This is wrong and unfortunately, the disasterous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is adding to the dangerous misconception that society must turn to nuclear.

- BY THOMAS THOMPSON

COVER STORY

Analyzing the Success of Asian PV Players - And the Challenges Facing Them

How and why Asian companies have become the leading players in the global solar industry so quickly?

- BY JEANNY LIM

Asian PV Giants: Getting Ready for Next Phase of Growth

InterPV examines how top Asian PV companies have been able to become the dominant players in the global PV industry and what they plan to do to enter the next phase of growth.

- BY JEANNY LIM

GLOBAL LEADERS IN PV

Siliken Renewable Energy, Trusted Name in Solar Energy

Gonzalo Navarro, CEO of Siliken, talks about how Siliken has been creating customer value and building sustainable competitive advantages in the solar industry, and introduces the company’s ongoing activities and future plans.

- BY JEANNY LIM

POLICY & LEGISLATION

Spain: Finding the Balance of Incentives

Successful incentive programs in Spain provided the impetus for technology innovation and important lessons about finding the appropriate balance of incentives to ensure that the market is sustainable.

-        -  BY JESSE TIPPETT, ALBERT FONG

U.S.: FiT for Energy Independence

Everyone envisioning a clean energy future in the U.S. needs to know that the best policy to create real cost-effective and fast deployment of renewable energy is what is known as a Feed-in Tariff (FiT).

- BY GAELAN BROWN

USA: Substantial Growth in Southeast

The Southeast U.S. has experienced substantial growth regarding solar photovoltaic installations in the past few years despite enjoying some of the lowest power rates in the United States.

- BY CHAD C. PAYNE

GLOBAL MARKET REPORT

India: Tremendous Solar Potential

Sourabh Sen, Co-Chairman of Astonfield talks about India’s National Solar Mission and its growing market.

- BY SARAH JEONG

Taiwan Market: Ready for Further Development

Asian PV market, especially Taiwan, is emerging as a new strong player in the global solar industry. Eric Chen, CEO & President of Everphoton talks about the Taiwanese solar market.

- BY SARAH JEONG

CELL & MODULE

The Growing Popularity of Thin Film

Thin-film companies have recently been pouring substantial investment into technology enhancement and production capacity and are set to flourish and stake their claim to a growing segment of the photovoltaic market.

-BY BRENT HARRIS

BIPV NEW TREND

BIPV as Marketing Strategy

NanoMarkets’ research into the potential of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) suggests that BIPV deployed as a marketing strategy might be a partial solution for solar panel makers.

- BY NANOMARKETS

PRODUCTION & INSPECTION

National Instruments Responds to Solar Market Needs

Dale Yoon, Strategic Marketing Manager for Renewable Energy at National Instruments Korea, talks about how NI is addressing the challenges for the solar market and how its tools and products can help solar companies to succeed.

-BY JEANNY LIM

POWER SYSTEM

Solar Bypass Solution for Better Efficiency

Tom Kapucija, Director of Marketing for Microsemi’s Analog and Mixed Signal Group, talks on the company’s technological breakthroughs.

- BY SARAH JEONG

Fixing the Weakest Link in PV System Reliablility

Historically, solar inverters have been the weak link in PV power generation system reliability. Though they typically represent 6%-10% of the system purchase cost, problems with inverters have traditionally accounted for more than 80% of system downtime.

- BY J. MICHAEL FIFE