PV-Tech.org Volume 21 PV POWER PLANT TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS November 2019 cleaning up How solar is tackling its costly soiling problem, p.14 PV TECH TECH PV POWER Vol. 21. 2019 Vol. Market System Design & PLant Watch Integration Build Performance Solar’s big leap Benchmarking Standardising Backsheet forward in the PV module floating solar, durability in harsh Middle East, p.28 bankability, p.40 p.82 environments, p.63 regulars Published by ublished by Solar Media Ltd. 123 Buckingham Palace Road London, SW1W 9SH, UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 871 0122 www.pv-tech.org Publisher Introduction David Owen Editorial Editor in chief: Liam Stoker Managing editor: Welcome to the latest edition of PV Tech solar. Trade body SolarPower Europe offers Ben Willis Senior news editor: Power. As we head into a new decade, a glimpse at how entire swathes of the Mark Osborne it would be easier to look back over the solar ecosystem is going digital, taking in Reporters: Andy Colthorpe, Tom Kenning, José Rojo spectacular journey solar has walked new developments such as AI and machine Martin, Alice Grundy, Cecilia Keating throughout the 2010s. From nascent learning (p.72). These are no longer industry Design & production technology to a stalwart of power systems buzzwords, but real solutions posing tangible Design and production manager: the world over, the last 10 years will be benefits to the industry. Sarah-Jane Lee Production: remembered as the decade of solar’s New technologies have also helped solar Daniel Brown maturation. deploy where it hasn’t been able to before. Advertising But rather than reflect on the journey so Previous editions of this magazine have Sales director: far, this edition of the magazine continues charted the rise and rise of floating solar, David Evans Account managers: to push the envelope and instead glances and this has prompted renewed calls for Graham Davie, Lili Zhu, Adam Morrison, standardisation in the field, as José Rojo Will Swan forward. Indeed, what immediately jumps out is the level of sophistication that can be Martin learns (p.82). Printed by But this sophistication is not just seen in Buxton Press Ltd., Derbyshire identified as you flick through the pages of issue 21 of PV Tech Power. solar. While recent analysis has shown marked PV Tech Power Volume 21, 2019 ISSN: 2057-438X This edition’s cover story comes from the decreases in the price of lithium-ion batteries, longer-duration batteries continue to be of While every eff ort has been made to ensure deserts of the Middle East, where researchers the accuracy of the contents of this supple- are getting to grips with the issue of soiling real interest, and our resident energy storage ment, the publisher will accept no respon- sibility for any errors, or opinion expressed, and what can be done to prevent it. As you’ll experts Andy Colthorpe and Alice Grundy or omissions, or for any loss or damage, provide a comprehensive review of new consequential or otherwise, suff ered as a result read (p.14), soiling is estimated to have of any material here published. reduced global solar energy production by developments in this area (p.114). The entire contents of this publication are pro- as much as 4% in 2018, trimming power At the time of writing, representatives tected by copyright, full details of which are from across the world were grappling with available from the publisher. All rights reserved. revenues by as much as €5 billion (US$5.5 No part of this publication may be reproduced, billion). As solar PV’s penetration grows, the lack of requisite action to help prevent stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, me- so too does the reach and impact of such climate catastrophe. The COP25 summit, chanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise held in Madrid, harked back to the landmark – without the prior permission of the copyright issues, so the work of academics and research owner. institutes such as QEERI to prevent and treat Paris climate accords to measure just what these issues will be pivotal. has been achieved since then. The answer And if it’s sophistication you’re seeking, is, evidently, not much. This has thrust then look no further than the issue of significant importance on actions to be taken Brands of Solar Media: bifaciality, which litters the pages of this in the next decade, with decarbonisation of volume of the magazine. The technology power amongst the most straightforward continues to push the boundaries, helping solutions at our disposal. to drive tender prices to record lows in the Solar, as these pages show, stands ever Middle East (p.50), while helping make ready to do more than its share of the heavy subsidy-free projects bankable in markets as lifting. far north as the UK (p.56). Of course, bifacial isn’t the only technology Liam Stoker being adopted in the pursuit of sophisticated Editor in chief Cover illustration by Adrian Cartwright, Planet illustration www.pv-tech.org | November 2019 | 3 regulars Contents 22 59 08-12 News Round-up of the biggest stories in PV from around the world. 101 14-25 cover story Soiling and cleaning 14-18 PV soiling in dry climates: causes, impacts and solutions By Benjamin Figgis, Amir Abdallah, Maulid Kivambe, Brahim Aissa, Kamran Ali, Cédric Broussillou and Veronica Bermudez, Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute; Klemens Ilse, Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics 22-25 Keeping it clean Solar cleaning technologies and strategies 37 28-39 Market watch 28-30 Turning to the sun How solar is coming of age in the Middle East and North Africa 32-36 Risky business The uncertainties facing Australian solar investment 37-39 The rise of Asian solar: A first-timer’s travel diary Solar stories from China, Malaysia and Taiwan 63-78 Plant performance 63-68 Technical Briefing Influences of different backsheets on PV module durability in high-humidity 40-58 system integration environments By Haidan Gong, Minge Gao and Yiwei, Wuxi 40-44 Technical Briefing PV ModuleTech Bankability Suntech Rankings: methodology, validation and supplier ratings for Q4’19 72-76 Technical Briefing O&M and asset management 2.0: optimising the sector through digitalisation By Finlay Colville, Solar Media By Martina Pianta, 3E for SynaptiQ; Guillermo 45-49 Technical Briefing Balance-of-system components Oviedo Hernánde, BayWa r.e. Operation Services and new PV ecosystems S.r.l.; Constantinos Peonides, Alectris; Will By Robert Puto, TÜV SÜD Hitchcock, Above; Máté Heisz, SolarPower Europe 50-53 Mirror of sand: Middle East reflects US bifacial 77-78 Technical Briefing Sampling guideline for boom inspection and testing of PV modules in the field Rich pickings for bifacial solar technology By Satish Pandey, Preetha Pillai, Sandeep Jadhav, 56-58 Project Briefing When solar meets science Shyam Kumar, Gaurav Mishra and Rajesh Kumar Inside GridServes’ ground-breaking York Solar Farm Dhuriya, Mahindra Teqo 4 | November 2019 | www.pv-tech.org Threephase 3-20KTL_poster_EN Version-1.pdf 1 2019/8/12 10:32:45 FusionSolar Residential & Commercial Smart PV Solution Digital PV Solution for Ultimate Safety & Better Experience ULTRA SAFE AI Powered AFCI to Proactively Mitigate Fire Risk ULTRA Easier O&M Through Auto PV Module Health Check ULTRA FAST C Faster Inverter Commissioning through Only 4-Step App Setting M Y HIGHER CM MY CY CMY K SUN2000-3-20KTL regulars 82 56 114 82-89 Design & build 45 82-87 Floating solar sets sail for common ground Can floating solar design and technology be standardised? 88-89 Interview: Getting hard on solar soft costs storage & smart power The SunPower alumni tackling solar’s Achilles’ heel 106-121 106-112 Technical Briefing Redox flow batteries for renewable energy storage 90-102 Financial, legal, professional By Jens Noack, Nataliya Roznyatovskaya, Chris Menictas and Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, CENELEST 90-96 Technical Briefing Bringing retired PV modules back to life: From science-fiction to the reality of the 114-118 Contenders: Long-duration technologies and circular economy in the PV sector who’s behind them By Dr. Ioannis Tsanakas, Arvid van der Heide, Prof. The movers and shakers shaping the lesser known Dr. Jozef Poortmans and Dr. Eszter Voroshazi, imec/ side of energy storage (QHUJ\9LOOH %HOJLXP 7DGDV5DGDYLĀLXVDQG-XOLXV 120-121 Interview: Taking charge Denafas, SoliTek R&D; Dr. Tom Rommens VITO Energy Storage Association CEO, Kelly Speakes- (Belgium) Backman 98-100 Tools of the trade for corporate renewable energy buyers Lending a helping hand to Europe’s corporate green Regulars energy purchasers 03 Introduction 101-102 Merchant renewables: a viable investment or a bubble fit to burst? 59 Products Lessons from Spain’s post-subsidy solar boom 122 Advertisers index 6 | November 2019 | www.pv-tech.org NEWS | from PV-Tech.org Europe confirmed that it energised the 5.4MW Hall Farm II project on 5 August 2019, the company’s first project to be completed without support of subsidies. The investor said that the development gave Spain it “industry leadership in this space”, with the company having Spain offers subsidies in olive branch to FiT litigants already started construction on a much larger, 50MW subsidy- Spain’s post-election government has approved a plan to offer stable remuneration to free site. That project, located on the border of Bedfordshire and renewable projects, in a bid to defuse litigation sparked by retroactive subsidy cuts. Less Cambridgeshire, is scheduled to complete before the end of the than a fortnight after the country’s latest snap election, ministers of the minority ruling 2019/20 financial year. socialist party of PSOE offered investors 7%-plus in guaranteed returns for over a decade if they scrap ongoing lawsuits over the feed-in tariff (FiT) phase-out.