Why is battery energy storage important for PV industry?

It will serve as input to PV industry certification and compliance approaches and practices. Combining PV with storage brings additional financial considerations. Battery energy storage can resolve technical barriers to grid integration of PV and increase total penetration and market for PV.

Why should you track energy availability in a PV operation contract?

Tracking this availability (or unavailability) provides transparency into the equipment reliability state to all parties involved in an O&M services contract. In most PV operation contracts, energy will be the driving factor of whether the system is operating as expected.

Why is energy availability important in assessing PV systems?

Both energy and availability are necessary metrics for assessing PV systems. If the stakeholders involved in a contract are most interested in energy production, and if the contract holds parties responsible for energy production, then it is crucial that energy losses associated with unavailability and system performance are accounted for.

Are PV storage systems safe?

Storage systems in PV plus storage settings call for many overlapping safety standards and precautions, particularly those that apply to working on DC wiring, and bring a set of technology-specific new considerations.

How much of a PV module can be recycled?

Demonstration projects at SolarWorld and commercial-scale recycling operations at First Solar have shown that 84% to 90% by weight of a PV module can be recycled (Larsen 2009). If a system transfers ownership, it is important to consider how warranties are handled.

Which inverter is required for a combined PV and storage system?

Combined PV and storage system topologies will generally require a bi-directional inverter, either as the primary inverter solution (DC-coupled) or in addition to the unidirectional PV inverters (AC-coupled).