Ben Willis

London

Publisher at PV Tech Power Magazine

Editor at Solar Power Portal

Editor at Solar Media, publisher of PV Tech - covering environment, energy, clean tech & policy.

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Articles

'Rocky road ahead' for US solar, SEIA CEO warns

1 week ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

The CEO of America’s main solar trade body, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), has predicted a difficult few years ahead for the US solar industry as it navigates tariff and policy disruption. Addressing the opening of the Intersolar 2025 conference in Munich, Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, spoke of the uncertainties facing the US industry as a result of the Trump administration’s trade tariffs and threats against tax incentives.
Behind Sungrow’s 1+X 2.0 Modular Inverter: a new round of innovation

3 weeks ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

At the Global Renewable Energy Summit 2025 earlier this month, Sungrow unveiled the 1+X 2.0 Modular Inverter, bringing new technological innovations and product upgrades to the industry. Four years ago, Sungrow launched the world’s first 1+X 1.0 Modular Inverter for PV and storage, which achieved breakthroughs in multiple dimensions.
Technical knowledge gaps 'slowing floating PV adoption’ – IEA PVPS

3 weeks ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

Floating solar has firmly established itself as an answer to the problem of land scarcity for ground-mount PV systems, but remains constrained by a range of technical and regulatory uncertainties. That is the key message in a newly published report by the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS), which examines some of the obstacles holding back floating PV (FPV) adoption.
Why was China's historic 51GW PV module tender terminated?

3 weeks ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

The new energy power price reform policy in China, which was implemented just over two months ago, has been impacting every market participant. This seemingly includes the state-owned engineering and construction body, PowerChina, which on 9 April 2025 issued an announcement terminating its framework procurement project for PV modules planned for 2025. This project, with a total capacity of 51GW, was dubbed the “largest module framework procurement project in history”.
PowerChina halts 51GW PV module tender, largest in industry history

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | Carrie Xiao |Ben Willis

Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina), the state-owned engineering and construction body, has halted a 51GW centralised module procurement tender, the largest in the country’s history.
TOPCon UV tests ‘exaggerate’ degradation issues - Fraunhofer ISE

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

Concerns over the performance of TOPCon cells following UV exposure may be exaggerated, according to research by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). Fraunhofer’s researchers investigated the common methods used to test for UV degradation and found that they can overstate the extent of the issue compared to what is experienced in the field.
PV manufacturers hope for the best on IRA as Trump fires first shots against US producers

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

America’s PV producers found themselves in the Trump administration’s crosshairs last week when the US president signed an executive order withdrawing solar manufacturing from the Defense Production Act (DPA). This reversed a Biden-era provision from 2022 aimed at kickstarting US domestic PV manufacturing by earmarking it as an industry deemed critical for national security and thus eligible for certain funding streams.
Overcoming the ‘active constraint’ of grid capacity in the digital age

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | David Pratt |Ben Willis

Following decades of stagnant growth, the US is facing a rapid surge in electricity demand led by the needs of tech giants seeking to connect data centres. Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft represent the largest cloud computing and data centre companies in the world and are upending the power system of the US, the largest market for data centres, through their expansion.
CHINA ROUND-UP: CEEC signs Azerbaijan solar EPC contract, secures Indonesia FPV project; Solarspace plans Hong Kong IPO

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | Carrie Xiao |Ben Willis

The Northwest Electric Power Design Institute of China Power Engineering Consulting Group (NWEPDI) has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) for the 445MW Bilasuvar and 315MW Banka PV projects in Azerbaijan. These two projects mark the first large-scale PV projects of China Energy Engineering in Azerbaijan under the EPC contracting model.
Flexibility 'holds key' to supporting Europe’s energy transition – report

1 month ago | pv-tech.org | Ben Willis

A study has underlined the importance of flexibility to Europe’s energy transition as the dominance of renewable energy generation grows. A report by UK-based consultancy LCP Delta has revealed that the ongoing buildout of grid-scale renewables such as PV and an accompanying surge in household electrification across major European economies will lead to “high and sustained” levels of power market volatility and distribution network congestion.