PVcase's Adventures at Intersolar Europe 2023

PVcase's participation at Intersolar Europe 2023 was highly successful. The event, held from June 13th to 16th in Munich, Germany, attracted major players from the global solar market. PVcase's Bauhaus-styled yellow booth was consistently crowded, drawing significant attention to their new tools and marking the first collaboration with Anderson Optimization, a recently acquired company.

In addition to the main trade show, PVcase organized its own customer education seminar, SmartUp’23, just before Intersolar. R&D specialist Algirdas Ducinskas delivered a presentation on digital twin technology titled "Utility-Scale Solar Power II: Quality, Reliability & Performance."

PVcase at Intersolar

The event broke attendance records, with 100,000 visitors participating. PVcase's booth was a hub of activity, with their branded socks being a popular merchandise item. Povilas Sumskas, Head of Outbound at PVcase, noted the consistently high level of interest and engagement at their booth, especially around the soon-to-be-launched Roof Mount and Yield tools, as well as PVcase Prospect. Volha Vziatkina, Marketing Events Manager, highlighted the non-stop conversations and demos, with up to 27 happening simultaneously at one point.

Key Takeaways from the Conference

Global Solar Market and Long-Term Outlook

• ​According to SolarPower Europe (SPE), 239 GW of solar were grid-connected globally in 2022, representing 45% year-over-year growth. This is slightly lower than the 252 GW estimated by BNEF. The year was marked by supply chain stabilization and an energy crisis, with many turning to solar as a hedge against rising energy prices.
• ​SPE's Medium scenario projects solar installations to grow to 341 GW by 2023 (BNEF: 344 GW) and reach 615 GW by 2027 (BNEF: 529 GW). The high scenario could see almost 800 GW installed in 2027 (BNEF: 570 GW).
• ​The research community projects between 14 and 80 TW by 2050, up from 1.2 TW at the end of 2022. The most likely scenario is between 60 and 80 TW by 2050, with a 3.7 TW annual market expected in the 2030s.

Hybrid Projects

• ​A conference session showcased 18 concrete hybrid projects: 1 hydro-floating, 13 solar with battery energy storage system (BESS), 2 solar-wind, 1 solar-wind with BESS, and 1 agrivoltaic with BESS.

Hybrid Market Outlook

• ​Colocating renewable energy (RE) and BESS could become the new normal across all markets.
• ​Nearly 30% renewable energy injection could be ideal for rolling out hybrid PV+BESS.
• ​Cumulative front-of-the-meter battery plants are expected to grow from about 50 GWh in 2023 to 300 GWh in 2031.

Advantages of Hybrid Projects

• ​Provision of ancillary services and short-term (<1h) stability.
• ​Improved participation in spot market trading with hourly equalization of demand and supply.
• ​PV + battery revenue stacking.
• ​Optimized grid connections, increased RE technology mix in the power system, and integration of more variable RE through storage.
• ​Operational advantages such as firmer output, reduced O&M cost, and higher capacity factor.
• ​Reduction of curtailment.

Agrivoltaics

• ​Launch of V2 of the Agrisolar Best Practice Guidelines.
• ​Agri-PV installed on 10% of the EU's Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) could reach an installed capacity between 3 and 14 TWp. However, there is still no aggregate data on the size of the agrivoltaic market in Europe or globally.

Summary

Intersolar Europe 2023 was a significant milestone for PVcase. The company's pavilion attracted a diverse range of industry professionals interested in product demos. The event provided new opportunities for growth in the global solar market, and PVcase looks forward to returning even bigger next year.

Feel free to share your ideas with PVcase for next year’s Intersolar edition.