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In order to cope with the rising prices and reduce future costs, solar technology manufacturers and PV system developers have been looking for ways to limit the use of copper in projects. Since PV inverters typically account for 9% of PV system costs and most require a significant amount of copper cables, it is a logical first place to start when trying to engineer a solution. Inverter design and technologies In order to cope with the rising costs many inverter manufacturers are looking at designs that limit the amount of copper used throughout a PV system, which in turn can help to drive down balance of system (BOS) costs for their customers.

Leading investment house Deutsche Bank has dramatically lifted its demand forecasts for the global solar industry – predicting that 46 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV will be installed across the world in 2014, before jumping by another 25 per cent to 56GW in 2015.

Researchers from Kyung Hee University and electronics giant Samsung in Korea have devised a textile-based organic photovoltaic cell that they believe could be a promising approach for powering wearable electronics

Frost & Sullivan estimates that global solar market revenues will grow between 2014 and 2020 despite the economic uncertainty in the global markets. A number of government sponsored initiatives are expected to boost the proportion of energy coming from 'green sources' and political willingness will also be a key driver of this market. With climate change high on the agenda for most governments, renewable energy has come to the forefront as one of the solutions proposed to combat global warming. Incentive mechanisms are also an important factor encouraging investments for the growth of the solar power market.

Thus the smart energy network will help reduce costs and break down market barriers for generation technologies such as solar photovoltaics, fuel cells and microturbines, and new energy storage technologies such as reversible fuel cells.

The global solar market is shifting from Europe to Asia. China's newly installed solar capacity grew 232% year-on-year in 2013 to 12GW, whereasGermany's newly installed capacity fell 56.5% to 3.3GW and Italy's dropped 55% year-on-year to 1.6GW.