A free solar future, drones patrolling the skies above solar farms: pvMB 5/2/19

Welcome, welcome to this Thursday’s pvMB. Today we’ll be checking out Suntuity’s free solar giveaway, Brooklyn Solar Canopies going south, sPower and Cypress Creek alleging project blocking by Consumers, the launch of the Atlas platform and all the rest of today’s ultra-important solar news.

May 2, 2019 Tim Sylvia

Stylish solar canopies such as this are headed to the South.

Image: Brooklyn Solar Canopy

Solar will be nearly free in the future says 8minutenergy CEO – Talk about a Nostradamus-esque prediction. In a recent article with Forbes, Thomas Buttgenbach, CEO of 8minutenergy shared that in his visions of the industry in 10-20 years, “solar generation becomes nearly free.” The whole interview is a great look at what could be the energy future and is worth a read. Source: Forbes

Suntuity giving free solar to customers – In a visibility effort to grow personal PV adoption, Suntuity has chosen a group of New Jersey owners who will receive free solar power from company-owned systems for 25 years. The program also provides free bidirectional meters for chosen residents, allowing them to participate in net metering. Source: Yahoo

First Brooklyn Solar Canopy in South installed by Solar Alliance – “Solar Alliance Energy Inc. is pleased to announce it is working with Brooklyn Solar Canopy (“Brooklyn Solar”) to install the first Brooklyn Solar Canopy in the U.S. south. Brooklyn Solar’s patented canopy design is adaptable to multiple flat roof types, carport and other applications… The first project with Brooklyn Solar is in Nashville, at the same location Solar Alliance is installing a 32 kW system with 6 Tesla electric vehicle chargers.” Solar Alliance Energy

Cypress Creek, sPower claim Consumers is illegally blocking projects – While Consumers sticks to the rhetoric that it will totally develop and construct 5 GW of solar by 2030, two Michigan developers say that the company is blocking development attempts in its service area. Cypress Creek Renewables and sPower have both filed with state regulators, arguing that Consumers has slowed their development potential to a halt. Cypress Creek has claimed over 250 qualifying facilities representing nearly 2 GW have been stalled, while sPower claims the same for 6 projects over 75 MW in capacity. Source: Energy News

senseFly unveils drone for solar farm inspections – “senseFly has launched a new drone at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019, the Solar 360. The fixed-wing thermal drone solution has been designed specifically for solar farm inspections… The Solar 360 is a solution that combines the eBee X fixed-wing drone, senseFly’s Duet T thermal mapping camera, and Raptor Maps’ solar-specific software. senseFly says the package can be “easily integrated into solar management workflows without requiring either drone piloting skills or the manual analysis of aerial solar farm data.” Source: Drone Life

FTC Solar launches Atlas platform – FTC Solar has launched its Atlas platform the project and portfolio management platform designed specifically for the solar industry. The platform provides a hub for tracking project documents, interconnection requirements, and schedule, to budget and financials. The service also allows for the creation of custom reports with the ability to update the data contained in those reports in real-time. To try a demo of Atlas, click the link provided. Source: FTC Solar

Solar Battle of the bands is on! July 9, in San Francisco. Tickets go on sale May 7.

https://twitter.com/CALSSA_org/status/1122971175036997632

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