‘Tesla and Panasonic are scrapping their partnership’ in solar cell production at the Buffalo factory
Elon Musk has spoken of the “exponential” ramp-up of its solar glass tile at the Buffalo factory. Panasonic’s tiles never made the cut for that product
Morning Brief: D.E. Shaw buys Rancho Seco Solar II, DTE Energy must procure renewables
Also in the brief: CVE finances a 31.3 MW SMART portfolio, SolarEdge adds Karamba Security software to inverters, CIT leads $140 million financing for esVolta and more.
Oil giant Total increases stake in solar efficiency leader SunPower
Total will be acquiring 676,000 shares worth about $31 million, according to SEC filings.
The duel for the future of Indiana’s energy identity
While state legislators decide the fate of a bill aimed at adding restrictions to the retirement of existing generation plants, the state’s second-largest utility has issued the results of an unprecedented solar solicitation.
Energy storage roundup: Kore’s 110 kw-hr rack, KiloVault’s 7.5 kW-hr wall-mount, NeoVolta’s 24 kw-hr battery system
Falling battery costs, shifting utility strategies and new PUC policies are drawing fresh entrants and incumbents into an invigorated energy storage sector.
How Canadian hydro could save New England and New York $5.4 billion
MIT researchers model how 4 GW of powerlines connecting the northeast USA to Quebec hydroelectric facilities eliminates the need for up to 60 GW of wind, solar and storage as the two regional power grids approach 100% clean energy.
Morning Brief: How clean is energy storage? New York clean energy and California solar mandate under attack
Also in today’s brief: New Hampshire solar wildlife access, Iowa solar compromises
California Solar Mandate weakened by Commission’s new definition of community solar
Does the update to California’s solar mandate undermine residential solar and storage, as advocates claim? Or does the new definition of “community solar” provide more choice to builders and low-income homeowners? The answer might be “yes” to both questions.
Hanwha officially exits polysilicon business
Hanwha Solutions has confirmed that it will shut down its polysilicon business over the course of the next year, only a week after saying that it was still evaluating its plans for the sector.
First Solar announces surprise Q4 loss, considers sale of its development business
“First Solar, at its core, is a technology and module manufacturing company,” said Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar. “Given the significant evolution of developing utility-scale PV projects in the United States, we believe now is an appropriate time to evaluate our options with respect to our U.S. project development business line.”
