John Fitzgerald Weaver
Hardware brief: Tesla solar patents, RBI’s “Underground Surety”, solar+storage+SCADA, more!
Hey, when you see me at SPI in Salt Lake City – make sure to show me things to take a picture of so I can get it into the brief! Otherwise, enjoy your weekend and some gear: small scale solar from Morningstar’s SureSine, module pricing trending downward, more!
How the cash flows when we electrify buses, agriculture and more
The Brattle Group has developed a Total Value Test to help determine a more accurate economic valuation of energy efficiency programs historically, including case studies of city bus electrification, indoor agriculture and water heating.
Residential solar plus storage is taking over Hawaii’s grid
Sunrun’s solar+storage Brightbox systems – 1,000 of them totalling 4.3 MW of capacity – are included in a contract for grid services submitted to Hawaii regulators.
Electric company pushing electric school buses in Virginia, high speed car charging network in Iowa
Power utilities are continuing a nationwide push for vehicle electrification to grow flat since ~2007 electricity demand, with Dominion Energy now aiming for a 100% electric school bus replacement program, starting with 50 by the end of 2020 in Virginia, along with Mid American pushing for 15 high speed car charging locations across the Iowa utility’s service area.
Department of Energy shows wind and solar power will dominate fossils
A Department of Energy report on wind energy showed nuggets of research on solar power – including a 280 GW interconnection queue and continued declines in pricing, as well solar’s encroachment on wind’s Midwest territory.
Yotta gotta lotta $$, module pricing down, insurance for C&I, SMA’s 4.6 MW inverter, more!
As SPI approaches and hardware announcements speed up – we’ll work to keep you up! NREL speeds up ultra-efficiency solar cell manufacturing, SolaRack has a new rooftop attachment seal technique – and it uses 18% less product , APA Solar Racking’s Titan system doing well this year, more!
Indiana gas plant spurned – wind, solar and storage respond
Vectren’s 2016 proposal to replace coal with a gas plant was declined as too large and financially risky for the small utility, requiring a new bid – which recently came in showing wind, solar and storage dominating the list of offers.
Is solar power the keeper of gas and coal?
Los Angeles regulators have put aside a vote on a sub-2¢/kWh solar power project due to union pressure, because of potential job losses in the climate fight as well the closing of three gas plants in the city.
Demand charges, energy arbitrage and behind the meter energy storage payback periods
Research done by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on energy storage shows time of use billing allowing for energy arbitrage opportunities, while more widely available demand charges having a more widely available opportunity.
The ten-year, 73 gigawatt renewable energy business plan
Renewable portfolio standards across 29 US states represent significant, legally required additions of wind and solar – including 15 states whose requirements will drive more than 11 GWac of solar power.
