In an interview with pv magazine USA 8minutenergy President & CEO Tom Buttgenbach talked of radio telescopes and aliens, but also the USA solar market, a 14 GW solar power pipeline and energy storage being a fundamental – not an add-on – feature.

REC Group has begun production of its residential N-Peak Black series, reaching up to 325 watts. Concurrently, Trina Solar has released four new modules within its Tallmax, Duomax, Duomax Twin, and Honey series – some of which reach up to 415 watts.

PanelClaw announced the launch of its flat rooftop 10° clawFR solar module racking platform. The company reports an installation manual, autoCAD blocks, and that the racking solution is approved by UL to work with its first tranche of solar modules.

Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners has invested $200 million in a new distributed solar company – Madison Energy Investments – focused on ground-mount, rooftop and carport projects ranging from 500 kw – 20 MW.

An analysis by Michigan Technological University shows how Michigan utilities use political influence to push back against distributed solar generation, leading to some of the nation’s highest electricity rates in the Upper Peninsula.

Invenergy has proposed a solar project up to 200 MWac / 300 MWdc in capacity with a 50 MW / 200 MWh battery in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.

Avangrid Renewables has signed a solar energy power contract with Puget Sound Energy for a 150 MWac solar power plant, the first solar power project over 30 MW in the state to reach this milestone. The land lease rate of $300/acre/year is 150x the prior $2/acre/year grazing rights the state land was paid.

pv magazine USA sees spring is around the corner, so here’s a fresh Morning Brief, including Fitch downgrading more California Solar and Toyota buying power from solar projects planned in Kentucky.

Per U.S. Department of Energy figures, the United States has retired just over 147 GWac of coal and gas, while building 143 GW of the same sources (almost all gas) during the last 12 years.

Munich Re, a global insurance company, is offering a 10 year “Project Cover” plan for ESS’s two flow battery models – 50 kW / 400 kWh and 100 kW / 400 kWh. ESS suggests a 25+ year lifetime on its product with zero degradation.