A new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) examines the global energy system’s transformation and its implications for energy security. It tells policymakers that energy security in renewables-based systems will require multi-dimensional thinking.

BloombergNEF says in a new report that solar and wind must drive most emissions cuts before 2030 to stay on track for net-zero by 2050. Its net-zero scenario targets a combined solar and wind capacity of 31 TW by 2050.

Sunrun, a U.S.-based residential solar installer, says nearly 1,800 customers have already signed up to its PowerOn Puerto Rico virtual power plant (VPP). The program deploys stored solar energy from customers’ batteries to the grid, preventing power supply shortfalls on the island.

University of Michigan researchers have found that the value of rooftop solar will increase by between 5% and 15% by the mid-century across a range of U.S. cities under moderate climate change, and by up to 20% by the end of the century.

Mercom Capital Group says that total corporate solar funding, global venture capital funding, public market financing, and PV mergers and acquisitions all fell year on year in the first quarter of 2024. The sector is still grappling with high interest rates, which Wood Mackenzie says is disproportionately affecting renewables projects.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) has published a wide-reaching snapshot of the global PV market, covering installations, manufacturing, policy trends, and grid integration.

Enphase Energy, a California-based microinverter specialist, says its new power control system will give North American customers that use its energy systems more flexibility to build larger projects.

The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a cost-estimation tool for new closed-loop pumped storage hydropower (PSH) plants in the United States. The tool allows operators to select from a range of system characteristics and account for factors such as local geology, labor rates and inflation.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says developers installed 345.5 GW of solar throughout the world in 2023. China mainly drove the surge, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all new renewable energy, but IRENA says more equitable growth will be needed to hit 2030 deployment targets.

The government of the Canadian province of Quebec aims to deploy 300 MW of solar through tenders under utility Hydro-Quebec, in a bid to diversify the supply of renewables.