Alencon Systems teamed up with Duke Energy to look at some of the challenges faced by a utility when adding a battery storage system to an existing solar installation. DC-coupled or AC-coupled? Grounding scheme?

Also in the brief: a look at how pv systems relate to bird mortality, Sunverge has been chosen to manage a Maryland virtual power plant, a solar powered water filtration system and more.

New data from The Harris Poll and LG show that LG’s solar web traffic, as well as quote requests for residential systems are both trending high since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the issue becomes turning this interest into concrete sales.

The pre-life of the Spotsylvania solar energy project has been riddled with financial and societal difficulties. As much as these issues have made a quagmire of development, it also provides a case study on the logistics of getting such a large project built.

Vivint beat estimates with $91.2 million in revenue in Q1, though, like with most other third-party solar companies, that was outweighed by $51.9 million in losses from operations. Installation figures fell during the quarter and are only expected to fall further, as Covid-19 runs its course on residential solar.

Also in the brief: solar on schools in Virginia and a Hawaiian microgrid.

Cordova, Alaska, a small fishing community in a remote part of Prince William Sound, has been able to find long periods of fossil fuel independence thanks to a new battery system developed by Saft.

A major advantage of this design is the ability to string cables over a longer distance without the support needed in traditional racking approaches.

The company reported strong solar deployments and revenue to start 2020, even with orders decreasing by as much as 40% for periods in March. And while the company has remained strong throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, additional sales decreases loom in Q2.

Customized Energy Solutions and the U.S. Energy Storage Association have released a new report analyzing the regulatory, legislative and market developments relating to energy storage across the nation’s RTOs and ISOs in the first quarter of 2020.