Commercial & Industrial PV

The economic feasibility of plant factories has been questionable because of energy costs. Now, customers of one containerized farm provider can opt for 100% clean energy using a subscription service.

The tool allows users to collect data on single municipalities from a dataset of 3,500 places. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have the country’s highest solar radiation levels.

The 12.3 MW solar installation will create a carport canopy, providing cover to around 3,000 parking spaces. Excess power will flow to the grid and storage will support AirLink JFK rail shuttle service.

Also on the rise: Invenergy gets a $1 billion holiday gift; Tonight’s celestial thrill; Looser rules could boost Chinese glass capacity; NREL announces record-setting two-junction solar cells; ReneSolar notches a win in Poland’s solar auction

We cover residential resilience, tariff trouble, big Texas solar, storage everywhere, IPOs, interconnection queues and more in a review of this difficult, ridiculous, successful year. Next year will be better.

We wanted to know what the grid would look like, and cost, if we stopped ignoring the benefits of DERs and optimized the integration of these resources through a better modeling process. We found that when you use better planning models and scale both local solar and storage, as well as utility-scale solar and wind, you maximize cost savings and unlock the path to the lowest cost grid.

This year’s pv magazine Quality Roundtable USA looked at extreme weather, and how resiliency can be built through modern O&M. Representatives from DuPont, Stäubli, Nextracker and RETC took to the virtual stage to discuss weather-related damages, and how to harness quality materials and workmanship to industry’s advantage, particularly when it comes to insurers. Ariel Re and NovaSource, meanwhile, looked at issues like risk management insurance solutions and asset stabilization. Case studies and presentations on the field performance of PV modules, and extreme hail and fire, were also included.

Australian design and manufacturing company PVDymanics has unveiled a solar canopy technology which can be used with both framed and frameless solar modules. The company believes its system can revolutionize the micro-grid market.

Yotta Energy just won seed funding to install batteries under solar modules — in an architecture analogous to microinverters and optimizers.

A 50 kW PV system is being built on the facade of a radiology center near Marburg’s main train station. The Marburg municipal utilities and the Sonneninitiative association have concluded a PPA that ensures the long-term financing of the project.