Utah utility Rocky Mountain Power and solar advocates aren’t even close on the value of rooftop PV sent to the grid
Solar from customer roofs in Utah is worth somewhere between 1.5 cents/kWh and 22.6 cents/kWh, depending on your calculations and who you ask — a ridiculously wide range.
Solar installation spotlight: balancing modernity and heritage at the Boulder Jewish Community Center
Sustainability, lower operating costs and return on investment all became paramount issues for the development of this system that will serve the Colorado nonprofit and surrounding Jewish community.
Morning Brief: Trump admin disappears NREL ‘seams’ study and a 250-ton Chinese transformer
Also in the brief: China claims world’s largest solar ‘rooftop’ at 200 MW. And Midwest energy companies pledge to build nation’s largest interstate electric vehicle charging network.
US solar racking industry is innovating and consolidating
With installers and developers needing to squeeze every kilowatt-hour out of every roof and project, racking and trackers are the unsung heroes that secure and tilt panels while maximizing output and protecting wiring and other gear.
More than 7,000 US schools are solar powered
A new report by Generation180, the Solar Foundation and SEIA shows that the amount of schools turning to solar energy is surging, as over 5% of the country’s K-12 schools now have some sort of PV installation.
SPI roundup: Grid modernization will ‘define the replacement of net metering’
Can the solar industry’s biggest conference make the transition from mulitday marathon to six weeks of virtual “microconferences”? Opening sessions started strong, pragmatic and urgent — with a focus on collaboration and the opportunities ahead.
Morning Brief: Net metering still under attack by utilities and institutional corruption
Also in the brief: Solar in schools
Lack of carbon pricing and uncertain policy are holding back the flow of capital to renewables
“Putting a price on GHG emissions creates an economic incentive to allocate capital toward the development of new lower-emitting technologies,” claims a report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Morning Brief: SEIA forecasts 18 GW of solar for 2020 with 3.5 GW installed in Q2
Also in the brief: BayWa r.e. expands PV and storage capabilities with acquisition of Enable Energy, Hemlock Semiconductor to vertically integrate polysilicon production.
First Solar changes course: now selling its thin-film solar panels into the distributed generation market
The utility-scale solar pioneer and specialist is going small. After decades of avoiding distributed generation, its distributors will now offer First Solar’s series 6 modules to “projects and customers of all shapes and sizes.”
