Commercial & Industrial PV

Can an organic solar cell material finally be commercialized? Last year, Ubiquitous Energy claimed a world record for efficiency of a transparent solar cell with a 9.8% efficiency. Can a solar window harvest enough power to be practical?

Northern Indiana Public Service Company, in collaboration with Inovateus Solar has installed 420 kilowatts across three “zero-waste” projects at NIPSCO office locations — the first step towards the 2.3 gigawatts the utility has planned by 2023.

“EIA’s projections greatly underestimate the growth of solar and significantly overestimate coal’s persistence in the energy mix,” says Dan Shugar, CEO of NEXTracker.

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that a fixed fee for distributed solar customers violates state law. Vote Solar and Sierra Club brought the case, with representation from Earthjustice.

The product costs around $28 to $30 per square-foot although prices will vary depending on project complexity. Swiss manufacturer Freesuns says its tiles can be used on historic buildings and can cover 100% of rooftops.

Also in the brief: CALSSA organizes mask and PPE donations, National Grid is postponing projects in Rhode Island, Envision Solar has officially launched the upgraded generation of EV ARC solar EV chargers and more!

A new type of sheltering in place.

France’s Sunbooster has developed a technology to cool down solar modules when the ambient temperature exceeds 25 C. The solution features a set of pipes that spread a thin film of water onto the glass surface of the panels in rooftop PV systems and ground-mounted plants. The cooling systems collect the water from rainwater tanks and then recycle, filter and store it again. The company claims the technology can facilitate an annual increase in power generation of between 8% and 12%.

Executive and boardroom moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and venture capital.

Also In the brief: Iowa passes net metering right before suspending the session amid the Covid-19 pandemic, an international research team has developed a new type of solar cell that is 26.7% efficient in power conversion, Powerhome is hiring and more.