Five Texas munis partner to add 500 MW of solar
The projects would be a first for all but one of these utilities, as publicly-owned power companies continue to lead Texas’ solar charge.
How far should we push oversizing a solar power plant?
Fluence Energy has given guidance on optimizing solar module loading ratios, suggesting that a 1.9:1 DC:AC solar panel to inverter ratio, in defined circumstances, makes economic sense with integrated DC-coupled energy storage.
Employee owned engineering firm installing advanced electric vehicle charging on campus
Burns & McDonnell, a 6,000-strong engineering firm, is installing a Greenlots EV charging network and integrating it into the company’s campus network. The engineers hope to offer EV related services to their many electric utility customers.
US triples energy storage installations, residential grows 10X to become largest sector
Wood Mackenzie projects that the U.S. energy storage market will reach well over $500 million in sales this year, following on 61.8 MW / 156.5 MWh of installations during the second quarter. Residential storage has grown at 61% per quarter since Q1 2017.
Global EV sales hit 4 million, soaring market sees next million in May 2019
While it took 60 months to reach the first million electric vehicle (EV) sales, in late 2015, it took the fourth million just six months. China is driving this development. Meanwhile, as first generation EVs batteries are reaching their end-of-life, interest in second-life use cases is growing. The volume of retired EV battery packs is set to be 108 GWh by 2029 – representing a third of the expected storage capacity market at that time.
Colorado trades away coal and gas for solar+wind+storage
The Colorado PUC has voted to provide initial approval of a plan to retire 660 MW of coal early and not build any new gas, instead constructing over 1 GW of wind, 700 MW of solar and 275 MW / 1.0 GWh of energy storage.
Challenges for batteries in the California fire code
A supplement to the California fired code has added a number of new requirements for stationary lithium ion batteries.
Hawaii PUC approves solar + battery system for Molokai
The island’s 7,000 residents are expected to see savings from the 4.9 MW solar and 2.6 MW of battery storage that Half Moon Ventures plans to install on the island.
Minnesota gets its first large-scale energy storage system (and you get free solar honey!)
Connexus Energy has broken ground on two solar+storage facilities – totaling 10 MW-AC solar and 15 MW / 30 MWh of energy storage. When connected by end of year, they’ll be the first large-scale energy storage systems put online in Minnesota, and the largest energy storage for a co-op in the United States.
Rural electric cooperatives are becoming a gigawatt PV market
A report issued by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association shows rapid PV growth in less than a decade in co-ops.
