SunPower sells off its O&M business to Clairvest, gets regulatory approval for Maxeon spinoff
SunPower has had to make fundamental changes to continue to be relevant in a solar industry very different from that of its roots. The company aims to become an energy service provider and is leaving low-cost manufacturing to its Chinese partner.
Storing wind and solar with new gravity-based system
Scottish start-up Gravitricity is planning a project to store surplus power from renewables at Port of Leith. A 250 kW, grid-connected prototype facility will have its ability to stabilize the network tested. The system involves a 50-foot rig over a 500 to 5,000 foot shaft.
Solar industry CEOs weigh-in on positive trends in Covid-impacted quarterly results
“We’ve taken how the industry would have evolved – probably in two years – and we’ve done it in a month.” — Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun
The challenges and tricks of adding battery storage to existing solar projects
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?
Direct cash payments for solar projects floated as a legislative solution
Solar developers, including First Solar, believe that a direct cash payments solution could keep solar projects on track and help developers monetize the ITC in the event that tax equity financing dries up.
People in quarantine are searching for solar power
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.
Span wins $10.2 million to modernize the home electrical panel, ease shift to solar, storage and EVs
“The standard electrical panel has not seen major innovation for nearly a century.”
Morning Brief: a massive battery ready to break ground, Vectren looks to cut net metering
Also in the brief: expanding a community solar pilot in San Antonio and how to guarantee a just energy transition for indigenous communities.
Distributed storage could save Texas $344 million per year by deferring transmission and distribution costs
Adding enough distributed storage to reduce peak demand by 20% could defer up to one-fifth of the transmission and distribution expenditures in Texas for about 10 years, a study found. Other states may find the study’s analytical insights to be useful.
Form Energy claims its aqueous air battery provides 150-hour duration storage
The holy grail of energy storage has always been low-cost and long-duration. Form Energy intends on deploying a 1 MW/150 MWh system with a Minnesota utility before 2023, an unprecedented energy storage duration if successful.
