The duel for the future of Indiana’s energy identity
While state legislators decide the fate of a bill aimed at adding restrictions to the retirement of existing generation plants, the state’s second-largest utility has issued the results of an unprecedented solar solicitation.
Energy storage roundup: Kore’s 110 kw-hr rack, KiloVault’s 7.5 kW-hr wall-mount, NeoVolta’s 24 kw-hr battery system
Falling battery costs, shifting utility strategies and new PUC policies are drawing fresh entrants and incumbents into an invigorated energy storage sector.
Morning Brief: Google’s airborne wind turbine ‘moonshot’ closes, SEIA on Black History Month, solar under storm
Also in the morning brief: Maine’s renewable procurement, Scatec Solar’s big South African solar plant, Silfab Solar’s manufacturing expansion in Washington, plus the NABCEP conference is next month.
Morning Brief: TVA plans 200 MW solar, 200 MWh storage, Arizona Public Service announces Clean Energy Future project
Also in the brief: NYSEIA forms the Long Island Solar & Storage Alliance, Sol-Ark named a finalist for “American-Made Solar Prize,’ Gas South and Cobb EMC break ground on solar + storage project and more.
Software can drastically improve the economics of commercial solar
Jigar Shah of Generate: “Load flexibility is the giant issue nobody is talking about…Extensible Energy’s load-flexibility software is a win-win for the solar contractor and the building owner. Building owners get a higher ROI and faster payback time, and the solar contractor can offer an easy-install demand charge solution with or without batteries.”
The inner workings of a lithium battery
An international group of scientists has developed a method to track the microscopic processes at work in lithium batteries. Employing a ‘virtual unrolling’ model developed for ancient manuscripts too sensitive to be opened, the group peeked inside the layers of a commercial battery to gain a better understanding of the processes at work and the degradation mechanisms affecting them.
Explosive growth: BNEF expects California residential battery installations to quadruple this year
As a California installer has said, “I kind of compliment PG&E because they’re our best marketing department when it comes to battery storage. Now the challenge is there’s a very limited number of battery storage systems that are going to meet the reliability threshold.”
Energy storage innovations and exhibitors at Intersolar San Diego
EMP/solar flare-hardened gear, storage-behind-the-PV-module and Generac made appearances at the Intersolar show in Southern California last week.
Morning Brief: 200 MW proposed in Utah and ‘God likes solar’
Also in the brief: 150 MW coming to Pennsylvania, Sunnova to bundle roof replacements with solar+storage under one loan, a solar-powered big rig in Arkansas and more!
New SunPower: Focusing on building the world’s highest efficiency PV modules at Maxeon Solar
In part 2 of our interview, the SunPower brain trust talks about scaling-up its high-efficiency PV technology in a way that it has not been able to do in the past — now that it has cash and a definitive focus.
