Morning Brief: PG&E’s massive Tesla battery proposal approved, NorthWestern Energy unfair to solar, wind and storage
Also in the brief: SolarEdge’s all-new Site Controller, America’s first successful solar town, students’ solar spring break brings solar to low-income families and more.
Freedom Solar: record profits and growth in Texas residential and commercial PV
“You’d never get payback for a battery unless your considerations are the zombie apocalypse or secession.”
Morning Brief: GE completes first battery-assisted black start, Acciona to invest $4B in PV and wind
Also in the brief: A great month for solar in Oahu, Connecticut’s two biggest electric utilities are “dragging their feet” on shared solar, and Ørsted in Rhode Island.
Energy storage projects reach ‘investment-grade’ with esVolta’s $140 million debt facility
It’s not the next lithium-ion battery breakthrough that’s going to accelerate the energy storage industry. It’s not the next inflated promise from a flow battery startup, compressed-air scheme, solid-state battery research project or energy storage dream funded by Bill Gates.
Sunrun installs record capacity in Q4 while driving down customer acquisition costs
The nation’s largest residential solar company installed 117 MW in Q4, reaching a total customer base of 285,000, all while bringing creation costs lower than they have ever been.
Panasonic: ‘Eventually solar-plus-storage will be like air conditioning or HVAC’ but for now it’s an ’emotional sale’
“Brand is powerful — after a house and a car, a PV/storage system worth tens of thousands of dollars is one of the larger purchases a family will make.”
Solar could be installed on coalfields in West Virginia if The Nature Conservancy succeeds
Some former surface coal mines in central Appalachia could be repurposed for solar development. The Nature Conservancy, a global land conservancy with $1 billion in annual revenues, is exploring the options.
Global energy storage market to surge to 15 GW by 2024
The sector continues to grow rapidly — but delays in manufacturing scale-ups, difficulties sourcing raw materials and a separate path taken by the EV industry could all chuck ‘sand in the gears’, according to analyst Wood Mackenzie.
Morning Brief: Kauai is 55% renewable, Dominion’s Virginia battery pilot approved
Also in the brief: Engie and JLL develop an energy program for State Fund, Oklahoma Gas and Electric is set to develop solar projects for the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, PG&E pays Topaz in January.
Morning Brief: D.E. Shaw buys Rancho Seco Solar II, DTE Energy must procure renewables
Also in the brief: CVE finances a 31.3 MW SMART portfolio, SolarEdge adds Karamba Security software to inverters, CIT leads $140 million financing for esVolta and more.
