Residential PV

We discover two more Tesla solar roof tile installations this week and update a few more. That leaves 998 more roofs to document this week, given Elon Musk’s claim of 1,000 roofs per week by the end of 2019.

Module pricing is flat this week as the Chinese New Year approaches, Acme Express won $1 million to design new C&I racking, Unirac is testing a new connection technique, and Trina is deploying the largest and newest solar cell type. USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com gets your gear in here!

David Ganske, founder of DG+Design finds that when it comes to community solar, buyers are more educated than ever before and won’t settle for unreasonable terms, especially when the status quo of staying with their existing utility provider is so easy.

Today in the morning brief, Mosaic passes $3 billion in funding, Sunfolding is a 2020 global greentech company, environmental advocates applaud APS’ carbon-free commitment, and more.

Solar industry veteran Marco Mangelsdorf of ProVision Solar, headquarted in Hilo, Hawaii, compiles the solar permit data for the last few years and finds some cause for hope in Hawaii’s volatile solar market. Marco has the numbers.

Florida led the region for small-scale installations, while Maryland kept the lead on a per-capita basis. Solar advocates look to improve opportunities for distributed solar throughout the region in 2020.

Vincent Shaw reports: An insider at the China Photovoltaic Industry Association has told pv magazine there was an end-of-year rally after less than 18 GW of new capacity was installed to the end of November.

For this flashback episode of SunCast, Nico does a deep dive on installations with Aaron Adams, Dean Solon, Ben Macias and Brandon Mathis

Some 15 countries are able to lay claim to the status of being members of solar’s “gigawatt club” in 2019, according to projections from BloombergNEF. To kick off 2020, pv magazine’s global team of correspondents and editors have highlighted 10 fast-growing solar markets to evaluate where the opportunities, and potential risks, lie.

NABCEP has partnered with EnergySage to launch one of the most comprehensive business surveys for solar installation professionals in the United States. They’d like to hear from you.