Project Sunlight wants to scale low-income solar nationwide — without subsidies
The end goal of the three-year project is to use market-based financing to install 20 MW of low-income community solar at multifamily affording housing, while trimming 20% off subscribers’ electricity bills.
Morning Brief: Dominion Energy issues an RFP for 80MW of new solar, Generac acquires Enbala
Also in the brief: Solar installer Sigora Solar acquired California-based Aztec Solar, first-of-a-kind utility plan could transform Southeast grid
Energy Jobs: Tesla dissolves its PR department, plus new execs at Sunrun, Amazon Climate Pledge, Generate, LS Energy and Talesun
Executive moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.
Safe harboring in 2020’s rough waters: three crucial considerations
As it stands today, 2021 will likely be one of the strongest markets for solar equipment manufacturers selling into the U.S. market. A perfect storm of a recovering market post-pandemic, access to cheap capital, and the impending ITC drop-off will create strong, near-term market demand, as well as intense safe harboring activities.
EnergySage reports on storage for the first time ever, Tesla dominates
In the newest edition of EnergySage’s Solar Marketplace Intel Report, data about energy storage solutions being quoted to homeowners through the platform has been included for the first time — with more than half of the quotes for Tesla’s Powerwall 2.
Off-grid solar funding concentrated in just three companies
With a previous 50-50 split between equity and debt investment funding for the off-grid market shifting to 84% debt, and commentators stating most of this year’s backing was agreed before the onset of Covid-19, fears are mounting about the prospects for the sector.
US residential solar set for a record-breaking year — despite and because of 2020
Over the course of this strange year, American residential solar companies such as Sunrun, Vivint, SunPower and Tesla claimed they could weather the Covid storm with remote selling and new online strategies. It turns out they were right. BloombergNEF forecasts that Americans will install 3 gigawatts of solar on residential rooftops in 2020.
Regulators question Ameren’s math in net metering case
The utility is looking to move forward with a new rebate structure worth half the value of net metering, despite regulators’ orders to keep the rate in place until questions about the calculations Ameren is using to justify the new rate can be answered.
Morning Brief: Another day, another utility fighting net metering — Ameren in Illinois this time
Also in the brief: Aurora adds battery backup recommendations to its solar design software, Global energy storage capacity could grow at a CAGR of 31%.
Analyzing the 2% DC voltage drop rule
The good people at Mayfield Renewables take us deep into the technical weeds as they question a rule-of-thumb: Is the 2% DC voltage drop rule accurate for real-world conductor sizing or has technological progress in solar made the rule irrelevant?
