Utility Scale PV

Across the country, more than three dozen solar projects with nameplate capacities of at least 100 MW are slated to enter service in 2021. The Texas oil patch is on track to host the largest of these.

Also on the rise: 8Minute upsizes its credit facility, an NREL-led team publishes a new guide to inverter-based power systems, and Altus Power adds to its portfolio.

Also on the rise: A solar firm helps neighbors in need, researchers show how to turn a ZEB into a PEB, and researchers correct a climate model error: the fix isn’t good news for California.

The tool allows users to collect data on single municipalities from a dataset of 3,500 places. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have the country’s highest solar radiation levels.

Also on the rise: A simple safeguard for the growing danger of arc-fault events; EDF Renewables signs a PPA; Soltec will supply trackers to AES

Consumers Energy cuts solar export fees in Michigan, while net metering takes a hit in Vermont. And TVA wants feedback on an environmental report for a planned 50 MW solar and 200 MWh storage project in Mississippi.

The 2020 “Solar Makers” include states, regulators and utilities taking action to encourage rooftop solar. This year’s “Solar Brakers” include utility policies that SELC says undermine rooftop solar as a cost-effective choice.

The firm expects 158 GW of new PV to be installed worldwide in 2021, a jump over 2020, and the U.S. and China will still dominate.

The 8,400 panel solar array is part of We Energies’ Solar Now program, and is the largest single rooftop system in Wisconsin.

Also in the brief: FERC and CAISO drama. Plus, U.S. solar PV system costs fell across all market segments from 2019 to 2020. And — the solar boom arrives in Ohio.