pvMB 2/19/2019: 50 MW in Maine, robotic panel cleaning and more!
Its a sunny Tuesday morning and the days are getting longer! Maui Electric is trying to charge ratepayers for curtailed solar electricity, Nissan is using old batteries in campers and Aerospec sees how BIG a solar farm is.
Even with new capacity investments, Enphase still sold out
Enphase says its inverter lead times are ~13-15 weeks, even with dedicated manufacturing lines for components. Two new long term contracts expect to turn on in Q3 and Q4 ’19, lowering lead times to ~6-8 weeks.
REC Silicon to suspend production at Washington State polysilicon factory
REC Silicon has revealed plans to halt operations at its Moses Lake facility in 17 days’ time. The company says it has taken the decision to maintain liquidity for its semiconductor business with American workers set to pay the price for President Trump’s trade war with China.
pvmb 2/8/19: Aurora gets $20 million, U.S. lithium-ion factory planned, California makes interconnection easier, and more!
In today’s pv magazine USA morning brief we also see Hawaii regulators propose performance based incentives for utility HECO, hundreds of laws changed in 2018 regarding the grid, concerns aired before Congress about supply chains for lithium-ion batteries, and more!
On the floor in picture form at Solar Power Northeast
While the Super Bowl victory parade rolled by, solar energy professionals shook hands, shared stories, made deals and visited more than 80 industry exhibitions on the floor in Boston, Massachusetts.
Single axis trackers go to court
NEXTracker has sued Sunlink for infringing on a patent for a balanced solar tracker clamp, and a separate patent describing the broader support system of a single axis tracker.
Change the rules, add powerlines to let renewables plus storage aim for 90% of the grid
The Wind Solar Alliance has proposed a set of broad market rule refinements to better take advantage of the technical capabilities of solar, wind and energy storage. They argue that these rule changes, plus transmission, can allow for much higher levels of renewables.
Enphase sold out into 2019, with improved margins
Enphase’s 3rd quarter results saw revenues at $78 million with an estimated $10 million sales shortfall due to a component shortage, as the company shipped 204 MW of inverters. Future speculation saw an international play on the IQ8, the SunPower partnership, and energy storage driving growth.
Europeans buying colonies back one solar racking company at a time
Esdec has acquired EcoFasten Solar, which it says gives it access to a large ecosystem of installers and distributors. The European racking manufacturer launched its US offensive earlier this year.
Solar powered single-axis trackers and the algorithms that love them
SmarTrack by Array Technologies, looks to optimize solar electricity production using machine learning algorithms in complex terrains.
