Hardware brief: mobile military microgrid, $2500 EV tax credit, solar module pricing down, more!
It’s the start of the near year, it’s the start of new gear! Solpad offers an on-the-roof energy storage solution that can easily be scaled upward; Northern Reliability has been chosen to develop a easily movable battery and controllers for the US Navy; Solarrainframe has a mechanical solution to keeping dry under carports, more!
Why don’t early-stage VCs invest in solar any more?
How will solar startups innovate in the 2020s? Where are the disruptive PV technologies?
Shutdown continues at Hanergy-owned Alta Devices, high-efficiency PV pioneer
Alta Devices has not located a white-knight investor to save the company and resume its PV cell production. That means no health care or COBRA for its furloughed employees.
5 stories that sparked conversation in 2019
Certain articles at pv magazine strike a chord with readers and spark greater discussion among the community. Here are the most discussed articles of 2019 at pv magazine USA.
Tesla to hide ‘solar test-house’ under tents at Fremont site
Lora Kolodny at CNBC uncovered a recently granted building permit that allows Tesla to put up “two canopy covers” over its new “solar test houses.” Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that 2019 was “the year of the solar roof.”
1366 Technologies adds $18M in pursuit of cheaper silicon solar cells
The company’s technology falls in the ‘kerfless’ wafer category: Instead of sawing silicon ingots into wafers, a time-consuming and wasteful process, 1366’s technology forms wafers directly using molten silicon.
Hardware brief: California battery discounts, Dr. Nick!, commercial rooftop bifacial data, more!
It’s beginning to look a like fourth quarter solar rush headache time…so relax, check out some solar gear and services! Silicon and module pricing is down a touch, SMA energy storage systems approved in California, and there’s also a Fronius & BYD hook up!
US research lab rewires solar cell increasing efficiency to 27.3%, sees path to greater than 32%
NREL has published a paper showing an experimental solar cell, with a unique technique for wiring two separate solar cells into one, that increased the cell’s efficiency by 4%. As well the document offer a respectable review of other technologies being developed.
Alta Devices hopes outside investors will revive the Hanergy-owned thin-film GaAs solar firm
Alta’s COO: “An agreement has been reached between Alta Devices and Hanergy to allow Alta to bring in outside investors to breathe new life into the company, and to get the thin film GaAs technology leader back on track.”
Solar tariff talks on the menu – bifacial exemption extended and ITC argued
Federal regulators upheld the bifacial solar module import tariff as a public good, and potential protector of irreparable harm against solar developers. Concurrently, the trade courts reviewed the solar module import tariff as a whole, with some groups stating module manufacturing showed success, while solar cell manufacturing hasn’t been helped.
