Morning Brief: Brookfield to buy Exelon’s solar business for $810 million, NRG Energy issues $900 million in sustainability-linked bond
Also in the brief: Panasonic’s new solar modules
QuantumScape finally unstealths — with breakthrough performance in solid state batteries
After ten secretive years, several hundred million dollars spent, and the efforts of hundreds of scientists and engineers, QuantumScape went public on a video call today with the performance results of its solid-state battery — and its potential impact on the electric vehicle industry.
Solar needs aluminum, but the metal has a carbon problem
Few doubt that aluminum frames will be a part of the solar module for some time to come. And with PV manufacturing continuing to scale, the carbon footprint of this versatile metal may prove a sustainability challenge.
SPAC, the final frontier: QuantumScape raises $680M for advanced EV batteries, TJ Rodgers raises $200M in SPAC IPOs, plus EVs galore and Stem
Once sort of disreputable, the SPAC is now a “financial innovation” and a “funding mechanism for ambitious companies who are in the midst of a growth phase-change,” in the eyes of some investors. Here’s a roundup.
pv magazine video: US storage market under spotlight
In pv magazine’s second roundtable session, Advanced technologies, the U.S. storage market came under the spotlight – in particular, the lessons that can be learned from solar as the market moves towards greater maturity. Also under discussion was the trend among PV manufacturers to producing ever larger cells and modules in the continuous drive to bring down LCOE. But is big necessarily better?
Update: Form Energy’s stealthy ‘aqueous air battery’ with 150-hour duration lands $76 million funding round
The holy grail of energy storage has always been low-cost and long-duration. Form Energy intends on deploying a 1 MW/150 MWh system with a Minnesota utility before 2023, an unprecedented energy storage duration if successful.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: JA Solar sells solar farms while Tongwei announces lower cell prices
JA Solar has agreed to sell three solar farms to China Power Investment Corporation, while Tongwei announced lower prices on a number of cells. Eight leading players are calling for the standardization of PV products with 210 mm wafers.
Longi releases statement on patent dispute with Hanwha Q-Cells
The Chinese photovoltaic manufacturer said the recent invalidation procedure for its patent at the Chinese Patent Office’s examination and invalidity department is only an administrative examination procedure that only examines whether or not the authorized Chinese patent complies with patent law requirements.
Even if it is cheap enough, efficiency does matter
A British-German research team claims that organic PV technologies may become mature enough to compete with crystalline silicon and thin-film products not only in BIPV, but also in power generation in the electricity market. In order to get there, however, organic PV products will have to achieve higher efficiencies.
Energy Transition Jobs: New CMO at QuantumScape, new CEO at PG&E, plus Perea at SunPower, Arevon, The Engine
Executive jobs and job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.
