Markets

The EV and battery maker wants to start production of its Model 3 for the Chinese market by the end of the year. Next year, according to high-profile CEO Elon Musk, mass production of electric cars will start there, and this is expected to include their batteries as well.

In today’s pv magazine morning brief, John Hancock and APEX Clean Energy buy into 412 and 443 MW solar portfolios, Solarpowerrocks.com updates their residential return on investment charts, Swift Solar raises $4.6 million for perovskite research, Wood Mackenzie requests residential acquisition costs survey, more!

California’s updated maps to the power grid – ICA 2.0 – went online as of December 28, offering insight at every point on the circuit which could affect how much solar can be attached.

The various utility subsidiaries of Hawaiian Electric Industries have submitted bids to state regulators for seven solar plus storage projects totaling 262 MWac of solar and 1,024 MWh of energy storage, with power purchase agreement prices ranging from 8-12¢/kWh.

In today’s pvMB, we look at Michigan’s outgoing governor vetoing solar property tax exceptions, Jay Inslee’s plan to run for president on a climate action platform, Boston’s new hybrid bus fleet, and more.

NREL has found that pre-applications for systems 500 kWAC and greater in Massachusetts were correlated with a 24% increase in interconnection service agreements approved – although complexities make proof of causation difficult.

Developers have applied to build 139 GWac of large-scale solar projects in the territory of six grid operators – around five times what is currently online across the country – and that figure doesn’t even cover the entire United States. By any metric, we are looking at an unprecedented boom in solar development over the next five years.

While a national lab report on floating PV did not estimate its economic potential, the report suggests the most promising markets could be reservoirs in areas with high land costs for ground-mounted solar, and reservoirs with grid-connected hydropower or high evaporation rates.

El Paso Electric has awarded contracts for 200 MW of solar and 100 MW of battery storage through its latest solicitation, and may procure 50-150 MW more wind and solar. But the RFP also shows that the utility is firmly wedded to gas.

Stanford researchers, using machine learning applied to satellite imagery, have found 1.4 million solar power installations in the United States. The researchers also extracted significant socioeconomic patterns from the data which they say can help to predict future installations.