Monitoring

The District’s 2021 RPS Compliance Report shows a significant expansion of RPS-certified solar facilities, with capacity additions outpacing program mandates.

Also on the rise: The sky may not be falling: Heliene CEO speaks on anti-circ investigation. To speed interconnection, consider public control of grid operators, says law professor. Sachs polls says 86% of Florida voters want Gov. DeSantis to veto anti-solar bill. Maryland Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 moves to the Governor’s desk. Virginia Governor signs property tax exemption for solar installations up to 25kW. Solar drone inspection provider Raptor Maps secures $22 million Series B.

Vesper said it will use BluePoint to track the progress and milestones of its 1.3GW solar and storage development pipeline, while the projects are in development, and support financial and commercial management of said assets once they’re completed.

In a new whitepaper, FTC solar looks to tackle the damage potential of dynamic and static wind loads on single axis trackers using a novel hardware approach and a zero-degree stow angle.

Solar maintained its place as the country’s fastest-growing electrical resource, while widespread droughts caused hydropower to fall and coal saw a brief resurgence.

As EV adoption booms, deploying charging infrastructure that can support electric fleets remains a considerable barrier, so SEPA has developed a report outlining how fleet microgrids and managed charging can streamline deployment of charging infrastructure, while lowering energy costs, reducing carbon emissions, and improving the charging experience.

“The Army will lead by example” says the United States Army Climate Strategy, and by 2040 aims to add enough renewables and storage to self-sustain critical missions.

Also on the rise: Convalt Energy steers arounds obstacles on its way to solar manufacturing in New York. NABCEP and EnergySage release survey for solar installers. Recycled silicon used in PERC solar cells. Michigan DTE seeks 500MW of renewables. Grazing sheep under solar increases carbon sequestration. Robot dog monitors PV plant. Greenback acquires several installations in Massachusetts.

A robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics monitors a solar park by walking between the panel rows following a programmed route. It uses its built-in thermal vision system to generate thermographic reports on the status of the different PV plant components.

Reliability engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory call for improved quality, standards, and testing.