Raptor Maps secures funding, sets sights on scaling the solar industry with software and data
With monitoring data from more than 25 GW of PV installations across 35 countries, Raptor Maps is looking to expand the company’s influence even further, after closing on $5 million in Series A financing.
First Solar sells off its O&M business to NovaSource
Deeming that “the strategic thesis behind O&M has changed,” First Solar has sold off its O&M business to the same private equity firm that SunPower did earlier this year.
Morning Brief: Sol Systems and Microsoft partner on 500 MW of solar, PVEL’s new inverter test lab
Also in the brief: Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary NV Energy goes full-on solar-plus-storage, and single-axis tracker analysis.
Morning Brief: SEIA pushes for solar inclusion in infrastructure bill, 5% of global pv projects are nearing inverter end of life
Also in the brief: a letter calling for electric grid infrastructure, transportation and equity and environmental justice has been delivered to key members of the House, Clir Renewables has secured a $1.25 million loan with Silicon Valley Bank, 580 businesses call on congress to include clean energy in a the next stimulus package and more.
Data shows solar asset underperformance and bias towards optimistic pricing
Solar assets are underperforming far more frequently than official energy estimates would suggest, according to the industry experts who contributed to KwH Analytics’ 2020 solar risk assessment report.
Job moves: Helena Kimball promoted to CEO at Cthulhu-backed solar startup; plus Strata, sPower, KCE, Borrego, Sunpro
Executive and boardroom moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy VC.
Job Moves: New CEO at Solaria, plus Primergy, NovaSource, Lithos, EPRI, APS, MEI, ACORE
Executive and boardroom moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy VC.
Study of 100,000 arrays finds proactive O&M preferable
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory examined five-year data to observe the most common system failure points and how to prevent them. Researchers considered residential, commercial and utility scale plants and found interesting results. While failures cannot be avoided completely, a key takeaway was that close monitoring and timely repair can effectively mitigate the financial effects of failures.
Hardware and Services Brief: 72-cell heterojunction, fuzz and buzz, Tesla making its own battery cells, more!
PV InfoLink sees some multi-silicon module pricing increases, Array Technologies’ new clip lets First Solar install a module every 11 seconds and DNV GL has launched a global solar production projection tool. Send your hardware and services to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com
The futurology of solar power: robots, hackers, 5G, cheaper modules, repowering, and really cheap electricity
Module efficiencies will continue to increase, while the price of an individual module will stay the same. Not only will this hardware produce more power, it’ll work far longer — with predictions of 30-year module warranties, roughly the projected lifetime of gas assets.
