Morning Brief: Kentucky’s biggest PV project has a contract, Covid’s effect on the New York solar industry
Also in the brief: Terra Pave Albedo is an America Made Solar Prize competition finalist, a list of environment and climate organizations that have made statements on racism. Plus — “Coal consumption will be crushed in 2020.”
8minute Solar Energy raises $225 million for 18 GW pipeline of solar and storage
Building on what has been a successful 2020 in terms of fundraising, the company has closed on a $225 million letter of credit with partners KeyBank, HSBC, Rabobank and Nomura Holdings.
PV plants lasting longer, with lower operational costs
Solar plants are now expected to last 32.5 years and have operational costs of $17 per kW/year, as shown by a Berkeley Lab survey of industry participants.
Engie, Enel X and Tesla head Guidehouse’s list of leading distributed storage integrators
Guidehouse Insights has released a report evaluating 15 DES integrators and ranking the top-10 among them, with a special focus on companies shifting away from origination and development towards acting as pure-play integrators.
Canadian Solar sees turnover and profits surge
The Chinese-Canadian solar manufacturer reported a 41% year-over-year increase in total module shipments to 2.2 GW in the first quarter. Revenue grew by 70% to $826 million, while net profit improved significantly from $17.2 million to $110.6 million.
Morning Brief: natural gas company to go solar, Duke receives 2 GW of proposals
Also in the brief: Q Cells and Silfab achieve top performer rating in the 2020 PV Module Reliability Scorecard, Tigo sues APS.
Has the rooftop solar tracking market been created by Point Load Power?
Startup Point Load Power is looking to create the market for rooftop trackers, claiming that the company’s PV Booster, paired with bifacial modules, can generate 70% more energy per panel than ordinary racking.
Cities ‘could generate hundreds of times more solar power than they do today’
While applauding the rooftop solar progress of dozens of cities, a report from Environment Texas offers policy options for further progress. Per capita solar leaders are Honolulu, San Diego, Albuquerque, San Jose and Burlington, Vermont.
Morning brief: Solar on the family farm, LIPA shutting down steam, PG&E emerging from bankruptcy
Also in the brief: product announcements from GAF Energy, REsurety and Point Load Power.
Renewable energy and the free market economy
How the heavy-handed federal government is straying from its free market ideals and slowing down the renewable energy industry. Take FERC’s recent mandated Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) in the PJM market, for example.
