Solar 2020 year in review: Thriving markets despite a pandemic, import tariffs and expensive PV
We cover residential resilience, tariff trouble, big Texas solar, storage everywhere, IPOs, interconnection queues and more in a review of this difficult, ridiculous, successful year. Next year will be better.
World’s largest residential virtual power plant coming from Alphabet-backed SIP and OhmConnect
Like Airbnb, but monetizing spare energy: “The first big step towards opening the door to a massively transactive grid.”
Aurora Solar raises $50M for remote photovoltaic sales and design
This substantial investment signals software’s critical role in driving the mainstream adoption of solar.
What’s the value of your solar resource data?
While the median approach has emerged as a potential remedy to optimistic irradiance assumptions, it is a flawed system, one which can lead to significant cash shortcomings. So how does one get valuable, accurate data?
Intelligent energy management can be the Waze of the grid
The recent FERC order to open the country’s wholesale energy markets to aggregated rooftop solar, batteries and EVs, moves energy management technologies to the forefront of the transitioning electric economy.
Total and Google Cloud develop tool to predict rooftop PV potential
The Solar Mapper uses artificial intelligence algorithms that compile data extracted from satellite images. It can estimate solar site potential and indicate the best technology for the site.
Fluence acquires Advanced Microgrid Solutions, in bid to help customers monetize storage, renewable assets
“Storage is the first truly digital asset that you can put on the electric network. That means the smarter we are with digital, the better job we can do powering the electric network,” Brett Galura, CTO at Fluence said, declining to disclose the acquisition’s price tag.
EagleView promises to cut a week off of residential PV project time through aerial imagery
Aerial imagery company, EagleView, is looking to leverage years of experience working in the insurance industry and for municipal governments into becoming the ‘gold standard’ for solar aerial imaging.
Software is eating renewable power markets: cleantech investment roundup
Here are five companies that have raised more than $50 million in funding in recent days — with an emphasis on solving renewable energy problems with software. Plus a climate change SPAC from Mary Powell and David Crane.
Terabase Energy raises funding to break the $0.01/kWh utility-scale solar barrier with software
Terabase wins a $6 million Round A led by SJF Ventures, an early funder of Nextracker, for an integrated software platform to make building utility-scale solar more efficient, smarter and cheaper.
