Sunrun aims to replace big power plants
By providing solar + storage, contracting to supply capacity in wholesale markets and even considering microgrid communities, Sunrun is taking on more and more of the space traditionally occupied by utilities and the large, centralized generators that they rely on.
New York utility gives free hardware to solar and EV buyers
ConEdison is supplying the ConnectDER solution—which accepts solar and EV wiring directly at the electric meter—when customers install solar and electric vehicles. Installation of the device avoids costly electric panel upgrades.
Fire at Tennessee polysilicon fab, NJ man scams the feds for $3 million in solar rebates: pvMB 05/06/19
It’s Monday, and it is pvMB time. Today in addition to the dark news in the headline, we also bring you three new directors at Rocky Mountain Institute, and record levels of solar curtailment in California this April.
Colorado to go carbon-free
With the presumed signing of SB19-236 by Governor Polis, the state will begin the steps to becoming carbon free by 2030, which is likely followed closely by increased renewable development.
Tesla’s Powerwall as the beating heart of your home
Vermont utility Green Mountain Power has started a program to replace its customers’ electric meters with the monitoring system in Tesla Powerwall batteries.
The Solar Decathlon winner designs solar+lifestyle living space
Virginia students have won the 2019 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge with their treeHAUS highly sustainable solar+storage+trees+food waste+sound and so much more design, focused on expanding their local campus’ student housing resources.
California is learning to trust 100% residential solar power
California utility PG&E has tested levels of residential solar power up to 100% penetration, and how to mitigate the effects of voltage and thermal overload via smart inverters and traditional transformer and circuit upgrades – with smart inverters shown to allow for up to 100% penetrations at cost-effective pricing.
AES’ rainy day insurance, the crushing power of batteries on demand peaks, and more: pvMB 4/11/19
Happy Thursday and thank you for joining us by reading the pvMB. Today we’ll also be looking at Russelectric’s new distributed energy controller and Hammond Power Solutions’s TruWave Active Harmonic Filter!
Hawaii utilities seek more renewables, storage and now grid services too
Hawaiian Electric Companies has laid out plans to source the equivalent of 135 MW of solar and 1,378 MWh of energy storage – as well as load shifting and frequency response from distributed energy resources through aggregators.
Massachusetts goes duck hunting
The state has unveiled a straw proposal of its new Clean Peak Standard, which appears to focus on mitigating future “duck curve” effects, as well as meeting winter peak energy demand. And this is good news for solar + battery storage.
