Photo gallery of Tesla solarglass roof tile installations: Will 2020 be the year of the solar roof?
Tesla shipped a record number of electric vehicles in the most recent quarter and started production at its new China factory. However, 2019 was not “the year of the solar roof,” despite Elon Musk’s aspirations. Your humble narrator tracked down some solar roof installations to witness Tesla’s solar glass in the wild. We’ve got pictures.
Battery roundup: funding for zinc-based storage, improved lithium-ion, new solid-state batteries
Venture capital is still flowing to energy storage startups and the march to improve a wide variety of battery chemistries continues.
US scientists claim clear-sky irradiance model provides better results for module testing
Researchers at the American Institute of Physics have used the clear-sky irradiance model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to measure the degradation rates of solar panels at a testing field in Germany over five years. The scientists say the model, when combined with real-world data, offers an efficient tool to evaluate the aging of PV technology.
DNV projects 1,000 GW of solar power and 90% clean electricity for the USA and Canada
DNV’s report sees federal policy as muddled, but individual provinces, states and cities are pushing electrification of buildings and transportation, significant per-capita efficiency increases, 30% less energy use overall, and coal going away in just over a decade.
Pragmatic projection sees solar power nearly tripling in roaring 2020s
NREL’s 2019 Standard Scenarios Report looks at 36 models to project what energy sources the USA might use going forward, and what variables might drive that – with the mid-case projections suggesting wind+solar power meeting 28% of all electricity demand.
Shutdown continues at Hanergy-owned Alta Devices, high-efficiency PV pioneer
Alta Devices has not located a white-knight investor to save the company and resume its PV cell production. That means no health care or COBRA for its furloughed employees.
Ten research teams aim for long-duration storage at 5¢/kWh
To get long-duration storage costs down to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour, research teams funded by ARPA-E are pursuing breakthroughs in flow batteries, hydrogen storage and other technologies—even thermovoltaics.
Utility scale solar power as cheap as 70¢ per watt and still falling
Government researchers find that Florida has dethroned California as the largest market, trackers dominate, solar+storage compensation diversity, and a lot more in Berkeley Labs annual utility-scale solar power report.
5 stories that sparked conversation in 2019
Certain articles at pv magazine strike a chord with readers and spark greater discussion among the community. Here are the most discussed articles of 2019 at pv magazine USA.
5 most popular articles at pv magazine USA in 2019
Certain articles at pv magazine catch fire and capture the imagination of our solar colleagues as well as a wider, equally nerdy, audience. Here are the most widely read pieces of the year at pv magazine USA.
