Technology

Also on the rise: Do we have enough engineers to conduct interconnection studies? Green car dealership goes green. And more.

As two regional grid operators have flagged a shortage of qualified engineers to conduct interconnection studies, pv magazine usa spoke with Kalyan Chilukuri, a vice president with Electric Power Engineers, about industry staffing challenges and measures that might help.

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the United States have developed a special class of materials for bulky calcium ions, providing pathways for their facile insertion into battery electrodes.

The Demonstration Program intends to fund up to 10 projects that show how large-scale solar, wind, and energy storage can support the power grid by automatically adjusting to changing demand and disruptions.

State-level policy has fueled the growth, and pending legislation for community solar programs in five states could add another 1.2 GW, according to Wood Mackenzie

The good news is that we know what to do. Interconnection has been studied extensively by numerous industry groups and research organizations, which have arrived at some essential guiding principles for reform.

The Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium will work toward making continued cost and efficiency improvements that will make CdTe more competitive on the global market.

Also on the rise: New home battery can provide backup power as well as smart time of use charging/discharging. Connecticut to allow distributed resources to compete with distribution grid upgrades. And more.

A novel electrochemical robotic arm is under development at the University of Arizona to identify perovskite defects during manufacturing rather than after to improve durability.

Connecticut would join five other states in enabling distributed storage, solar and other non-wires alternatives to compete with traditional distribution system capacity upgrades, under a program being finalized by Connecticut regulators.