2018 National Solar Tour of Homes largest in event’s history
With over 400 participants, the 2018 National Solar Tour of Homes has blossomed under a partnership between Solar United Neighbors and the American Solar Energy Society.
Distributed storage to yield $2-3 of grid savings for each dollar spent
According to a recent study, the benefits of distributed storage would well exceed its costs, making storage a cost-effective resource that utilities must employ under Massachusetts law. The benefit/cost findings may be applicable in other states, to the extent that the Massachusetts grid is representative of other grids nationwide.
Texas is going green: 86% of future capacity solar or wind, zero coal
ERCOT’s pipeline of projects has ballooned to almost 80 GW. 12 GW of this is gas and the rest is wind and solar power plants, as well as 522 MW of energy storage.
Utah’s rooftop solar market on the skids with net metering change
As Utah’s net metering market declines, it is unclear if a successor program is picking up the slack.
21 MW community solar program launched in Maryland
CleanChoice Energy’s new program will provide access to community solar for PEPCO and Baltimore Gas and Electric customers, as a part of the new Maryland Community Solar Pilot Program.
Coal, nuke bailout picks wrong winners and losers
In this op-ed for pv magazine, Standard Solar’s Scott Wiater explains how the attempts by the Trump Administration to bail out coal and nuclear power plants are a step in the wrong direction for both free markets and rational energy policy.
OhmConnect’s distributed demand response network adds automated Nest management
OhmConnect has joined Googles “Work with Nest” program to increase automation in its home energy management program. Users in OhmConnect’s select marketplaces actually earn a share of the demand response services.
$1.2 billion clean energy fund closes, targets utility scale in the USA
Capital Dynamics announced the final close on its most recent clean energy fund, totaling $1.2 billion in commitments. The company is now managing 2.3 GW of solar installations.
Report shows Tesla’s battery gigafactory booming
The report found over 3,200 employees working at the factory at the end of 2017, and $3.7 billion in invested in the plant.
Researchers propose doubling today’s solar panel efficiency using two weird tricks
By double stacking a perovskite-silicon solar cell and using the cell in a glass-on-glass bifacial solar module, scientists model that a 30-36% efficient solar module can be attained.
