States expand rooftop solar potential with smart inverter rollout
Maryland is the fourth state to require that rooftop solar use smart inverters, to allow more solar on the grid. States aiming for high renewables should do likewise, says a consultancy. A looming question: will smart distributed resources be compensated for providing grid services?
Morning Brief: Oil firms are collapsing, but wind and solar power are growing — even in Texas
Also in the brief: New York is halfway to it’s interim storage target, SolarEdge is planning a virtual solar show, Sunrun is offering solar and storage $1/month for six months and more.
GE’s ‘grid-forming’ inverter aims to make solar, wind look like traditional generators
GE Research plans to test new controls with its PV LV5 inverter platform — aiming to develop “grid-forming” controls to allow wind and solar inverters to form voltage and frequency levels like traditional generators. The company wants to improve coordination and synchronization among multiple grid-forming resources, and is working to improve the transient stability of systems with high renewables penetration.
Indiana’s second-largest utility has its first solar installations
Northern Indiana Public Service Company, in collaboration with Inovateus Solar has installed 420 kilowatts across three “zero-waste” projects at NIPSCO office locations — the first step towards the 2.3 gigawatts the utility has planned by 2023.
6 takeaways from EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook
Even EIA expects that U.S. coal generation will fall by 20% in 2020. The agency forecasts the electric power market will add 19.4 gigawatts of new wind capacity and 12.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity this year.
NEXTracker CEO challenges solar projections from Energy Information Administration
“EIA’s projections greatly underestimate the growth of solar and significantly overestimate coal’s persistence in the energy mix,” says Dan Shugar, CEO of NEXTracker.
Morning Brief: Invesco Solar has outperformed the broader market, New Jersey ends SREC program
Also in the brief: the challenges facing islands and other isolated systems with high levels of renewables, AIP finances 604 MWdc of solar, SolarReviews preaches caution with Tesla solar rental program and more.
Renewable energy to play a role in New York’s Covid-19 economic recovery
New legislation also creates the U.S.’s first Office of Renewable Energy Siting — charged with consolidating the environmental review of major renewable energy facilities and providing a single forum for ensuring that siting decisions are predictable, responsible and delivered in a timely manner with opportunities for input from local communities.
Sunrun withdraws 2020 residential solar guidance, goes low-contact, braces for the storm
Sunrun laid off about 100 employees last week, according to Business Insider, which reported that furloughed staff will continue to receive benefits for three months.
World now has 583.5 GW of operational solar, plus more uplifting renewable energy stats
Global grid-connected solar capacity reached 580.1 GW at the end of 2019, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Total installed renewables capacity hit a remarkable 2,563.8 GW, with hydropower remaining the dominant source at 1,310.9 GW, followed by wind at 622.7 GW.
