Israel

A German-Israeli research group has gathered to discuss which storage technologies may outperform lithium-ion batteries in the future. They concluded that there is no such a thing as a “post Li‐ion” era in sight. They recommended a “side‐by‐side” approach for multiple technologies in different applications, as well as the hybridization of technologies.

Even though the U.S. market is showing some signs of stabilizing, the decline in installation rates in April alone was 33%.

The Israeli government wants a 300-megawatt solar plant linked to large-scale storage in the Negev desert. Construction is planned for late 2021 and completion in 2023.

The inverter manufacturer met expectations of growth, slowed down 4th quarter projections, talked of ramping Vietnamese and Hungarian facilities, and generally sounded healthy.

A tribute to Guy Sella has hailed him as “a brilliant man” and a “revolutionary trailblazer”.

During the second quarter SolarEdge increased manufacturing capacity by 25% and shipped over 3.7 million optimizers, which totaled over 1.3 GWac. This upped revenue 43% year on year, and company officials say they are highly confident in their even larger projected ~70% Q3 revenue growth.

Just two years after reaching 500,000 monitored PV systems, SolarEdge has doubled the mark; one million for anybody keeping score at home.

SolarEdge has recently purchased an Italian EV system manufacturer, a South Korean battery maker, an Israeli UPS producer, internally developed a virtual power plant grid service, and now they’re working with Google to integrate energy management tools into Google Assistant.

In a slow global solar market, SolarEdge grew total shipments 44% year-over-year, expanded its presence in the C&I market, and grew global sales. Margins did slip, and growth rates were slower.

The power electronics maker will buy 75% of Kokam’s shares for $88 million, with an intent to acquire the remainder thereafter. Strategic company acquisitions and close partnerships are characterizing this year’s inverter market, as companies seek to diversify and integrate storage systems and other technologies.