Massachusetts

At Solar and Storage Northeast in Boston, panelists comprised of solar experts, policy directors and national community solar leaders sat down to discuss what can be done for the symbiotic relationship between community solar projects and agricultural landowners.

California has long led the way when it comes to solar deployment – both on the rooftop and at utility scale. The state is now pushing forward with a solar mandate for new homes, which could be a ‘eureka moment’ for the U.S. solar sector.

Also in the brief: an 18 MW community solar portfolio proposed in Oregon, Sunnova partners with Generac and more.

MIT scientists have developed a solar desalinator which sends heat from the sun through a ten-stage process of evaporation and condensation. The group estimates that a $100 device incorporating their innovation could provide the daily drinking water needs of a family.

Executive and boardroom moves in solar, storage, project development, cleantech, utilities and venture capital.

Solar module manufacturers should begin testing new technologies in higher-value niche markets, say scientists at the U.S. institution. For example, bringing perovskite technology directly to the mainstream market remains prohibitive in terms of initial investment but segments such as building-integrated PV or microelectronics may offer better routes to commercial maturity.

Solar contractors across the Northeast U.S. added thousands of rooftop PV systems last year. For 2020, SEIA advocates renewal of New Jersey’s expiring solar incentives, and expansion of New York’s incentive program.

Today in the brief: Capital Dynamics signs a 100 MW PPA with The Indiana Municipal Power Agency, regulators approve 149 MW in Wisconsin, Safari Energy completes its 100th project with Extra Space Storage and more.

Today we’re serving up Bank of America’s carbon neutrality, a Kearsarge Energy and NEC Energy Solutions project in Massachusetts, Sunnova expanding to Colorado and New Hampshire, and more.

The company’s technology falls in the ‘kerfless’ wafer category: Instead of sawing silicon ingots into wafers, a time-consuming and wasteful process, 1366’s technology forms wafers directly using molten silicon.