United States

Significant solar developments are happening all across the country, with Wisconsin looking to add nearly 200 MW of utility-scale solar and AEP coming to terms on a power contract for a 50 MW project in Ohio.

The experts say yes. SPACs representing $53 billion in investments accounted for about half of all IPOs this year — providing a pathway to public markets for emerging clean tech companies developing disruptive, pre-revenue technologies.  

The recent FERC order to open the country’s wholesale energy markets to aggregated rooftop solar, batteries and EVs, moves energy management technologies to the forefront of the transitioning electric economy.

Also in the brief: Iberdrola’s deal worth $8.3 billion adds PNM Resources to its Avangrid business. The value of energy storage for military resilience. And Also emotional ownership is the key to delivering community solar.

Joe Biden, a U.S. presidential candidate, is encouraging an equitable energy transition, upgraded transmission infrastructure and rejoining the Paris climate accord.

“I think it’s somewhat unfortunate that the developers have focused so much of their attention on signing up well customers … as opposed to focusing on medical baseline or low-income residential customers,” said a CPUC commissioner.

Bigger PV module designs are now hitting the market, but the production of larger, more powerful solar panels is challenging. Canadian Solar is launching its new Series 7 modules with pv magazine in a webinar on Oct. 29. Our editorial team recently caught up with Canadian Solar’s chairman and CEO, Shawn Qu, and director of module R&D, Alan Xu, to discuss the company’s latest efforts to shake up the market.

Also in the brief: The reality of clean coal, according to the Coen Brothers, plus, Utility CEOs contribute personal money to help Republicans; Utility PACs also favor GOP — an analysis of federal campaign dollars in the 2020 election cycle. And NextEra’s burgeoning renewable portfolio.

A new report from BW Research Partnership has found that, in 2019, clean energy jobs paid 25% more than the national median, with some states seeing nearly 30% higher hourly wages than their own median.

Scientists led by NREL have developed a new stress testing protocol for PV modules, one designed to simultaneously expose modules to multiple stresses, as they likely would be in the field. Putting modules through this test, the researchers have already been able to reveal new information regarding backsheet degradation, and they promise new insights into other degradation mechanisms.