World

The Mayflower Autoship is being developed to sail under solar power from Plymouth, Devon to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2020 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims journey aboard the original Mayflower in 1620. This would be the first Atlantic crossing by an unmanned solar vessel.

German renewable energy developer has acquired international PV power and storage specialist Belectric for a sum in the double-digit million dollar range, company comfirms.

New data from state California Solar Initiative (CSI) program Go Solar California reports that over the first 10 months of 2016, a total of 128,485 Californian families went solar, according to California Citisuns, the solar consumer advocacy based in Sacramento. The total suggests a 2016 total of over 154,000 new solar homes in the state.

The national trade group will work with the Solar Energy Finance Association to improve access to low-cost financing.

Buckeye Power, an electricity transmission company, will break ground on its third installation as part of a project that will eventually bring 2.1 MW of community solar in traditionally coal-fueled southern Ohio.

Southern California Edison (SCE) is awaiting approval from the California PUC for the third unit within its 27 MW of lithium-ion storage plans. The utility filed in late December with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a Generator Interconnection Agreement with the third of the three, the PPA Grand Johanna LLC for a 2 MW/8MWh storage project called Grand Johanna.

New Jersey-based Momentum Solar has begun offering a real-time residential PV system monitoring technology that includes a personalized dashboard for each customer, with a visual display of the customer’s home, roof panels and micro-inverters. 

As pv magazine reported three weeks ago, SEIA officially announced that Abby Hopper, will start her duties at SEIA on Jan. 17. Hopper previously served as the head of the Maryland Energy Association and was an energy advisor to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, during whose administration Maryland developed a progressive solar policy.

The California-based provider of off-grid solar power in Africa rounded off an excellent 2016 for the company with a further $7.5 million in debt financing and a partnership with Rwanda’s national utility company, off the back of further expansion plans across Africa.

With massive market growth, the bankruptcy of SunEdison and the election of a pro-coal climate denier as president, 2016 really was the best and the worst of times.