Storage paired with solar shows steady growth, Berkeley Lab says
The report pegged the cost of adding storage to PV on the order of $700-1,300/kWh of storage capacity and the present-value benefit to the host customer of roughly $500-1,000/kWh.
Enough solar and wind to clean the U.S. power grid… available yesterday
Data show that the U.S. has more than 750 GWac of electricity generation capacity in interconnection queues, with 90% of that clean energy-related. But how much actually will be built?
Most LMI solar programs lack strong evaluation metrics, report says
The Berkeley Lab report said that best practices generally found in utility energy efficiency programs are largely missing from solar programs that benefit low- to moderate-income people.
Commercial trucks are ripe for electrification, if policies back EV adoption
A Berkeley Lab report says that a lack of policies is blocking wider adoption of electric trucks. Even so, ventures are under way to shift the diesel-to-electric transition into high gear.
Sunrise brief: Southeast utilities ask FERC for market changes that could help renewables
Also on the rise: ERCOT orders rolling blackouts as 30 GW of resources are forced out, PNM shareholders OK merger with Avangrid, location is key when talking about DERs, and Dominion claws back from a big ice storm.
Report assesses solar impact on ISOs and reliability
The Berkeley Lab report covers the seven organized U.S. wholesale power markets and is based on historical hourly solar generation profiles for every plant larger than 1 MW.
PV plants lasting longer, with lower operational costs
Solar plants are now expected to last 32.5 years and have operational costs of $17 per kW/year, as shown by a Berkeley Lab survey of industry participants.
Residential solar is getting cheaper – except for third-party
EnergySage has found that the average price for PV systems quoted through its site has fallen under $3 per watt, echoing findings by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. However, prices are increasing for the big third-party solar companies.
Scientists give solar PV a paint job
Researchers and Berkeley Lab have discovered a shade of blue – dating back to ancient Egypt – which has impressive qualities they say could reduce building energy consumption and boost solar energy output. Meanwhile, NREL has developed a perovskite cell material that could be applied to a substrate using a paintbrush.
The South takes the lead in utility-scale solar as interconnection queues swell to 188 GW (w/charts)
As a further sign that solar is going mainstream across the United States, a new report by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs finds that southeastern states hosted 40% of the utility-scale solar installed nationally in 2017. Interconnection queues have swelled to 188.5 GW of utility solar capacity, eight times more than installed capacity.
