Power Struggle: The grid barrier stifling community solar
Interconnection, or the process of acquiring a utility’s permission to connect to the local distribution grid, threatens to derail tremendous progress being made across the country to build out innovative types of energy, including community solar.
Most states are doing a less than stellar job at deploying microgrids
A recent report by Think Microgrid recommends that legislators or utilities develop a microgrid roadmap to guide the coordinated efforts between utility commissions, energy offices, and stakeholders.
Sunrise brief: Advancing iron and salt batteries with $8 million in seed funding
Also on the rise: Enphase stock slides on weakened demand, significantly lowered Q4 guidance. DOE requests input on draft roadmap to fix utility-scale interconnection. And more.
Group interconnection studies: Beneficial but not a panacea
IREC’s latest analysis compares group studies with serial solar interconnection studies, concluding that while group studies can help manage queue challenges, they don’t significantly expedite necessary grid upgrades.
FERC Commissioner Allison Clements describes the path forward for renewables
Clements outlined several improvements needed to advance the energy transition, speaking to an audience convened by the renewables trade group ACORE.
HVDC transmission serves mostly wind and hydro power, not solar
A report from The Brattle Group and DNV recommends clearing barriers in the U.S. to high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission. HVDC transmission projects show many cost-saving use cases, but so far, transmitting solar power is rarely among them.
Ohm Analytics details a complex distributed solar market
Third-party ownership and California are fueling residential solar growth, as interconnection and the solar coaster are slowing larger projects.
Sunrise brief: Bringing ERCOT’s speedy interconnection process to the rest of the U.S.
Also on the rise: Nextracker unveils three next-gen solar racking products. LG Energy Solution to sell residential energy storage with inverter in U.S. And more.
Bringing ERCOT’s speedy interconnection process to the rest of the U.S.
Texas grid operator ERCOT is enabling rapid growth in solar and wind capacity through an interconnection process known as “connect and manage.” That approach could be used across the U.S. with modifications, according to a new study.
Sunrise brief: California electricity pricing exploded in the last three years, far outpacing inflation
Also on the rise: Funding for second-life EV battery materials manufacturer reaches $4 billion. Model procedures for fixing distributed solar and storage interconnection. And more.
