Commercial solar power strategically sited in San Diego
Clean Coalition, NREL and City of San Diego are working on solar siting and designing a feed-in-tariff program to drive grid resilience via distributed solar power.
NREL develops open source tool to monitor PV plant performance & degradation
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has launched a new software package, developed alongside SunPower and kWh Analytics, which it says will improve the accuracy and reliability of PV plant performance data, and improve the industry’s understanding of degradation.
A soft path to residential PV cost reduction
The biggest opportunities to reduce the cost of residential PV installations are in the “soft”, non-material sectors, according to an NREL study.
Enel, NREL partner on three-year solar vegetation study
By doing the research, the partners hope to discover how solar and plant life interact and find effective ways for solar arrays and agricultural lands to co-exist.
NREL scientists observe perovskite degradation at nano-scale
A team from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a novel microscopic technique, which enables them to observe degradation in perovskite materials at the nano-scale and pinpoint key areas to improve the stability and durability of the material.
NREL/First Solar/CAISO project honored for supply of ancillary services
California ISO says that the project shows that renewable energy plants with smart inverter technology can provide grid services similar to, or in some cases better than conventional generation.
NREL hits new efficiency record for quantum dot cell
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created a solar cell using colloidal quantum dots, which achieved 13.4% conversion efficiency – a new world record for this emerging technology.
Microlink partners with NREL on heterojunction technology
Semiconductor maker Microlink Devices has signed an exclusive deal with the national lab to commercialize a type of lightweight heterojunction solar cell architecture, which could be utilized in powering satellites and aircraft.
Zillow expands its solar evaluation listings to 84 million homes
Expanding on its decision last year to include the value of solar systems in its online home-sales listings, the online clearinghouse has more than doubled the number of houses which it will evaluate for solar potential.
NREL: U.S. fixed-tilt solar plant costs fall to $1.03/watt-DC (with charts)
The U.S. government’s premier renewable energy lab has found a 30% fall in utility-scale solar costs year-over-year, leading to levelized costs of electricity competitive with combined cycle gas generation.
