Domestic manufacture of solar modules, trackers, inverters incentivized in Build Back Better
In a draft of the Build Back Better infrastructure plan released by the Senate Finance Committee, domestic manufacturing of solar PV and balance-of-system components would qualify for incentives.
Construction and solar industries gain from collaboration on building-integrated photovoltaics
A new report published by IEA PVPS looks to bring together the interests of the two industries, and clearly categorize both the building envelope and energy functions of different BIPV components.
MIT and Google develop solar cell simulator
The differential physics-based software simulates how the change in a given input can change the cell’s power output, potentially paving the way for faster improvements in PV efficiency.
In underserved communities, solar referrals work best
Research from national labs shows word-of-mouth referrals led to among the highest adoption rates in low-income communities.
Alabama students study outdoors in off-grid solar pods
In a partnership with startup SolarFi, the University of Alabama has deployed outdoor solar-powered study “pods”.
Autonomous robot for concentrated solar power installation and maintenance
Heliogen announced the roll-out of its robots to install and clean its CSP plants.
Icephobic surfaces for ice, snow shedding in utility scale solar
Developed by U.S. researchers, the proposed coating solution is claimed to effectively melt ice and snow with temperatures of up to -35 degrees Celsius. It was fabricated by using medium-chain triglyceride oil to plasticize two common industrial polymer polyvinyl chlorides and tested at a pilot facility in Alaska.
SunPower launches solar finance institution
SunPower’s move to bring financing in-house marks a significant pivot for the installer.
Mercedes Benz contracts for 80 MW of Alabama Power solar
The automaker and power company received approval today for a proposed 80 MW solar project south of Montgomery, Alabama.
Building solar as long-term resilient infrastructure could save billions
Reliability engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory call for improved quality, standards, and testing.
