Can the American energy storage industry halve the cost of cobalt- and nickel-free lithium battery cells by 2025? Better lithium production methods around mining and development from R&D efforts could result in more economies of scale and cost efficiencies. More US manufacturing, expected to increase in the near future, also will help.
Report shows that solar modules with silica-based products from the Chinese firm Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd. and its subsidiaries are being detained by customs agents. Major solar players impacted by this are JinkoSolar, Canadian Sola and Trina Solar. Also, an advocacy group filed petitions requesting the DOC look into problems with imports from Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
CleanSpark’s mVoult, a smart energy system with mobile app that’s for res and small businesses, is getting an upgrade – it can now apply to res microgrid systems. The system is modular, fully configurable, and allows a system to use power generated from the main utility, solar or battery. Its mobile app functions as the window into the homeowner’s power system.
There’s a new player in the renewables space. U.S. power and energy infrastructure company LS Power is forming Rev Renewables LLC to develop, acquire and operate energy storage and renewable projects. This will include hydropower plus its existing 2.4-GW portfolio of storage, solar and wind projects.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report states the following: human-driven climate change is fact and the global temperature will definitely go up 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, increases beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius can be prevented if humans take timely action, like a clean energy transition, to lower carbon emissions.
Half the Sun, a global scholarship program, is now available to boost women’s participation in the solar industry. Nextracker, that specializes in yield-enhancing PV system tech and trackers, and Solar Energy International, that provides renewables tech training, have created a partnership to start the program.
SPW’s Solar Spotlight podcast latest episodes cover 1) saving time with new mounting and flashing techniques, 2) fintech’s impact on your margins and ROI, 3) a solar carport design that can function as a project template, 4) how solar roof flashings have changed over the years, and 5) ways carport manufacturers are absorbing new panel innovations.
REW clarifies what the Clean Electricity Payment Program is. It uses incentives and fees to reach something like a clean energy standard. Utilities get payments for selling more clean energy shares while others pay a fee for falling short. The payments they get must be invested in additional clean energy projects or be used to retire nonrenewable sources and cut customer bills.
SunPower’s recent survey of 1,500 American homeowners found their increased interest in purchased or leased solar+storage systems is driven by grid failures, power outages, and rising electricity rates. Almost half said they fear outages each month, 20% worry about it happening every week, and 50% trust utilities less because of power outages the past year.
The fourth installment of Aurora’s PV System Losses Series addresses losses due to issues around tilt and orientation, incident angle modifier, environmental conditions, and inverter clipping. Though these values are all computed automatically, Aurora looks at various ways to mitigate the issues that crop up around them.