The DOE has 3 grant opportunities for renewable energy companies that total $3.8 billion: The Battery Materials Processing Grant, the Distributed Energy Systems Demonstration grant, and the MAKE-IT Prize. The article lays out how much is available for each, which techs and businesses are eligible to apply, and notable due dates.

Solar Builder explores issues that pop up due to frost heave for ground mounted systems in colder climates. The article defines the problem and offers examples of what can happen to array structural components. It also looks at common causes like poor execution, unfamiliarity with calculating frost depths and adfreeze stress values, and problematic building codes. Finally, it discusses solutions.

This SPW article tackles that pesky problem of “not solar in my backyard” that so often pops up in rural communities. It argues for the need to connect the value of clean energy with rural values via focusing on how thoughtful land-use planning benefits everyone, pursuing more research to improve deployment of clean energy technologies in key states, and tapping community benefit agreements.

This article explores the problem of skepticism regarding clean energy and grid reliability. It lays out carrots and sticks that could impact grid reliability and performance. The article talks about issues like time frames for certain factors to achieve stability, the role of retiring coal plants, and strategies to integrate renewables into markets and compensate them in ways that reflect their response capabilities.

Renewable Energy World’s latest podcast episode of Factor This! details why a proposed ruling from banking authorities to take effect in 2025 could bring serious problems for the tax equity market and renewables in the US. Bottom line, it might result in the largest banks leaving the tax equity market due to unfavorable capital requirements being applied to large banking orgs and ones with significant trading activities. These requirements would quadruple the capital requirement for these banks, making traditional tax equity prohibitively costly for them. The podcast/article also explores possible alternatives for sponsors of clean energy.

This article explores some of the pitfalls for companies working with indie contractors. Using CA as a case study, it talks about red flags to watch for like having these workers do the same thing as employees, creating shoddy contractor agreements, and having sloppy practices. It particularly looks at the misclassification of workers as contractors.

Solar Builder and Baywa r.e. look at key takeaways for installers at RE+ 2023. They discuss the solar installer vibe at the conference, surprising observations, module supply and pricing outlook for next year and strategies for buying modules in this environment, and energy storage trends. The video is below.