Unsurprisingly, the IRA means good things for community solar with its long-term 10-year 30% ITC and certain adders (like carveouts for LMI communities and brownfields). The ITC can also be applied to expensive interconnection costs. These supportive policies will dovetail nicely with states that are moving policies forward that encourage increased community solar deployment.

Are you thinking of adding EV charging to your list of offerings or perhaps already include it in your lineup? EnergySage has a thorough discussion of rebates and incentives for EV charging that could be handy info for informing prospects or upselling to existing customers. The article includes the lowdown on tax incentives for 2022 and 2023 and more.

This month the members of the International Code Council will vote on the 2024 International Building Code. The code includes a proposed change that would categorize ground-mount solar projects as among the highest-risk structures, on par with standards applied to hospitals and fire stations. SEIA is warning this would cause a drastic spike in construction costs and force the cancelation of dozens of GW of renewables projects.  

SimpliPhi Power has unleashed its new energy storage system, SimpliPHI ESS. It has a 6 kW inverter, 4.9 kWh batteries, and the EnergyTrak gateway and mobile app. These components use closed-loop communications. The company has included training that goes over the specs and functionality and how to scale systems for larger projects.

Thanks to the IRA’s 30% stand-alone ITC, a boom in energy storage is just around the corner. Given the drop in price it brings, more and more homeowners and businesses will consider it for energy backup, particularly in areas with VPP or demand-response programs. It also simplifies the financing for people going for solar and storage combined, which will drive demand.

Kerim Baran of SolarAcademy talks with Rashid Abdur-Rahman of Zuper, a provider of an end-to-end field service management software application for solar and other field service businesses, in this video. They discuss a number of new features on the horizon, including one that simplifies subcontracting even more and another that assists with the sales aspect of solar. They also talk about the role of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) in future Zuper development. The video is below.

A new webinar is out as part of the Greentech Renewables training series: Maintain Long-Term High Power and Energy Savings with Alpha Pure-R. Guests from REC talk about their warranty claim rates, failure rate PPM, production warranty, details about their latest modules (particularly Alpha Pure-R), cell tech and frame design, and more. The video is below.