Sungrow North America talks with SPW in their podcast about the company’s history of manufacturing solar inverter technologies and the specific features of string inverters. They discuss string sizing, module/single inveter matchups, high voltage and more.

Canary Media offers up a chart that shows the US is poised to break grid battery records this year. In 2024, developers built energy storage rapidly, adding almost 11 GW to the grid, and the article predicts that the industry is poised to grow faster in 2025.

SPW picked the brains of a number of contractors across solar sectors re best practices for making jobs run smoothly. Topics include benefits of pre-assembly on large-scale projects, how to evaluate and adopt new tech like robotic aids, best ways to track install progress, preferred methods of wire management on C&I sites, dividing up work, new hires/trainees, heavy panel management, and more.

Zeitview, a specialist in visual AI for critical infrastructure, raised $60 million in funding to advance AI-powered infrastructure inspections. The company reports that it doubled its growth to more than 200,000 assets inspected across 80 countries in 2024. Their Insights software serves the solar industry in procurement and construction stages through O&M re progress monitoring, thermal maintenance inspections, serial ID mapping and shading analysis.

Energy storage industry leaders are cautiously optimistic about U.S. energy storage despite uncertainties brought by Trump changes. Some say that given that the underlying economics of storage’s value proposition haven’t changed (better, faster, less expensive product), the market will remain strong even if the policy environment becomes negative.

The first ‘Made in America’ solar module supply chain (at 66% dom content) has been set up, but axing the CHIPS Act might stop its progress. High-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells are set to be manufactured in Georgia by Suniva. They partnered with Heliene for module assembly. However, the impact of Trump on the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication facilities, awarded by Commerce at the end of the Biden administration, is a real concern.

BayWA r.e. talks with Sol-Ark re how companies can grow their C&I portfolio with their backup power offerings. They discuss the company’s turnkey BESS for developers working with multisite small and medium-sized businesses.