August 2017

People are intrigued by, if not obsessed with, Hollywood and celebrities. It’s been that way for a very long time now. There are countless magazines, shows and even entire TV channels whose sole purpose is to give us normal folks a look into the lives and goings-on of stars. And you know what: I’m starting [...]

Chaos theory says that the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. That may or may not be true, but one thing is certain: Most things are won or lost in the margins. That’s the case we found in the Oregon legislature in 2017. The solar [...]

Back in 2013, GTM Research’s Shyam Mehta suggested in his base-case estimate that in 2017 the cost (which is different than price) to manufacture PV modules could fall to 36 cents per watt. This prediction was forecast after a whopping 70-cent decline over the preceding several years. Since those cost declines were driven by manufacturer [...]

Distributed solar policy is undoubtedly in a period of fast-paced – and often controversial – change, mirroring the rapid expansion of the solar industry itself. We at the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) began formally tracking solar policy as part of the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) in 1995. [...]

Busbars are the familiar metal traces that line solar panels. They are essential for combining the energy contributions of individual solar panels and must be designed for low loss to preserve as much of the energy captured from the sun as possible. Much design work has been performed over the years on various busbar configurations [...]

Asset managers, performance engineers, owners and investors alike are looking for ways to optimize the performance of their large-scale utility, commercial and industrial solar PV projects. The latest advances in performance monitoring and reporting can provide rich, timely and actionable information to help each stakeholder make smarter decisions. What is performance monitoring? Performance monitoring puts [...]

Solar Led Clean Energy Investment Rebound In Q2 The financing of two huge solar photovoltaic projects in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) helped to drive a recovery in global clean energy investment to $64.8 billion in the second quarter of this year (Q2’17), the highest for any quarter since Q2’16, according to Bloomberg New Energy [...]

New Hampshire Shines In Solar Compromise The grid is changing. It is decentralizing, becoming two-way, and is increasingly a platform for consumer empowerment and innovation, yielding efficiencies for all grid participants. Rooftop solar is the engine driving this future. The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) recognized this in its newly issued net energy metering [...]

Shoals Technologies Secures Investment, Enters Partnership Solar balance-of-systems company Shoals Technologies Group has announced an investment by funds managed by the Power Opportunities group of Oaktree Capital Management LP. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Founded in 1996, Shoals designs and manufactures a range of products for solar and energy storage projects, including combiner [...]

L.A. Mayor Marks Completion Of Massive Rooftop Solar Project Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently joined the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to celebrate the completion of a rooftop solar project that will generate enough renewable energy to power nearly 5,000 homes. The 16.4 MW DC Westmont Solar Energy Project will produce more [...]