total amounted to 404 tons, equivalent to approximately 18,500 solar panels

PV Cycle Belgium says it collected 658 tons throughout 2023

quantity of recycled solar panels has more than quadrupled in Belgium in the last five years and added that it is preparing for a continued increase in quantity in the coming years

PV Cycle Belgium collects and processes solar panels free of charge at the end of their useful life

company that put the solar panels onto the market pays a contribution of €1.50 ($1.60) per panel to PV Cycle Belgium, which is passed on to the final consumer

number of companies it is affiliated with increased by one-third last year to reach 400 firms

number of solar panels reported by these companies increased to 4.2 million modules last year

Link

By: John Fitzgerald Weaver – Solar Consultant

the ship which is equipped with a new type of suspension system said to enable technicians to safely access offshore wind turbines even in high waves

suspension system, developed by Australian inventor Nauti-Craft, is said to enable the two hulls of the catamaran to independently balance and compensate for wave forces and the resulting movements

As a result, the deck of the ship, the so-called chassis, can be kept relatively calm in the passive mode of the system and can dampen a considerable part of the accelerations during transit

In active mode, it even remains absolutely balanced

movement of the hulls caused by the swell is damped by the cylinders of this hydraulic system and also converted into pressure and heat energy

waste heat is used to heat the ship, including the deck, in winter and the pressure will be converted back into electrical energy in future, which can be used to support the entire power supply on the ship

Link

By: John Fitzgerald Weaver – Solar Consultant

Last year, $1.8 trillion was invested in relation to the energy transition, up from $33 billion in 2004.

Blackrock estimates that the world’s green energy transition will require $4 trillion annually by the mid-2030s

about $19 trillion invested to date since 2004

there’s still an $18 trillion gap to get to where we need to by 2030

survey of 200 institutional investors last year found that 56% plan to increase transition allocations in the next 1 to 3 years

46% saying that navigating the transition is their most important investment priority in the same period of time

60% of needed capital is expected to come from the private sector

Link

Solar up a bit

price of silver powder has increased by 50 yuan/ton to 7,610 yuan/ton, with a cumulative increase of 910 yuan/ton in this cycle

main grid front silver paste for the cells has increased by 122 yuan/kg to 7,441 yuan/kg

price of the fine grid front silver paste for the cells has increased by 81 yuan/kg to 4,913 yuan/kg

price of the back silver paste for the cells has increased by 80 yuan/kg to 7,491 yuan/kg

Quartz is down

price of inner-layer high-purity quartz sand has decreased by 10.5 yuan/ton to 31 yuan/ton month-on-month

price of middle-layer high-purity quartz sand has fallen by 1 yuan/ton to 16.5 yuan/ton

price of outer-layer high-purity quartz sand has dropped by 2 yuan/ton to 5.2 yuan/ton

price of EVA particles has fallen by 300 yuan/ton to 11,700 yuan/ton

Module exports up

January, China’s photovoltaic module exports were 26.6GW, a year-on-year increase of 53%

February, module exports were 24.3GW, a year-on-year increase of 45%

Link

record of 17.802 GW was reached at 12:37 pm PT April 11, surpassing the April 10 record by 3.7%, according to CAISO latest Key Statistics report released April 16

CAISO also set an instantaneous all-time maximum demand served by solar of 86.4% at 12:30 pm April 11, surpassing the record of 82.4% reached a day earlier. Before that the record was from April 2022.

CAISO peakload was 26.563 GW April 11 and has averaged 24.985 so far this month, 2.4% lower than a year ago.

CAISO solar penetration reached a year-to-date high of 26.03% on April 11

Solar penetration for the noon hour on April 11 was 40.45%, the highest level so far this year for that hour

SP15 on-peak day-ahead locational marginal price was $2.21/MWh April 10 and $8.79/MWh April 11

prices fell as low as minus $26.26/MWh for April 6 as the thermal market share sank to 14.2% of the daily total fuel mix, after averaging 33% of the mix in 2024 up until that date

Link

Update – California energy storage records extended:

On Sunday its dominance was even greater – setting a new output record of 6.5 GW

record share of 26.5 per cent of supply

ranking as the the number one supplier for the grid from 6.45pm to 8.25pm.

Estimates that there’s 7 GW of capacity under CAISO management, so greater than 90% utilization. Most of these batteries are 4 hour batteries, so almost 28 GWh of storage capacity.

These batteries are consuming up to 4 GW in daytime solar. Note that most charging occurs during solar period when pricing is the lowest.

Link

Multiple clean energy records have hit in California this spring, one of which happened the evening of April 16 with 6.177 GW of energy storage outputting into the grid at 8.10 PM PST. At the time, energy storage was the greatest output source on CAISO – which represents 90% of the electricity demand in the world’s 5th largest economy.

On April 20th, renewables were meeting 153% of electricity demand within the state. California is beginning to clean powergrids outside of it, as it has done in its own special way for so long. What’s interesting, is that this number doesn’t include behind the meter solar power – which is only added to the list in the demand that isn’t showing up – and it’s probably greater than 10 GW at this time of the day.

The basic structure of the powergrid in Texas is changing as increasing amounts of solar complement the existing massive amounts of wind, which are now being complemented with fast moving energy storage. First off is the fact that these new generation sources are pushing coal to the curb. Also happening is that natural gas is no longer setting the wholesale price of electricity – this is defined as being the marginal generator or marginal source – the electricity source that meets additional demand when energy prices rise. Seems batteries are becoming that source.

around 50 interested parties considered investing in the company, without results

invested in a new laminator in November 2023 to achieve annual production of 200,000 modules – the equivalent of 80 MW

French PV module maker Systovi goes into liquidation

87 employees

recorded a €21.5 million turnover in 2023, solid first half of 2023, sharp drop in Systovi’s order books

manufacturing solar energy equipment since 2008 at its Carquefou factory near Nantes, France

Link

Highland Materials has secured US$255.6 million in 48C tax credits to build a polysilicon plant in the US

facility is expected to have an initial annual capacity of 16,000 metric tons (MT) of solar silicon, to be increased to 20,000MT in four years

be equivalent to 10GW of solar cells

location for the polysilicon plant has not been disclosed, nor when it will begin commercial operation.

Link

We believe that after the implementation of the energy storage policy, the new energy storage will accelerate the promotion of entering the power trading market and expand its revenue model.

7.8GW/16.3GWh in 2022

22.8GW/49.1GWh in 2023, nearly three times

cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage in China will reach 31.3GW/66.9GWh

In 2024, the scale of new grid-connected energy storage projects in China is expected to reach 34.5GW/85.4GWh under the baseline scenario

43.4GW/107.1GWh under the optimistic prediction

Growth rate of 74% and 118% respectively

Link

IEA PVPS counts the world to have installed up to 446 GW DC of new PV capacity in 2023

global cumulative to 1.6 TW

global solar PV module inventory now stands at 150 GW

China – 235.5 GW DC

Europe brought online 61 GW DC, including 55.8 GW DC in the European Union (EU).

Germany led with 14.3 GW DC, followed by 7.7 GW DC in Spain, 6 GW DC in Poland, 5.3 GW DC in Italy, and 4.2 GW DC in the Netherlands.

US was next with 33.2 GW DC in the Americas, while Brazil installed 11.9 GW DC in the region

India with 16 GW DC was followed by 3.8 GW DC in Australia, 3.3 GW DC in Korea, and 6.3 GW DC in Japan

countries with theoretical penetration rates over 10% doubled from last year to 18, and whilst smaller populations such as Spain, the Netherlands, Chile and Greece were leaders, more populous countries, including Germany and Japan, also passed 10%.

Link

squirrels

Madison Fire Department officials said a squirrel may have played a role in a solar panel fire that occurred at a home Monday afternoon on the city’s far east side

just before 2:45 p.m. Smoke and flames could be seen coming from a solar panel on the roof of the home

Crews shut off power to the panels they quickly extinguished the flames. The fire was confined to the panel and some shingles, and officials said it didn’t extend to the home.

MG&E and the solar panel company responded to the scene.

Officials said the fire was caused by the radiant heat of the panel.

As crews were putting out the fire, they saw a squirrel run out from under one of the panels. Officials said the animal may have been a contributing factor with the fire.

Link

Maybe, possibly, probably

meta-analysis on the growth of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and blackcurrants under different levels of shade generated by elevated agrivoltaic systems

although classified as shade-benefitting in previous literature, not all berries are equally profiting from the presence of the photovoltaic panels

3,677 agronomic experiments considering berry yield under at least two light levels

in most cases, low shade levels are relatively less detrimental, or even beneficial, to berry yield than high shade levels

‘exception to this is the response of strawberries with increasing yields at high shade rates…Physiologically, this response is highly improbable and can likely be attributed to the limited number of data points at low shade rates’

significant difference in crop yield response between environments with high and low radiation intensity. Yield losses as a result of shade, the analysis showed, are more substantial in low radiation intensity environments

‘suggests that successes of one region will not necessarily hold somewhere else’

‘although classified as shade-benefitting in previous literature, not all berries are equally tolerant to shade’

‘Whereas blueberry yield at high radiation intensities can benefit from up to 50 % shade, other berry types are better classified as shade tolerant, enduring up to 35 % shade without yield loss but declining afterwards’

Link

What’s next for New Bedford’s offshore wind terminal?

Source New Bedford Light

New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal cost taxpayers about $113 million and was completed in 2015

empty until 2023

Since its design and construction, a lot has changed: wind projects were delayed or canceled; bigger specialty ports have come online or are due to finish construction by 2026; and turbines have grown substantially in size

three offshore wind developers released their new project bids for New England, two of them proposed using marshaling ports in Salem or New London. And the one that proposed using New Bedford’s port also included options for doing the work at those other ports.

15 megawatts. To marshal those projects, they plan to use ports in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Salem

wind marshaling ports in the U.S. will range from 30 to about 80 acres, though the report states the industry is beginning to prefer sites of at least 50 acres

“Salem is on the larger end of terminals in the wind space. It’s an advantage in that it allows us to store more and larger components.”

terminal would have separate spaces for simultaneous loading in and loading out of components, as well as roll on/roll off access with ramps for larger items, like monopiles, that could also be stored on site.

Link

According to new data, EV prices are down 18.3% in April 2024, while non-EV prices are 13.1% lower than last year.

Ford cut Mach-E prices by up to $8,100 in March.

Ford also opened orders for the 2024 F-150 Lightning this week while introducing new price cuts on the EV pickup of up to $5,500.

Volkswagen is offering $13,000 off the 2023 ID.4 AWD Pro S

Hyundai slashed prices on the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 earlier this year

Nissan is offering nearly $16,000 off the Ariya electric SUV

Mercedes EQS is $19,442 lower than its average price of $104,747.

Tesla has dropped the price of the Model Y, Model S and Model X by $2,000 each in the US. Y cheapest it’s been.

Link

Demand for silver in the PV industry increased by 64% from 118.1 million ounces (Moz) in 2022 to 193.5 Moz in 2023

report forecasts the demand could increase a further 20% this year, reaching 232 Moz

Total silver demand fell by 7% last year, from 1,278.9 Moz in 2022 to 1,195.0 Moz in 2023

a rise projected this year

average price for silver stood at $23.35 per ounce in 2023, up from $21.73 per ounce in 2022

Link

Power Up New England will utilize new and upgraded transmission points of interconnection in Massachusetts and Connecticut to access 4.8 GW of offshore wind and battery energy storage systems in Connecticut and Maine

Clean Resilience Link features an interregional transmission upgrade “that would enable operation of a New York-New England transmission line at 345 kilovolts, increasing transfer capacity between the two regions by up to 1,000 MW,”

Awards are capped at $250 million unless projects have a significant transmission investment, in which case they can receive up to $1 billion

Both New England projects proposed this week contain significant transmission investments

Up to $1.82 billion in funding is available through this round of Grid Innovation Program funding

Link

BloombergNEF estimates that lithium-ion battery demand across EVs and stationary storage came in at around 950 gigawatt hours last year

Global battery manufacturing capacity was more than twice that, at close to 2,600 GWh

China’s battery production in 2023 alone was similar to global demand.

BNEF is tracking 7.9 TWh of annual battery manufacturing capacity announced for the end of 2025

compared to demand projections of 1.6 TWh, and even that assumes steady EV demand growth and very rapid growth in batteries for storage applications

quite a lot of that announced capacity simply won’t come online

Much of it will either be behind schedule or outright cancelled as the realities of scaling up become clearer and the list of contenders thins out

Other parts of the supply chain are not able to deliver at that level, and we can’t perfectly match supply to demand anyway, because EV batteries are not yet a commodity product

prices will fall and margins will get squeezed

14% dip in average battery pack prices in 2023, and China’s CATL announcing that it expects to be able to sell battery cells at the equivalent of less than $60 per kWh this year

Battery prices also are converging across sectors as manufacturers look for new markets for their products

biggest question is how sustainable the low battery prices will be after the industry shakeout that invariably comes from overcapacity

Some of the current prices are simply driven by lower raw material costs for things like lithium

Link

New York ISO this week launched the nation’s first program to integrate aggregations of distributed energy resources into wholesale markets

new market rules require participating DER to be at least 10 kWac in size

10-kW minimum size was a controversial issue and will significantly limit the number of resources that can participate

FERC Chairman Willie Phillips and Commissioner Allison Clements acknowledged “valid concerns about the potential limiting effect” of the threshold, but said the “lack of such a requirement would substantially delay rollout of the participation model.”

e 10 kW threshold “balances the need for efficient administration” of wholesale markets alongside the “value that small facilities can reliably provide the bulk power system.”

Link

Freedom Forever had ~400MW PTO in 2023 and expects 480-600MW to PTO in 2024, which suggests volume could be up 20-50% according to this metric

believes Freedom can also grow sales and installations by 60-90% in 2024

confidence stems from active sales rep data, which is a useful leading indicator that shows sales rep productivity has increased 25% m/m for Freedom

more optimistic view of the 2024 resi solar market with his estimate of down 5-10% vs. our view of down 15% (see here) and Ohm Analytics’ forecast of down 19%

players who have survived the challenging US resi solar environment for the past year and half have higher productivity and could make up for the shortfall of all the players that have gone out of business/exited the market.

2024 financing mix to be 20-30% loan, 5-7% cash, and 65% TPO vs. 45% loan and 55% TPO in 2023

2024 inverter mix is still expected to be 80% SEDG, 20% ENPH, and a negligible amount of TSLA in 2024

Link

Between 2019 and 2022, the combined capacity for offtake between the different technologies reached a maximum of 1.1GW in 2021 and decreased to 0.9GW in 2022

2023 it registered 3.6GW, 42 PPAs, of capacity

Nearly half of the volume registered in 2023 came from solar PV with 1.8GW and a high interest from customers in securing solar PPAs.

Corporate PPAs – 33 CPPAs for 9 utility PPAs – have been the main driver for the market growth

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) coming into force in January 2023

CSRD increased the number of companies in Germany – from 500 to 15,000 – who were required to report on environmental, social and governance aspects (ESG) and increased the pressure to find solutions to decarbonise their operations

structure of solar PPAs signed in 2023 often had a 10-year term and a pay-as-produced (PaP) structure

Link

Link

“They have tried materials like OLED and QD-LED, but the photoresponsivity is not so good. For our perovskite LED, it’s good.”

interested in how to integrate the function of a touchscreen, or imaging – photo-sensitive pixels – can do far more than detect touch. They can image objects placed on a display, detect fingerprints, and even charge a device.

Perovskites are a class of materials that form a crystal structure like that of the eponymous perovskite—a calcium titanium oxide mineral discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1839

“If you want a material to have a good photo response, you need to generate electron carriers in these materials”

“In perovskite, this is easy.”

It’s the carrier transport layer that allows the movement of electrons, which in turn makes it possible to detect touch input. And because PeLEDs are photosensitive, they can both detect and image the objects that touch the display.

“It’s a fundamental concept that good solar cells should be good LEDs, people know this well,”

Link

117 GW of new capacity installed

Global Wind Energy Council’s 2023 Global Wind Report

installations experienced a 50 percent year-on-year increase over 2022

54 countries deploying new wind power

Growth is highly concentrated in a few big countries like China, the U.S., Brazil and Germany

In order to meet the COP28 target for 2030, the wind industry would need to triple 2023’s annual growth, achieving at least 320 GW by 2030

Link

developed innovative technologies to separate and purify rare earth and battery elements from a variety of sources including ores, postindustrial wastes and recycled magnets

innovations improve upon current industrial methods by using significantly less power and water and fewer hazardous chemicals while generating near-zero waste

higher extraction yield, higher purity, smaller footprint and higher efficiency than traditional industrial methods to source rare earth and battery elements

license agreement signed April 18 significantly expands the fields of use and allows the company to separate and purify rare earth and battery elements from any feedstock material

company has developed commercial-scale processes based on the Purdue technologies

constructing its first commercial facility in Marion, Indiana, with the expectation to initially hire 40-60 employees, eventually growing to over 250 full-time employees on-site

Production of rare earth elements and the company’s first sales are anticipated to begin in late 2024

ReElement Technologies on Thursday (April 18) signed an exclusive license to use patented Purdue University technologies

Link

2018 the Watertown Town Council passed a first-in-New-England solar ordinance requiring solar on the equivalent of 50% roof coverage for new and substantially renovated buildings over 10,000 sq. feet and 90% of parking garages

city celebrates the operation of a solar and storage project installed at 66 Galen, a brand new 224,106 square foot life science building that features purpose-built offices and laboratories

Gold LEED-certified facility

252 kW solar and 125 kW storage system, covering about 10% of the buildings electricity needs

EV charging stations featuring 15 ports, located within the parking garage

Znshine Solar modules, a 251 kWh battery from SYL and Powercharge EV chargers

Link

half-tandem cells, which consist of one cell comprised of two active layers, stacked on top of each other without an intermediate layer

team used methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3), a perovskite material, and molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) to form the two layers

th the latter material driving an increase in conversion efficiency from 12.13%, before its addition, to 27.01%, after its inclusion

changed the nanostructure of the components to resemble a V-shape, to “enhance light absorption through light trapping,” further increasing the power conversion efficiency to 27.63%

2.35 times efficiency enhancement for the nanostructured V-shaped half-tandem solar cell with MAPbI3 and MoTe2 as absorbent layers

Link

imminent introduction of large-scale capacity in Q2 and Q3 will further strain polysilicon supply, especially considering that current prices are below manufacturers’ production costs

current inventory stands at approximately 190,000 to 220,000 tons

some manufacturers may opt to conduct maintenance in advance to mitigate profit pressures

wafer manufacturers are scaling back their production as anticipated, resulting in reduced purchasing demand for polysilicon

operating rates in the wafer sector have plummeted to below 50%

182N wafers constitute 66% of the total wafer inventory, while 210 (including 210R) accounts for 11%, and N-type 18X(R) faces even greater inventory pressure

cells are still at risk of price reduction

mainstream concluded price for

–182mm facial mono PERC module is RMB 0.86/W (12¢/W USD)

–210mm facial mono PERC module is priced at RMB 0.88/W

–182mm bifacial glass PERC module at RMB 0.88/W

–210mm bifacial glass PERC module at RMB 1.13/W (16¢/W USD)

With the likelihood of continued decreases in n-type cell prices, module manufacturers are increasingly inclined to lower their operating rates to mitigate the risk of decreased module value due to declining raw material prices

Link

total corporate solar funding, global venture capital funding, public market financing, and PV mergers and acquisitions all fell year on year in the first quarter of 2024

global solar sector is “experiencing peak uncertainty and a challenging investment climate,”

total corporate funding into the solar sector stood at $8.1 billion in the first three months of the year…figure includes 41 deals, marking a 4% year-on-year decline.

figure is a 47% quarter-over-quarter increase over the $5.5 billion raised in the fourth quarter of 2023

global venture-capital funding in the solar sector in the first quarter of 2024 hit $406 million across 13 deals, down 81% year on year

Public market financing reached $1.4 billion across six deals the first three months of 2024, down 39% year on year

ear. Debt financing rose 59% year on year across 22 deals, according to Mercom

challenges – likelihood of prolonged high-interest rates, higher labor and construction costs due to inflation, and supply chain issues, coupled with trade disputes and tariffs

21 solar M&A transactions in the first quarter, unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2023, but down from the 27 solar M&A deals recorded in the first quarter of 2023

crash in Chinese module prices has spurred demand, it has made investments in manufacturing projects unattractive, even with incentives

WoodMac said that in the United States, a 2% increase in the risk-free interest rate could push up the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) by as much as 20% for renewables

Link

report presents 35 interconnection improvement solutions developed through a DOE stakeholder engagement process launched 22 months ago, known as the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange

Report Link

The report is separated into four “goals”, with multiple solutions underneath each.

The goals are:

1. Increase Data Access, Transparency, and Security for Interconnection
2. Improve Interconnection Process and Timeline
3. Promote Economic Efficiency in Interconnection
4. Maintain a Reliable, Resilient, and Secure Grid

An example solution set, in this case for goal #1:

• Solution 1.1: Improve the scope, accessibility, quality, and standardization of data on projects already in interconnection queues, including project attributes, cost estimates, and post-IA information. (short-term)

• Solution 1.2: Enhance the scope, timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of interconnection study models and modeling assumptions that transmission providers make available to interconnection customers. (short-term)

• Solution 1.3: Develop tools to manage, analyze, and visualize transmission and interconnection data made available in the first two solutions, while ensuring secure data-sharing processes. (medium-term)

China’s 2024 domestic production target is ~750GW vs. Exawatt’s global demand forecast of ~550GW; 80-100GW likely from outside China

Chinese installations in the first two months of 2024 were very strong (up ~80% y/y)

poly prices appeared to stabilize in Q1, spot prices have been dipping the past few weeks to below cash costs for leading manufacturers

production continued to grow in Q1’24, with Mar’24 production up ~75% y/y

Several large poly facilities are expected to begin or continue ramping up production in Q2, including those from DQ, Hoshine and Xinyi, maintaining downward pressure on prices

Exawatt sees limited COGS reductions for Chinese module manufacturers of just ~1-2c/W over the next five years for PERC and TOPCon

Exawatt sees ~2c/W COGS reduction through Q4’29 and ~1c/W or less given a medium-term outlook for USD deflation relative to RMB combined with other headwinds such as higher aluminum costs

TOPCon COGS/W is falling below PERC COGS/W, and TOPCon is expected to maintain a cost advantage vs. heterojunction (HJT)

Link

shift from the standard “jelly roll” stack design

jelly roll design layers the battery cell’s electrodes and separators. This cell is rolled into a cylinder and then inserted into a rectangular case. The roll does not fit cleanly into the rectangular can; instead, gaps are inherent in this approach and reduce the cell’s overall efficiency

Z-shaped design, by contrast, allows the electrodes and separators to be collapsed and folded to fit more neatly into the container. This design shift offers around a 10% volumetric energy density improvement using the same materials

BYD is taking a somewhat different approach to replacing jelly rolls. It introduced a blade-like design in which individual cells are placed in arrays when they are inserted into the battery pack. The company states this approach increases the battery pack’s space utilisation by more than 50% compared to earlier jelly roll designs

manufacturers are moving away from air-cooled batteries to favour liquid cooling

Liquid cooling reduces uneven temperature control and supports the move to larger Z-stack cell designs

In the same cell that earlier held a 280 Amp-hour (Ah) configuration can now hold a cell as large as 316Ah in a liquid cooled configuration

National Defense Authorization Act that was approved on 22 December bars the Pentagon from buying batteries from Chinese suppliers alleged to have ties either to China’s military or the ruling communist party. The ban takes effect in October 2027 and targets CATL, BYD, Envision Energy Ltd., EVE Energy Co., Gotion High Tech Co. and Hithium Energy Storage Technology Co.

Link

Ohm Analytics adjusted their projection of residential solar being down 13% vs 19%

It is important to note Ohm’s forecast is dependent on a recovery in H2’24

recent green shoots with sequential growth in February and March in Florida and Texas

started to see some positive signs, but needs to see more of a ramp in CA and continued improvement with installer liquidity issues

Regarding the Powerwall 3 from Tesla

Powerwall 3 could be considered Powerwall “Free inverter and racking.”

As more racking products such as IronRidge’s XR Flush Mount System meet the UL3741 standard, rapid shutdown requirements can be met through string inverters without requiring MLPE

if you have a 25 panel system with optimizers that cost ~$50 each, you are paying ~$1,250 for the optimizers

with the TSLA Powerwall 3, assuming two strings, you only need four components at ~$25 a piece, or ~$100, which results in ~$1k or more in savings

Roth notes that ~$1 is close to racking costs, and already, a Powerwall 3 solar project gives customers a free inverter – as usually one each for solar and battery, but with Tesla setup only one is needed.

Link

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released January-February PV production data…

manufactured about 330,000 tons of polysilicon

130 GW of silicon wafers (with 9.3 GW exported)

100 GW of solar cells (with 9.5 GW exported)

76 GW of PV modules were also made in the first two months of the year

Computes to 1.98 million tons of polysilicon, 780 GW of wafers, 600 GW of cells, and 456 GW of modules

Link

increase in the number of products in other technologies, the market share of HJT dipped from 20% to 15% by 2023

number of companies offering HJT modules commercially has significantly increased, growing from 4 in 2022 to 9 in 2023

REC, Meyer Burger, Huasun, and Jinergy – were the initial players offering HJT modules commercially

Huasun takes top honors among the HJT modules with 23.02% efficiency and the highest power of 715 W.

Link

China hit 2.4 million tons of polysilicon production capacity at the end of 2023, and notes that the nation will end 2024 with 4 million tons of capacity if all announced production plans are realized

said. “If everything announced got built, China would end 2024 with 4 million tons of production capacity, and back in 2023 the peak number for all potential facilities was 7 million tons. Half of it, however, was ‘dependent on market conditions’ and therefore canceled.”

Polysilicon prices fell to $6.70/kg last week, after remaining stable at a historic low of $8/kg throughout the first few months of 2024.

This has accounted for roughly half of the simultaneous drop in module prices, which were also stable for the first few months of 2024, from $0.130/W to $0.122/W

2023 ended with 1.43 million tons of output, which corresponds to approximately 550 GW

With just a little further adoption of thinner wafers, 2.4 million tons would be enough to make 1,000 GW of solar once a usage rate of 2.4 g/W is reached

In the past, the marginal cost of production was $7/kg, but with the addition of so many extra-large and modern facilities in the past two years, we believe this has dropped significantly,” he explained. “Daqo New Energy recently claimed that its Q4 2023 marginal cost of production was just CNY 40.69 ($5.60)/kg, although Daqo’s full-year cost, including sales, was $6.70/kg – the same as the current market price.”

we expect that the polysilicon price will stay above $5.50/kg for at least a year. Module prices should fall to $0.110/W

seems to be more a case of very low utilization rates throughout the supply chain, some as low as 20%

Link

US utility Dominion Energy is seeking proposals for solar, wind and energy storage projects in the state of Virginia

will accept five types of proposals, including new solar PV projects and new PV solar generation co-located with energy storage. It will also look at new onshore wind, onshore wind co-located with energy storage and standalone energy storage

company is looking for rooftop solar projects with a capacity of less than 3MW in Virginia’s urban centres to reduce the load on the electric grid

company is seeking both utility-scale projects with a capacity of more than 3MW and distributed projects that are 3MW or less. Dominion Energy will only consider facilities located in Virginia

For distributed projects that are 3MW or less, the facilities must be located within Dominion Energy Virginia’s service territory

proposals for mechanically complete projects that are 5MW or less will be accepted as in last year’s request for proposals

Other categories in the RFP include new onshore wind projects, new onshore wind projects co-located with BESS and new standalone BESS

Link

A 7.7 GW virtual power plant made up of distributed California solar plus storage assets could…

save electricity consumers $550 million annually by deploying about 7.7 GW of virtual power plant capacity by 2035

avoid $755 million in traditional power system costs

analyzed the cumulative potential of five VPP technologies, including smart thermostats, behind-the-meter batteries, managed electric vehicle charging, automated demand response for commercial and industrial users and grid-interactive water heating, while excluding high-potential technologies, such as bidirectional EV charging, that Brattle says still face technical or commercial barriers to widespread adoption

Current, California’s 1.6 GW in VPP capacity lies in traditional demand response, largely in the commercial and industrial sector, the report found

Green Mountain Power’s battery program, whose “generous incentives” have already achieved a 1% participation rate among all GMP customers and which the utility forecasts could scale to 8% participation by 2030

Of the 17 “sensitivity cases” Brattle examined that could push the state’s VPP potential higher or lower than the 7.7 GW-by-2035 base case, “participation” had the highest upside of around 12 GW, or about 4 GW above the base case

Link

solar panels installed above apple trees under the project, irrigation requirements were reduced by 50%

 save 70% of pesticides on the area under the agri-PV system

Agri-PV system produces over 20 percent more electricity than the consortium expected based on the simulations

team believes the solar system is generating more electricity due to a combination of evaporative cooling and rear ventilation even though it is still working on the exact reasons

This project had been ongoing for the past two years. A new agrivoltaic testing facility is opening:

agri-PV system at Vollmer Fruit Farm is divided into 4 parts. It includes permanently mounted PV modules for kiwi, pears, apples and plums; a system based on polytunnels in berry cultivation with semi-transparent modules; and a tracking system with fully shading modules

The special thing about the tracked PV system is that the 140 meter long rows are halved. One half of the rows are tracked taking into account plant physiological aspects, the other half are controlled purely according to sun-optimized parameters

Link

The interview was from January of this year, but was interesting to read, some of the thoughts here:

Freedom Forever is the largest residential solar installation company in the US. The company provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) to its dealer partners. Freedom Forever was founded in 2011 and is based in Temecula, California.

Brett has a more optimistic view for 2024 US resi solar growth and believes the industry could see positive growth vs. our view of down 15%

Freedom Forever had an 80/20 SEDG/ENPH mix in 2023 and expects a similar mix in 2024

Freedom Forever is module agnostic and believes the “brains of the system” is the inverter

Freedom had a 7% battery attach rate in 2023, currently has a 22% attach rate, and could see an attach rate as high as 30% by YE’24

Brett believes that Freedom could reach the domestic content threshold without a domestic content module.

Link

BYD is preparing to launch the Gen 2 Blade Battery

BYD Blade Battery could charge from 10% to 80% in 30 minutes, had an energy density of 150 Wh/kg, a charge cycle lifespan of 3,000 + charges, and a cost per kWh of less than $85, and in some cases, a price as low as $55.40 per kWh

CATL-sourced LFP pack in the base Tesla Model 3, which can charge from 10% to 80% in just under 30 minutes, has an energy density of 125 Wh/kg, a charge cycle lifespan of 2,000 charges and a cost of $100 per kWh

new version will cost the same as the old one and have the same longevity and charge speeds, but it will be significantly lighter and more compact

increasing the cells’ energy density to around 220 Wh/kg, giving the entire pack an energy density of 190 Wh/kg, which would make it the world’s most energy-dense LFP battery pack

BYD estimated such vehicles will be able to do 1,000 km / 621 miles on the CLTC cycle, equivalent to around 520 miles WLTP

Link

Most of the bloc’s members are set to commit more support to help their ailing solar panel manufacturers and opt to avoid using trade restrictions on cheap panel imports from China

EU officials said more than 20 of the EU’s 27 countries were set to sign up to it

draft said the European Commission would work with the European Investment Bank to support projects, and consider launching a cross-border European solar manufacturing project

European solar panel manufacturers have previously asked the EU to consider trade safeguards on Chinese imports, but Brussels and governments including Germany have warned broad curbs on Chinese supply could stunt Europe’s fast expansion of clean energy

Link

For the first time since 2021, quoted solar prices decreased on the marketplace, falling 3.5% to $2.80 per watt for quotes in the second half of 2023

Energy storage meanwhile decreased for the first time since EnergySage started reporting storage data in 2020. During the second half of 2023 energy storage prices declined about 6% to a median $1,265 per watt.

EnergySage said the drop in prices was driven in part by a 19% decrease in quoted storage prices in California, where energy storage attachment rates for solar projects reached 45% in the second half of 2023.

microinverter provider Enphase Energy gained market share, reaching nearly 70% of quoted systems of EnergySage marketplace

top quote solar panel brands were a more diverse mix led by REC Group, Qcells, Silfab Solar, Panasonic, and others

California median prices dropped sharply by 20% from the first half to the second half of 2023, reaching $2.70 per watt

Florida and Texas median prices were $2.35 per watt, while Colorado median prices were $3.10 per watt and Nevada $2.55 per watt

lowest quoted median per watt price was in Arizona, with $2.30 per watt, while Tennessee median prices were the highest at $3.65 per watt. California had the smallest median system size at 8.07 kW, while Kentucky had the largest with 14.50 kW for the median in the second half of 2023

Link

There’s much ado about some solar panels on a roof in Buffalo, but it’s just fine, and a very simple conversation really.

The Buffalo factory is a large commercial structure. None of the solar panels manufactured inside of the facility were commercial solar modules. In fact, the modules that Tesla makes there now – I doubt they’d even be able to work on this site.

When Tesla moved into the facility, they were working with Silevo. There was a very nice, high efficiency solar panel being suggested to be made in Buffalo – it never came to be, and in 2017, the relationship ended between the two companies. I don’t think the Buffalo factory was even open before that happened.

Next, one would think that Panasonic might have supplied modules – but they never actually made solar panels there. They only made solar cells. And then they left in early 2020, probably already in late 2019.

Now, we’re at a time where Tesla is making (a few at least…hopefully) solar roof tiles in the facility that are in no way proper for this building. This tiles are specifically for a residential roof at a certain angle, with a certain look. You don’t put these on a commercial rooftop. There’s a decent chance that the solar cells used in the Tesla Solar Roof actually come from LONGi, as the company is one of the world’s largest solar cell manufacturers.

From Paula Mints on LinkedIn

Manufacturer shipments increased by 996% in 2023 from 282.5-GWp to 564-GWp, with utilization slightly improved at 63%. Cumulatively, shipments of PV cell technologies reached 1.8-TWp at the end of 2023, with 95% of the cumulative total shipped from 2013 through 2023. The cumulative total shipped is expected to reach >2.4-TWp by the end of 2024.

Link

Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) found homes using heat pumps, insulation and electric vehicles make more use of British energy and use less than half the imported fuel of a household reliant on gas and petrol

ECIU analysis found a typical household with a gas boiler, petrol car and average electricity demand relies on imports of energy, mostly gas and oil, for nearly 70% of its total needs, around 17 megawatt hours (MWh) a year.

house with good levels of insulation, using a heat pump and an electric car will use less than half that level of energy imports (45%), at around 7.5 MWh a year, from gas used in electricity generation.

Homes with solar panels as well would use around a third (36%) of the fuel imports of a typical home, at just 6MWh a year

“Nearly half of all homes in England now have an EPC rating of C or above, up from just 14% in 2010, and we’re supporting families make the switch to heat pumps, rather than forcing them, with our £7,500 heat pump grant – one of the most generous schemes in Europe.

Link

We observe that over the last 11 years, EV drivers across the United States have contributed approximately $3.12 billion more than their associated costs, driving rates down for all customers.

When we also include utility expenditures for EV programs, EV owners have contributed approximately $2.44 billion more in revenues than in costs.

we assume the majority of EVs are charged at home and mostly in the early evening at the end of the workday

A key reason why revenues from EVs outweigh the costs is that EV customers — particularly those on TOU rates — tend to charge during off-peak hours

By charging during off-peak hours, EVs impose minimal additional costs on the grid and help to utilize resources more efficiently

report published in 2019 by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, PG&E, and the Natural Resources Defense Council shows that shifting EV charging to off-peak hours could allow the grid to accommodate all homes having EVs without upgrading most parts of the distribution system

Link

south-oriented system consists of 18 rows of 21 panels with a total output capacity of 170 kW

ZnShine 450 W bifacial solar modules with a bifaciality rating of 70%

Panel orientation was varied throughout the system, allowing for a determination of the optimum orientation

Power optimizers were installed so that the output of pairs of panels could be tracked, ensuring optimal energy generation and efficiency

two different row spacings and panel mounting heights were used in the experimental design

Researchers will plant a forage crop in April and will start grazing beef cattle in September

objective is to study the impacts of the agrivoltaic system on forage production and animal grazing, including any behavioral changes the animals may exhibit when grazing among the panels

racking system can ensure up to 120 cm of clearance from the ground and is able to endure a maximum wind speeds of 167 km/h

Link

The battery game is changing. In terms of pricing, it’s been happening since June 2023 – with cells more than halving, and it’s expected to go further.

Now, a new high density grid energy storage format coupled with five years of no degradation may herald a new stage of deployment – batteries as a standard generation asset.

I’ve got visions of high frequency energy storage trading going on across the network of national storage assets, numbering in the hundreds of millions or billions. Electrons injected at the nearest location based on digitally dispersed demand delivered at the light speed.

Energy Precision.

At least 16 photovoltaic firms listed on the mainland have canceled or delayed over CNY60 billion (USD8.3 billion) of investment projects since the fourth quarter of last year, according to data gathered by Yicai

Chen estimated that only five to six of the existing 10 industry leaders would stay after the ongoing industry reshuffle

Lingda Group, a developer of thermal power generation systems, recently scrapped an investment scheme of CNY9.2 billion (USD1.3 billion) after making big noise about venturing into solar power

LONGi optimized its structure and downsized due to falling prices

Former employees said that the firm may have laid off about 30 percent of its staff. On April 7, the company responded that the adjustment involved 5 percent of its headcount.

In the past 18 months, companies added more capacity than in the past 18 years.

China’s production capacity of silicon materials, silicon wafers, and modules will each exceed 1,000 gigawatts by this year, according to PV InfoLink

Link

Risen replaced its 150 µm wafer with a much thinner and flexible 100 µm wafer for its Hyper-ion HJT cell

By October 2023, its busbarless 100 µm Hyper-ion HJT Cell realized a 25.8% average production efficiency

Adoption of 50% low silver content metallization paste reduces metallization cost to 1.02 c/W

JT, the 2 key factors for Risen to invest in HJT are low LCOE and low carbon footprint

processing costs for HJT are a real concern as the technology requires a higher amount of silver paste, while TCO is a completely new material compared to PERC and TOPCon

after reducing wafer thickness from 150 µm to 100 µm, the same optical absorbance level was observed up to 700 nm light wavelength

negative impact of wafer thinning to 100 µm or even slightly lower is negligible.

during the test, the 150 µm PERC cell started to crack when deformation reached 46.74 mm, followed by the 130 µm TOPCon cell at 53.68 mm deformation

the HJT cell with  thickness did not crack at the maximum point of load test at deformation, ensuring mechanical stability

production data showing the yield with ultra-thin wafers reached 99.2% and the breakage rate reduced to 0.2%

silver-coated copper paste with 50% silver content to reduce silver consumption

reduced metallization costs to 1.02 c/W

expecting to reach 0.64 c/W this year

plans to cut the silver content further to close to 40% this year to reduce the usage of silver from 10 mg/W to 7 mg/W, corresponding to 50% and 40% silver content, respectively

Link

“A lot of people are dropping out of the second life energy storage space,”

24,000 sqm, c.US$30 million investment facility will produce BESS units for the residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors using “new obsolete electric vehicle batteries”

most second life systems use batteries which were destined for EVs but never made it onto the road, for manufacturing or warranty reasons

C&I units, of between 82kWh to 1,288kWh, will only use new electric vehicle batteries from German premium vehicle manufacturers

Battery pricing collapse changing rules though

price falls led one company, Finland-based Cactos, to tell us in January 2024 that using new batteries was now more economical than repurposing EV batteries

Germany-headquartered Stabl’s CEO Dr Nam Truong said its systems cost €400-600 per kWh, several times higher than what ‘first life’ BESS cost now thanks to rapid price falls

One second life energy storage source, based in North America, told us recyclers would typically pay US$8 per kWh for batteries while a second life firm would pay around US$30 per kWh

How cheap could second life batteries get if new cells are super cheap already?

Link

lamppost EV charger is now commercially available in major US metro areas

retrofits lampposts into a modular and upgradable Level 2 EV charging platform powered by a mobile app

Voltpost participated in the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Studio program, a collaboration between the NYC DOT and Newlab

Voltpost installed chargers on lampposts at Newlab in Brooklyn and in a DOT parking lot. The chargers were installed in an hour, operated with a high uptime, and got positive feedback from EV drivers.

lamppost EV chargers feature 20 feet of retractable cable and a charge plug with a pulsing light that routes the cable at a 90-degree angle to the car socket so the cable doesn’t become a hazard to pedestrians and traffic

can accommodate either two or four charging ports

Link

“By ignoring the acknowledged societal and other benefits of customer-sited renewable generation and assigning value solely to limited economic benefits, did the Commission fail to proceed in the manner required by section 2827.1(b)(3), which mandates that a net energy metering tariff must be ‘based on the costs and benefits of the renewable electrical generation facility?’

Essentially, the lawsuit is aiming to keep the spirit of the technique used to value rooftop solar, some sort of math based equation, but to change the input variables. For instance, it used to be that daytime electricity was the most expensive part of the day – solar ended that. In New England, it is estimated that rooftop solar installations save all electricity users billions via lower wholesale pricing.

Link

Green Li-ion has launched a commercial-scale plant to process unsorted battery waste, or “black mass,” from used lithium-ion batteries

plant will produce sustainable, battery-grade cathode precursor, lithium, and anode materials – closing the EV recycling loop with the production done all in one plant

uses a novel and advanced hydrometallurgical approach that closes the recycling loop by directly converting recycling scrap into battery-grade precursor cathode active material (pCAM) without being exported for further processing

Green Li-ion says its process significantly reduces production time, yielding pCAM in around 12 hours

emits up to 90% fewer GHG emissions than virgin materials processing.

first in North America capable of processing unsorted black mass of different Li-ion battery chemistries into pCAM at commercial scale, ensuring 99% purity

expected to create 2 metric tons of pCAM at battery grade, or the equivalent of 72,000 smartphone batteries per day

Link

Perovskite-perovskite-silicon triple-junction solar cells have technical potential to reach 44.3% efficiency

optical properties of perovskite/perovskite/silicon triple-junction cells suggest 44.3%

roadmap includes the adaption of the perovskite absorber thicknesses, modifying bandgaps, employing a fully textured cell, and optimizing the thicknesses of the interlayers between the absorbers

researchers initially assumed the triple junction cell to be based on a bottom silicon heterojunction cell with an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer and a silver (Ag) metal contact, a middle perovskite cell with an energy bandgap of 1.57 eV, and a top perovskite cell with a bandgap of 1.84 eV

In the optimization process, their efforts were directed to increase the photocurrent of all three cells

varied the thicknesses of the three absorbers and then they adjusted the perovskites bandgaps. Moreover, they applied a textured front side to mitigate reflection losses and used thinner interlayers

simulation showed that the best cell configuration may potentially achieve a power conversion efficiency of 44.3%, an open-circuit voltage of 3480 mV, a short-circuit density of 14.1 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 90.1%

Link

For Marketers, the DJI Mavic Mini is a top choice.

For Surveyors, look at the DJI Air 2S or Autel EVO II V3.

For O&M use cases on residential and small commercial systems, consider the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise or Autel EVO II Dual.

commercial drones also come in various shapes and sizes, with prices ranging from around $500 to well over $10,000

strong case for high-end drones like Parrot Anafi and Skydio as well

Link

print perovskite solar cells could streamline the scale-up of the technology

Our team demonstrated the roll-to-roll production of series-connected [solar] modules for the first time and achieved a significant increase in the record efficiency of solution-processed solar cell

perovskite layers and other components are printed onto the substrate sequentially

main challenge is to ensure that each layer dries and settles completely before the next layer is deposited

printed all the interlayers, including the components for electron and hole transport and both the carbon and silver electrodes

roll-to-roll printed perovskite cells exhibit efficiencies of up to 15.5% for small-area [devices] and 11% for large-area modules

roll-to-roll printed perovskite cells exhibit efficiencies of up to 15.5% for small-area [devices] and 11% for large-area modules

With these parameters, the predicted cost could come in at 70 cents (55p) per watt

Link

The printer:

total of three caverns about 20 meters wide, 300 meters long and 40 meters high will be excavated

bottom of the caverns will be 100 meters below ground level

underground caverns will be filled with hot water

Pressure will be created within the space, allowing the water to reach temperatures of up to 140 degrees without the water boiling or evaporating

total volume is 1,100,000 cubic meters, including process facilities

fully charged seasonal thermal energy storage is 90 gigawatt-hour, could heat a medium-sized Finnish city for as long as a year

Two 60-MW electric boilers will be built in conjunction with Varanto. These boilers will be used to produce heat from renewable electricity when electricity is abundant and cheap

project cost is estimated to be around 200 million euros, and it has already been awarded a 19-million-euro investment grant from Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Construction of the storage facility

could be operational in 2028

Link

worldwide wind power production is very predictable, with annual variations remaining within a ± 3 % range

wind energy indexes that Eoltech releases each month for the 300 geographical areas worldwide with the highest number of farms

Global Index covers geographical areas which host about 80% of the world’s operating onshore wind farms as of 2023, while the European Index cover 97% of the continent’s operating wind farms

European Index shows that wind resource annual variations are within a ± 7% range in Europe, compared to ± 3% worldwide

Locally, the production of a wind farm can differ significantly from one year to another, up to 25%, due to the variation of the wind resource

our analysis does not show any downward trend over the last 15 years in the global wind resource

wind does always blow somewhere on the planet

Link

computer simulations and laboratory experiments to see if depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs can be used for storing this carbon-free fuel – Hydrogen

studying if hydrogen stored in depleted oil and gas reservoirs will get stuck in the rock, leak out, or get contaminated

found that hydrogen does not stay inside sandstone after it is pumped out, but up to 10% of the adsorbed gas got stuck inside the shale sample

Ho said, this is quite positive for underground storage of hydrogen

when the hydrogen is removed for use, it will contain a small amount of natural gas

not terrible because natural gas still has energy, but it contains carbon, so when this hydrogen is burned, it will produce a small amount of carbon dioxide

Link

Hallandale Beach proudly announces the acquisition of nine (9) cutting-edge electric buses

largest electric bus fleet owned by any municipality in Florida

total bill for the new bus fleet comes in at $5,906,828, paid for by a State of Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) totaling $3,406,828 million along with a contribution of $2.5 million from the city, with $1,937,128 of that money (give or take) going towards the purchase of the Cloud electric buses and the installation of the necessary EV charging infrastructure

The bus seems to be the BYD K7M 30′ EV transit bus. The city lists the unit here. The unit seats 22+1, has a top speed of 56 mph, and a working range of up to 158 miles. It’s maximum power output is 90 kWx2, with a max torque of 400 N*mx2. The BYD blade LFP battery capacity is 215 kWh, with a charging capacity of 150 kW. It would take 2.5-3 hours to fully charge via AC charging, versus 1.5-2 hours via fast charging DC.

Link

in the highest efficiency band above 22.5%, only 2 companies, Maxeon and Jolywood, offered such products until June 2022

July 2022, Huasun joined the club with a 22.53% HJT module

Aiko made a remarkable entry in March 2023, directly taking the top spot with its 23.6% efficient ABC module series, and subsequently raising the bar again with a 24% product in June

by the end of 2023, a total of 9 products/companies reached the above-22.5% efficiency band

Link

noise of battery energy storage system (BESS) technology has “exploded” as a concern in the last six months

“I’d say that in the last six months noise has exploded as a concern. One of our team just toured a dozen customers in Europe and every single one brought up concerns about noise, and what we are doing to mitigate it. A year ago, nobody asked”

Sungrow pointed out to Energy-Storage.news in a recent interview that its latest generation product increased the energy-per-container from 2.5MWh to 5MWh but the max noise emissions went from 79dB to 75dB.

An analysis done for a battery project in California showed tat the sound level at the property line, 450 feet from a battery, was 59.4 – which is in the upper range “quiet” to lower range of “moderate” noise.

Link

Adani Group has reportedly started producing ingots and wafers for its solar cell and module manufacturing plant, according to a report from Reuters

capacity of 2GW

will be used to make solar cells and modules in Adani’s module assembly plant in Gujarat, India

Adani Group also aims to produce polysilicon in 2027 at the earliest, becoming India’s first integrated solar manufacturer

Adani Solar claimed that it is India’s largest vertically integrated solar company with a manufacturing capacity of 4GW.

December 2022, the company’s solar PV manufacturing and research arm Adani Solar produced India’s “first” large-sized monocrystalline silicon ingot in the Mundra manufacturing plant

Link

number of used EVs sold in the U.S. grew from 283,000 in 2022 to just under 400,000 in 2023, and are expected to reach nearly 560,000 in 2024.

more than half of the used EVs available were under $30,000 as of February, up from around 40 percent in December

Almost 30% of all used EVs are $25,000 or less

Because used Teslas compete with every other EV, that’s forced other used EV prices down

For qualifying used EVs, that (tax credit) value is up to 30 percent of the cost, with a cap of $4,000, only applies to vehicles that cost $25,000 or less

applying the $4,000 tax credit to a buyer’s down payment reduces the ​“loan-to-value ratio” that lenders consider when assessing the risk of making a loan

Link

The report depicts a clear rising trend in the number of days of hail over 2″ in diameter each year — and last year was a particularly active one

In 2023, Louisiana saw 65% more days with 1″ hailstones compared to the 20-year trend, Tennessee 60%, Alabama 54% New Mexico 45%, and Texas at 42% more.

A GCube report from late last year confirms that the effect of these intersecting trends is already being felt: Hail is now responsible for more than half of all solar claims costs, despite constituting only a fraction of solar claims by volume

The average solar hail claim now comes to a whopping $58.4 million

In 2023, The New York Times reported, State Farm’s hail claims totaled over $6 billion — more than the previous two years combined.

benefit of a parametric policy is that it has “the ability to tailor coverage off very specifically designed and agreed-upon policy triggers — namely, hailstone size.”

Solar owners can thus determine what size of hailstone their panels can withstand, calculate the probability that future hail will exceed that size, conclude how much risk they want to retain, and then very precisely make up the difference between that retention and a general P&C policy

U.S. has good radar infrastructure; there are Doppler radars networked throughout the country, and we work with third-party data providers that accurately certify that data

“We’re able to look at, in quite granular views, the hail swath or the hail track of an event and see what hailstone sizes were falling, and we can see what area of the asset was impacted.”

Link

99 MW DC/88 MW AC Dugald River Solar Farm (DRSF) is located in Mount Isa, Queensland

184,000 solar panels

contracted to supply power to mining group MMG, Mount Isa Mines (MIM) and New Century, firmed up by gas from APA’s Diamantina Power Station located nearby

providing its Dugald River Mine with around 1/3rd of its electricity needs and helping it reduce its carbon footprint

firmed by nearby gas plant

32-year lease with the Queensland government for the project site

Link

Governor Justice vetoed House Bill 5528, aiming to increase utility-scale solar project capacity in West Virginia, citing potential harm to the coal industry

“Really and truly, I believe that what is going on from the higher-ups that are incentivized to try and shove coal to the background”

“it is very important that we are careful not to cripple our great coal-fired energy industry in the process”

House Bill 5528 would have lifted the limit on utility-scale solar project size from 50 MW to 100 MW.

coal-fired electric power plants accounted for 89% of West Virginia’s total electricity net generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Hydroelectric power and wind energy contributed 7%, and natural gas provided about 4%

0.08% of all electricity in the state comes from solar power

Link

will require annual additions to grow from 473 GW in 2023 to over 1.1 TW annually between 2024 and 2030

Annual investments too must increase from $570 billion in 2023 to $1,550 billion on an average between 2024 and 2030 to achieve an additional 7.2 TW renewable additions.

Link

plans to source high-quality silica quartz for the polysilicon fab from the North Queensland quartz and silicon mining project proposed by Solquartz

AUD 7.8 billion ($5.1 billion) Project Green Poly

country’s 1st integrated mine-to-manufacturing polysilicon supply chains,

factory is proposed to be powered by a large-scale solar and storage project

expects to create around 4,400 local jobs during construction and operation period of the facility. It will have a functional life of 30 years or more. 

Link

1.2 GW annual capacity, it will be equipped to roll out over 2.5 million solar panels/year

GIGA ONE is the 1st factory for Nordcell that aims to build a vertically integrated production covering all 4 primary stages of solar panel production, namely silicon, ingot and wafer, cells and panels. 

green-energy powered solar panels at its artificial intelligence (AI)- driven automation and state-of-the-art fab will be of high quality and competitively priced

Link

prototype cells house an energy density of 720 Wh/kg – more than double other cells currently being integrated into passenger EVs in China

improves the migration ability of charged particles inside the cathode by building an efficient ion and electron transmission network, and uses self-developed interface flexible layer materials to effectively reduce the interface impedance while also improving the interface stability

120 Ah solid-state battery cell

breakthroughs pertain specifically to ultra-thin and dense composite oxide solid electrolytes, high-capacity advanced positive and negative electrode materials, and an integrated molding process

could offer over 1,300 mile range

Link

BYD’s most affordable Seagull EV, starting $9,700 (69,800 yuan)

30.08 kWh and 38.88 kWh Blade Battery options, good for 190 mi (305 km) and 252 mi (405 km) CLTC range

launched the new Seagull in China with three trims: Active, Free, and Flying, priced between 69,800 yuan ($9,700) and 85,800 yuan ($12,000).

base Seagull model features a 190 mi (305 km) CLTC range, a 10.1″ rotating center screen, DiLink intelligent connection

nickname “Lamborghini Mini,” local reports claim, as former Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Egger led the EV’s design

Link

510MW phase one of the Nova Power Bank will be complete this summer, with another 110MW coming online in autumn and the final 60MW in 2025

43-acre project is on the former site of Calpine’s Inland Empire legacy power plant, which it decommissioned in late 2022

didn’t reveal the capacity of the project but said that it could power 680,000 homes for four hours, implying it has a 4-hour duration, as the vast majority of California projects do. That would make it 2,720MWh

slightly smaller than the two largest operational BESS projects in the world, Moss Landing (3,000MWh) and Edwards & Sanborn (3,272MWh)

BYD battery units

An aerial view of the site currently, showing the majority of BESS containers in place. Image: Calpine Corporation.

Link

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successful closing of Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund with $600 million in capital commitments from leading US and European institutional investors

acquires 51% stake in landmark Gemini Solar+Storage Project and Valley of Fire development portfolio

690 MWac of solar + a 1,416 MWh battery storage facility, Gemini

Valley of Fire portfolio is made up of seven projects totaling over 2.65GW of solar PV capacity with the potential to add a further 1.5GW of battery storage capacity

PJT Partners LP acted as the lead financial advisor on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Quinbrook, while Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal counsel to Blackstone Strategic Partners.

The lead investor in the Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund is Blackstone Strategic Partners.

cornerstone investor Ares Management Infrastructure Secondaries funds

Link

solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has raised CHF206.75 million (US$228 million) following the closure of its rights offering

funds, which were provided through the issuance of 20,144,423,886 new shares, will go towards Meyer Burger’s US expansion, where it is building a 2GW module production facility in Arizona and a 2GW cell manufacturing plant in Colorado Springs

97.54% of the available shares were taken up through subscription rights offered to existing shareholders

company’s largest shareholder, Sentis Capital, purchased 3.276 million shares at CHF32.7 million (US$36 million). This represented all of its subscription rights and an additional 1.186 million offered shares.

Link

study is unique in the range of tandem technologies assessed, including two-terminal (2T), three-terminal (3T) devices, and two types of four-terminal (4T) tandem devices, stacked 4T and spectral splitting 4T, although the latter is not discussed in-depth

For each category of tandem solar cell, the team looks at the technology at the cell level, scaling level, cell-to-module, manufacturing, reliability, costs, environmental impact topics, and commercialization risks, with a focus on challenges and opportunities

technical challenges as well as business-centered challenges

benefits and drawbacks to all architectures

4T configurations have the potential to leverage the ability to manufacture top and bottom junctions separately, giving it design and process flexibility advantages

given the amount of effort going into 2T architectures, they may also reach the market on a similar timeline

researchers provide a list of twelve physical and economic needs to be addressed if the technology is to reach 2% of market share by 2030

we are optimistic that the next 6 years will yield significant advances toward tandem commercialization

Link

On 3 April, Russian forces targeted a Ukrainian solar power plant for the first time.

not an attack within the combat zone, but rather a strike on a facility located deep within the country

Link

state could move to potentially eliminate setback standards and restrict local governments from passing certain ordinances, which would prohibit local control to pass temporary moratoriums on new utility projects to give local governments time to review and update codes

San Miguel County currently has a moratorium in place on new utility projects as it works to update its regulations and garner public input.

really does beg the question to me of what problem are we solving here by trying to have some state overreach into this area,” Flenniken said, “when counties, cities and other local governments are working to find codes that make sense for their communities that are reflective of their values

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largest BESS system integrator in China, targeting the US energy storage market

Beijing HyperStrong Technology

largest system integrator in China, it claims, and one of the top five in the world by deployments according to S&P Global

Last year it deployed 10GWh in China and this year expects to do 20GWh

integrator definition:

Hyperstrong buys battery cells and integrates them into a range of BESS solutions including DC and AC blocks along and building its own BESS components like containers, inverters and an energy management system (EMS) platform

firm’s latest generation BESS solution is a 5MWh 20-foot DC block offering 1-4 hour durations, and it claims 10GWh of orders from outside China already

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new electric vehicle battery pack with a 1.5 million kilometre (932,057), 15 year warranty

will be using the long life battery packs in their buses and heavy vehicles. Yutong, one of China’s largest bus manufacturers

lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery will be able to cater to different market segments, including buses, light trucks and heavy trucks

long-life battery will also have zero degradation in the first 1,000 cycles

battery with 500 km (310 m) of range would have zero capacity degradation for the first half million kilometres

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541 projects are being funded by the Inflation Reduction Act through the Rural Energy for America Program

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $120 million in renewable energy projects in 44 states

Since Biden took office, USDA has invested more than $1.8 billion through REAP in over 6,000 renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement

One of the awards went to Darr Grain in Nebraska, which will install three 15-kilowatt (kW) wind turbines at a grain storage facility. This project is expected to save the business $9,700 in electrical costs per year and generate more than 138,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. This represents about 77 percent of the company’s energy use

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Australian energy major AGL and solar cell technology innovator and manufacturer SunDrive Solar have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the development of a commercial-scale PV manufacturing facility in the New South Wales (NSW) Hunter region

agreement follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcement of $1 billion (USD 650 million) of subsidies, grants and other support to increase Australia’s role in the global solar manufacturing supply chain

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which will deliver the program, said this could include polysilicon, ingots and wafers, cells, module assembly, and other parts of the solar supply chain, including solar glass, advanced deployment technology, or other aspects identified through industry consultation

September 2021, SunDrive revealed it had achieved a record-breaking power conversion efficiency of 25.54% for a silver-free heterojunction solar cell

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nation’s cumulative solar module manufacturing capacity stood at 64.5 GW on Dec. 31, 2023

solar cell capacity reached 5.8 GW

Gujarat accounted for 46.1% of the country’s cumulative PV module manufacturing capacity, while Telangana accounted for 39% of the solar cell production capacity

Monocrystalline modules accounted for 67.5% of the country’s module production capacity, followed by polycrystalline, tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon), and thin film modules

60% of the installed module manufacturing capacity was equipped to manufacture solar modules in M10 and G12 wafer sizes

imported 16.2 GW of modules in 2023, 158% up from 10.3 GW in 2022

exported 4.8 GW of solar modules in 2023, 204% up compared to 1.6 GW in 2022

solar cell imports in 2023 stood at 15.6 GW, 169% up year-on-year

Solar cell exports reached 286.3 MW in 2023, up 2,765% from 10 MW in 2022

projects that India’s PV module manufacturing capacity will surpass 150 GW and cell capacity will reach over 75 GW by 2026

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Renewable energy covered 91% of total electricity demand in Portugal in March

Hydroelectric energy had the largest share at 47%, followed by wind at 31%, solar at 6%, and biomass at 5%

third consecutive month that renewables exceeded 80% of total national demand, following 88% in February and 81% in January

In 2023, renewable energy was responsible for 61% of electricity consumption

In October, Portugal’s mix was 100% renewable for an entire weekend

March, electricity consumption grew by 1.6% year on year, or 2.9%

natural gas market recorded a year-on-year drop of 5.8% in March

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proposing $6.1 billion in transmission projects, mainly to help deliver offshore wind to customers

Transmission projects to access clean energy resources total about $4.6 billion and are all in Pacific Gas & Electric’s service territory. Reliability-driven projects total about $1.5 billion.

CAISO said the draft plan will provide access to more than 38 GW of new solar, including in Nevada and Arizona, as well as 21 GW of geothermal capacity, mainly in the Imperial Valley and southern Nevada.

plan would also allow more than 5.6 GW of wind imports from Idaho, Wyoming and New Mexico and more than 4.7 GW of offshore wind off the state’s northern coast.

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“A survey of 1,000 homeowners conducted by Aurora found 44% said it’s hard to know if an installation company is trustworthy”

figure has doubled in last year

In January 2024, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. adult (18+) homeowners who expressed interest in solar

Given that 10% of homeowners indicated they wanted to electrify their home before considering solar, our findings point to some homeowners viewing heat pumps as a first step to fully reaping the benefits of solar.

17% of respondents had solar, interestingly, 22% had heat pumps, and 15% had an electric vehicle (EV)

10% of homeowners had battery storage

37% of homeowners felt solar panels are more valuable when paired with whole-home electrification

half of homeowners (51%) said they believe solar is a good investment

75% of homeowners that do not have solar (but are interested) said overall system and installation costs are a big concern

54% said specifically that interest rates are too high

15% of homeowners said they were paying for their PV system through a leasing program

while only 59% of homeowners under 30 years old claimed overall costs are a concern, 76% of respondents over 30 were concerned about costs

30% of homeowners are hesitant to adopt solar panels because they don’t know if their home gets enough sun

half (51%) of homeowners are familiar with the term “Inflation Reduction Act.” Yet, only 5% of respondents said they were motivated to purchase solar due to tax incentives.

In 2023, 22% of homeowners said they were unable to find a trustworthy solar company

In 2024, the numbers doubled: 44% of respondents said it is hard to determine which solar companies are trustworthy

that in 2022 almost 80% of solar professionals said EV adoption often led to interest in solar. In 2023 it was more of the same, with 78% citing that EV adoption was leading to interest in solar.

85% of professionals reported having trouble meeting solar demand, compared to 90% in last year’s study

in 2022 supply chain issues were still at the front of the line at 28%, in 2023 they were cited by only 9% of respondents

main problem in 2023 was homeowners being reluctant to commit to quotes, at 38%. This is not only a huge jump from the previous year’s 22%, but is almost four times higher than the second most popular issue, struggling to find enough qualified employees (10%)

Top reasons homeowners backed out of committing to a solar project: Overall project costs/Poor return on investment/Concerns over moving or selling proper

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Large-scale production of Pero-Si tandems in the future is expected to use Si wafers thinner than 100 μm for both economic and sustainability reasons

We forecast that Si bottom cells for mass produced Pero-Si tandems will be based on wafers thinner than 100 μm

In our work we study challenges and opportunities related to this likely wafer thinning for the performance of the SHJ bottom cells operating in Perovskite shadow

We study SHJ cells prepared on 80 μm thick wafers in comparison to the reference cells based on 135 μm thick wafers addressing two issues: passivation and light management

We show that major wafer thickness reduction of 40% turns to only approx. 0.35%_abs loss in the bottom cell efficiency

minor loss can be reduced even further using highly technological ITO/MgF₂/Ag back reflector and MgF₂ anti-reflection coating

These findings suggest that adopting 80 μm wafers is a viable approach for developing mass-produced Pero-Si tandems.

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must have a silica concentration of more than 99.9%, against less than 80% for construction material

high-quality sand is scarce: of the 50bn or so tonnes extracted each year, less than 1% can be used to produce regular glass. A tiny fraction of that is pure enough for solar panels.

likely to be a surge in production, especially in sectors that Xi Jinping sees as important to China’s future, such as lithium-ion batteries, electric cars and solar panels, many of which require vast amounts of sand

Prices are already hovering near record highs; last year they came to around $55 a tonne

price of high-quality sand has risen twice as much as that of lower-quality stuff over the past five years, owing to the expansion of green manufacturing and the growing popularity of smartphones

manufacturers are now looking for alternatives. One option is to refine sand used for regular glass, which tends to be 99.5% silica. The problem is that doing so is itself expensive.

black market, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, is likely to grow. Australia and Brazil are perhaps best placed to profit from the legal boom,

Interesting, inside the USA, sand for the purpose of fracking is up as well over the years.

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being held for stealing $3,600 in solar panel hardware then turning it in for a Facebook reward, a transient Cheyenne woman could face up to 20 years in prison — as could her two alleged accomplices

Two of the three claimed they found the solar hardware while dumpster diving.

owner of Colorado Solar Co., Justin Baker, contacted the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office Feb. 27, saying someone had stolen $3,600 worth of solar equipment from his customers at their home the night before

equipment had been on a pallet in front of the home, placed there by a forklift, in multiple cardboard boxes

Baker allegedly heard three different stories from the suspects about how they came to acquire the items.

She allegedly told him they found the equipment in a dumpster in West Winds Mobile Home Park, then changed her story and said she and Stricker found the goods in a dumpster in the Willow Pond subdivision. Next, Chapman interviewed Stricker, who said he found the items at a Loaf n’ Jug on South Greeley Highway in a dumpster with a friend named Curtis. He said they were dumpster diving and looking for food, the affidavit says.

charged with two variations of felony theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines

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