Rain does not sufficiently remove pollen from solar panels, say researchers
The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its research partners say that various types of tree pollen can reduce solar panel efficiency by more than 15%. Unlike the immediate improvements assumed to follow heavy rain, recovery of performance post-pollen season is gradual. Post-rain manual cleaning can boost performance by 5% to 11%.
First Solar closes $700 million in tax credit transfer sales
US module manufacturer First Solar has closed the sale of US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits.
US House committee expresses outrage over solar sales tactics
The US House Energy Committee has sent a letter to the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) asking questions about Sunnova’s sales tactics and customer support.
Tesla Cybertruck can power homes
Tesla’s new trucks offer 11.5 kW of power output to homes, and 9.6 kW of output via five plugs.
New solar installations to hit 413 GW this year, says BloombergNEF
BloombergNEF says historically low module prices will drive the global solar industry to record installations in 2023.
Berkeley Lab updates US solar project database
The US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has location-verified all solar projects above 1 MW in the United States and has organized them into a user-friendly map.
Solar-plus-storage outperforms diesel in US military survival analysis
The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has determined that Antora Energy’s solar-plus-storage system meets the US military’s stringent standards, as it significantly outperforms emergency diesel generators in survivability probabilities.
NREL forecasts rising US utility-scale solar costs, falling residential prices
The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has updated its annual cost modeling tool in light of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It has identified higher labor costs for utility-scale solar projects and falling hardware costs due to new manufacturing tax credits.
Suniva plans 3.5 GW US solar cell factory
Six years after petitioning the US government for tariffs to make its products more competitive, US.-based Suniva has revealed plans to launch 1 GW of cell manufacturing capacity by spring 2024, followed by an additional 2.5 GW expansion.
Fluke unveils high wattage, current-specific solar module I-V curve tracing hardware
Fluke aims to take the PVA-1500HE it acquired from Solmetric to the global market. It claims the new hardware will fill a gap in the worldwide market with a U.S.-preferred tool.
