Skip to content

California

Covid-19 weekly briefing: Merchant solar developers could seek shelter in return to subsidies and PPAs are being revisited, but at least the Irish are coping with lockdown measures

The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.

1

A redox flow battery for MW-sized solar-plus-storage

Matt Harper, chief commercial officer of newly-merged British-Canadian vanadium redox flow battery business Invinity Energy Systems has spoken to pv magazine about the VS3-022 Battery Unit it is marketing for grid scale solar-plus-storage projects and why it may be a better bet than lithium-ion.

10

US module shipments down in January and February

While the volume of combined imports and exports slumped from almost 2 GW in December to 1.49 GW in January and 1.36 GW in February, the price per kilowatt rose dramatically in the second month of the year.

Redox flow batteries for $66/kWh from steel industry waste

U.S. researchers claim to have added iron sulfate to anthraquinone disulfonic acid in a redox flow battery for the first time. The scientists said the combination could lead to inexpensive and more stable redox flow storage for just $54/kWh and said $66/kWh is already possible.

7

A dual-angle approach to building solar plants at higher latitudes

A research team in the US has proposed a ‘dual-angle solar harvesting’ method it is claimed could help PV developers optimize energy yield and land use. It is claimed the method would be particularly suitable for projects in cloudier climates and at higher latitudes.

Panasonic suspends work at Tesla’s Nevada fab as carmaker’s California and New York gigafactories pause

Tesla’s Nevada operation is still open for business, though. The EV and battery maker has assured the market its cash position is strong enough to weather an “extended period of uncertainty”.

Four challenges to solid-state battery scale-up

A paper by scientists at the University of California San Diego has outlined a technology roadmap for the development of solid-state batteries – and four challenges to address for the technology to advance.

31

UK deals for vanadium redox flow merger and electric vehicles announced

English partners appear to be in demand with a London-based vanadium flow supplier tying up with a U.S. partner just as an automotive design company in Coventry announces plans for electric and hydrogen vehicle production in the West Midlands.

2

Tesla solar glass roof tile photo gallery update

Videos from very involved solar roof owners. Some before and after photos. More tile boxes from China.

2

The ambiguous impact of battery storage on emissions

U.S. researchers have investigated whether energy storage deployment could actually drive up greenhouse gas emissions in the short term in some energy markets. The fact the existing literature considers only the dispatch of energy from storage facilities in the current fossil fuel-renewables energy mix, though, could understate the long-term emissions reduction benefits of such facilities.

3

This website uses cookies to anonymously count visitor numbers. View our privacy policy.

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close