North America

The US Department of Energy’s five-year plan aims to reduce the environmental impacts of solar panels at the end of life, plus cut in half the cost of recycling the panels.

This week sees new technoeconomic analysis published on different aspects/materials for heterojunction: Important to consider as Europe in particular looks to be betting big on this technology for its manufacturing comeback. And a new report from NREL in the United States examines progress in degradation and durability to increase module lifetimes.

Stanford University is flipping the switch on a 88MW solar array this week, marking a major milestone toward its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

For short-term storage in a 100% renewables grid, thermal energy storage located at concentrating solar power plants could compete with batteries, according to a new study using an idealized grid model. Seasonal storage needs could best be met with power-to-gas-to-power technology.

The Slate solar and storage project began development in 2015 and is now one of the largest facilities of its kind in California.

An American government lab sees utility-scale solar fleets degrading faster than projected at 1.2% per year, while newer and larger plants are degrading at just 0.7% per year. Older plants appear to be getting repowered in year seven, resulting in lasting performance increases.

The US Department of Energy’s durable materials consortium is a multi-laboratory unit that stress-tests solar modules for durability. It aims to extend the useful life of PV.

This is Enphase Energy’s fourth recent acquisition, which enhances Enphase Energy’s planned digital platform for installers.

A US-Chinese research group has developed a full chlorine membrane-free redox flow battery that is claimed to achieve a round-trip energy efficiency of 91% at 10 mA/cm2 and an energy density of 125.7 Wh/L. The device is based on an aqueous electrolyte made of sodium chloride (NaCl) which uses chlorine (Cl2/Cl−) redox couple as the active material for the positive electrode.

A look at the interconnection queue of California’s grid operator shows that the US state’s market has already shifted to batteries – sometimes with solar, and sometimes without.