U.S. court upholds California’s current net billing mechanism, dealing blow to rooftop solar
California appellate court has affirmed the Public Utilities Commission decision to sharply cut compensation for homeowners and businesses that export rooftop solar electricity production to the grid.
VDE Americas upgrades hail risk model for utility-scale solar
VDE Americas has enhanced its Hail Risk Model with updated wind data to improve early warning and tracker stow strategies for utility-scale solar. CEO Brian Grenko explains how the models influence tracker design and storm response.
Chemical incidents halt Silfab Solar factory as US probe begins
South Carolina regulators and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are investigating Silfab Solar’s Fort Mill manufacturing plant after releases of potassium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid within the same week.
Growing pains: Grid congestion as a renewables bottleneck
The electricity grid is a real bottleneck for energy in the United States, and it’s not only utilities and grid operators who are struggling. Grid congestion also puts pressure on renewable energy project owners and is as much a business problem as it is a technical one, writes Alon Mashkovich, CEO of energy management business software supplier enSights.
Qcells resumes US solar panel production after customs furlough
Qcells says it has resumed solar panel production at its Georgia manufacturing facilities after US Customs and Border Protection released seven solar cell shipments from South Korea that had been held under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), forcing a furlough of 1,000 workers and temporarily halting output at the second-largest module factory in the United States.
US solar’s push for domestic bliss
Incentives in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 drove a wave of new solar manufacturing announcements, and the country now has more than enough module capacity to meet domestic demand for several years. Policy shifts have created uncertainty, but continued tax credits and a focus on domestic industry have US manufacturers planning to expand cell and component production.
Guidelines to assess three-terminal, four-terminal tandem solar cell performance
Researchers in the U.S. have developed a set of guidelines and protocols to assess the performance of three-terminal (3-T) and four-terminal (4-T) tandem solar cells, including those with subcells made of III–V, CdTe, perovskites or silicon materials.
Prepaid rooftop solar model targets 40% US federal tax credits
US companies SolSource Solutions and TriBeam Financial have launched a prepaid residential solar and storage financing product designed to unlock federal tax credits of up to 40%.
AI platform aims to transform solar site assessment
Learnewable uses AI-based insights to detail local solar opposition before developers invest time or energy in projects.
Mitsubishi Electric Trane announces new heat pump line for hydronic heating
The systems deliver outlet water temperatures up to 74 C, operate in ambient temperatures from -25 C to 43 C, and can be cascaded in groups of up to 16 units for larger commercial applications.
