United States

Energy Impact Partners, who partners with 14 electric utilities, has raised US$681 million to continue investing in technologies that have a high probability of influencing the future power grid.

The British energy and services company’s acquisition of the C&I solar contractor is the latest among a number of moves it has made into solar and batteries.

Canadian Solar Inc. says it has entered into agreements with Dr. Shawn Qu and several unidentified potential equity partners regarding the plans to take the manufacturer private. It has also sold 30 MW worth of PV plants to its infrastructure fund in Japan.

The U.S. state’s recent passage of SB 100 and SB 700 is expected to spur a boom in solar and behind-the-meter battery deployment. pv magazine has done the math on what we can expect.

Wood Mackenzie projects that the U.S. energy storage market will reach well over US$500 million in sales this year, following on 61.8 MW / 156.5 MWh of installations during the second quarter. Residential storage has grown at 61% per quarter since Q1 2017.

The algorithm is said to be able to examine the relationship between weather forecast data and the projection of electric circuit parameters. Through this innovation, Purdue University researchers claim they can interpret the routinely collected maximum power point (MPP) time-series data, to assess the time-dependent “health” of installed solar modules.

Researchers from the Idaho National Laboratory have developed a new type of electrode for hydrogen production through electrolysis – water splitting. The team has used the electrode to demonstrate efficient hydrogen electrolysis at temperatures far lower than previously possible, which could lead to significant cost reductions in large-scale hydrogen production.

Researchers from Finland’s Aalto University and the Michigan Technological University, in the US, say they have demonstrated the cost per unit of power of black-Si PERC cells could fall 10.8%, despite an increase in cell processing cost.

Clearway Energy Group has been formed from NRG’s renewable energy businesses and SunPower’s project pipeline.

A utility survey shows battery storage capacity growing sharply, including solar + storage installations in several U.S. states. Looking ahead, FERC Order 841 could spark extensive new storage for grid services, helping more utilities become familiar with storage and its benefits.