What to expect for solar from the US-Iran crisis?
Three days after the drone attack ordered by the U.S. which killed Iranian power broker Qassem Suleimani, energy forecasting service AleaSoft said the price of Brent was rising again today. The potential shake out of rising oil costs for the solar industry is difficult to predict.
PV against brain and heart diseases
Researchers in Denmark have developed water-based nanofibers coated with a biological PV substance which can be easily injected into the body. The developers say excitable cells in the heart and brain could be regenerated by being electrically stimulated with the solution.
Solar-plus-storage will start to make big inroads in the year ahead
By this time next year we may be able to wave goodbye to that old chestnut about renewables endangering security of supply. Elsewhere, the price of lithium – and the products it goes into – could go either way after tanking this year.
U.S. research teams aim for long-duration storage at $0.05/kWh
To get long-duration storage costs down to $0.05/kWh, research teams funded by ARPA-E are pursuing breakthroughs in flow batteries, hydrogen storage and other technologies – even thermovoltaics.
The year in solar, part IV: More storage and hydrogen advances as solar just kept getting cheaper
Battery innovations started to come thick and fast this quarter as the hunt for alternatives to lithium-ion intensified and the latest slew of solar tenders indicated the relentless pressure on solar power generation costs was showing no sign of abating.
The year in solar, part III: Battery breakthroughs, inverter trouble, sustainable role models and new tech
Storage has long been expected to be the handmaiden of a renewable energy world and its long awaited advances started to finally emerge in the third quarter as researchers posited R&D achievements ranging from potentially potent tungsten disulfide nanotubes to the business case for 10-year solar panels.
Enphase preps commercial inverters and small off-grid solar+storage box
At its recent “Analyst Day” presentation, the company also showed off a 640 W two-module commercial inverter, as well as an “Ensemble in a Box” solar+storage package for two PV modules.
Tesla secures $1.4 billion Shanghai factory loan, hits $420 share price
Tesla finishes 2019 on a high note amid a flurry of year-end EV funding, news and optimism on longer-range electrics.
Never a dull moment in the US-solar market
With its trade wars, exclusions from tariffs, reversals of exclusions, and stays of reversals of exclusions – in addition to the repeal of the Clean Air Act and potential changes to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act – the U.S. solar market is anything but boring, writes SPV Market Research’s Paula Mints.
The year in solar, part II: A lively show season, more legal shenanigans and rising panel efficiencies abound
Intersolar Europe is always a key date in the solar calendar but this year’s show had it all, including three panel-smuggling arrests. Elsewhere, wafers were getting bigger, efficiency records were tumbling and new technologies were emerging. There was also more news on the solar car ports fad and Hanwha’s ongoing legal tussle.
