US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris supports Green New Deal
The California senator has joined former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg among the latest high-profile backers of a climate-jobs-infrastructure-social safety net concept, of which 100% renewable energy may be the least ambitious component.
US utility surprised by solar connection requests ‘which have not followed linear rise since 2008’
Clearly surprised by the explosion in popularity of PV in the last two years, Michigan’s Consumers Energy has asked for time to process outstanding interconnection requests which could not ‘have been predicted by the company in earlier years’.
US leads as the volume of corporate clean energy bought smashes record
Companies in the United States accounted for more than 60% of the clean energy deals signed by corporations worldwide last year, according to BloombergNEF. A proposed renewable portfolio standard for Chinese business, though, could turn the picture upside down in a year’s time.
California rooftop legislation lifts order book for Swedish equipment supplier
CIGS thin-film production equipment company Midsummer posted record orders in 2018. With a U.S. partner, the company noted uptake was partly due to Californian requirements to integrate PV into all new (low-rise) buildings from next year.
Price pressure and delivery bottlenecks lead SMA to significant loss in 2018
The German inverter maker struggled after China’s announcement at the end of May drove down prices and markets around the world and left a clear mark on its figures. Both the commercial PV segment and the storage business fell short of expectations due to delivery bottlenecks.
PV Market Alliance expects 120 GW of new solar capacity in 2019
The global market stagnated last year, with around 98 GW deployed. For 2019, the experts expect stronger solar growth, provided there are no setbacks in China.
Solar will rebound this year with more than 100 GW of new capacity
Wood Mackenzie’s number-crunchers are the latest analysts queueing up to predict a bumper year ahead for PV, with falling prices, rising efficiency rates and booming markets outside China all on the cards. And it could be a make-or-break year for mega-projects, says Wood Mac.
New York governor’s Green New Deal starts with 1 GW of large-scale solar
The state has also awarded 614 MW of wind, and three of the 20 renewable energy projects commissioned are paired with energy storage. NextEra, Invenergy and EDF are each set to build solar projects larger than 100 MW.
Wacker’s polysilicon business sees profit and turnover fall
The Munich-based chemical company posted an increase in sales but the fall in polysilicon prices last year and the temporary closure of US production after a hydrogen explosion had a significant impact on the results.
Google to build large solar plants in Tennessee and Alabama
The two biggest each have a capacity of 150 MW, with smaller plants bringing the total up to 413 MW. The projects are a part of the search engine titan’s effort to supply its annual electricity consumption from renewable sources.
