Power-to-heat-to-power storage for rooftop PV
Scientists in Spain have assessed the viability of ‘power-to-heat-to-power storage’ in a residential solar installation in Madrid. The technology could reduce electricity bills by more than 70% and would have a 12 to 15-year payback period, according to the researchers.
Spanish oil giant pushing community solar
Oil and gas business Repsol has launched Solmatch, the nation’s first large solar community.
SunPower accesses $1bn in residential solar and storage loan capital from credit union
The cash injection from Tech CU will fund the installation of ‘tens of thousands’ of the Californian manufacturer’s solar panels on residential rooftops over four years, according to the company.
Tackling climate change with machine learning: The power of entrepreneurship
The importance of start-ups and climate tech companies in advancing the use of machine learning to combat climate change was emphasized at a recent online workshop.
Covid-19 puts brake on Turkey’s solar sector
The energy regulator has suspended part of the licensing process for net metering applications, bringing the country’s PV sector to a halt.
India installed 1.53 GW of rooftop solar in 2019
The country’s cumulative installed rooftop solar capacity reached 5.4 GW by the end of December. The Indian government now aims to deploy 40 GW of rooftop PV by the end of 2023.
Solar, wind and hydro resilient during Covid-19 crisis
A study by the International Energy Agency into the chilling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand states renewables will be ‘the only energy source likely to experience demand growth for the rest of 2020’. The slower the economic recovery, the more the fossil fuel industry will suffer.
Covid-19 weekly briefing: Merchant solar developers could seek shelter in return to subsidies and PPAs are being revisited, but at least the Irish are coping with lockdown measures
The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.
Kstar launches new inverter series for rooftop arrays
The transformer-free products have a power range of 3-6 kW and efficiency of 97.8%. The Chinese manufacturer says the devices are designed to accurately match the voltage and phase of the grid sine wave AC waveform.
Preconfiguring and controlling inverter set-points
Researchers from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory have developed a tool to balance customer curtailment and grid stability. The “Precise” tool for utilities provides unique inverter settings tailored to each customer, with minimal investment and labor for companies that use it.
