The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has issued a new analysis exploring the potential impact of recently extended federal tax credits concerning the deployment of renewable generation technologies and related CO2 emissions from the US electric sector. The report, Impacts of Federal Tax Credit Extensions on Renewable Deployment and Power Sector Emissions, details the use of state-of-the-art […]
2015 has been a good year for SolarCity after tallying over one-third of all residential rooftop installations in this country. The five leading US installers accounted for more than half of all residential solar installations between Q1 and Q3 of this year. But SolarCity has claimed the lion’s share of this market pie, reporting 34% of residential solar […]
Propelling a global boost in renewable energy, Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has reported small-scale rooftop solar totaled 4.59 GW in 2015. As reported by pv-magazine, data released by the Clean Energy Regulator shows 119,000 new small-scale PV installations have taken place in 2015. While not as sizable as 2014, this number distinguishes Australia with the highest portion […]
West Bengal, India–based PV module manufacturer Vikram Solar has announced some of its 60- and 72-cell multi-crystalline silicon solar modules now come with a linear power warranty up to 27 years. The warranty includes modules belonging to the ELDORA Prime, Ultima, Neo, Grand, and Grand Ultima Series. Warrantee Power Degradation Plan The warranted power degradation […]
A new tandem solar cell featuring monolithic perovskite and silicon has produced electricity with record efficiency, reports Helmholz-Berlin. “Teams from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have been the first to successfully combine a silicon heterojunction solar cell with a perovskite solar cell monolithically into a tandem device.” THZB reports this hybrid tandem […]
We talk plenty today about solar panels, but not many really grasp how they work — how they create electricity. In his book, Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy, author John Perlin takes readers back to Albert Einstein in 1905 for perspective on the matter of light: “Einstein showed that light possesses an attribute […]
Last week San Diego Gas & Electric warned distributed energy enthusiasts it expects to reach caps on net metering in the summer of 2016. According to pv-magazine, SDG&E’s numbers show that existing installations and pending applications take up 74% of available capacity in the program. This opens the door to what “net metering 2.0” might look […]
This 2014 report from the US Department of Energy provides an empirical analysis of project cost, performance, and pricing trends in the United States. It should be pointed out other utility scale solar projects are also being launched elsewhere in the world. This introductory text, authored by Mark Bolinger and Joachim Seel from the Lawrence […]
To reduce contributors to climate change and grow worldwide renewable electricity use, having the proper infrastructure in place is critical ingredient. Due to increasing environmental concerns, numerous studies report on the best ways to reduce GHG emissions. One of the most effective actions that can be taken is to reduce emissions by increasing the share […]
Adding to the distributed energy/net metering debate involving utilities and solar panel owners, New York State for now has lifted the cap on net metering. pv-magazine reported last week that New York regulators have suspended the existing cap on the state’s net metering program. This suspension will remain in effect until a new valuation is concluded […]