EGEB: Enphase hearts Panasonic, ‘solar-shifting’ battery, ‘glass on glass’ growing, more

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source.

Enphase and Panasonic announce AC module partnership – My gut is that soon enough, all solar panels will come with integrated panel level electronics. I lean more toward something like SolarEdge because I like DC voltage coming to the inverter (and potentially batteries/car charger/etc) – however – Enphase has shown that homeowners and installers want the simplicity, and flexibility of an Enphase installation. And you know what, it seems there’s enough space in the market for these two groups to make enough money to drive innovation. I’m excited to watch.

APS to install 50 MW, 135 MWh solar-shifting battery – Arizona Public Service will install a 50 MW, 135 MWh battery that will help it shift the output of a 65 MW solar farm to deliver power when customer electricity demand is greatest. The APS contract with developer First Solar will allow it to use the battery to deliver solar power when electricity use is at its peak, between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. each day. Time shifting of solar power, via energy storage, is specifically designed to remove the duck curve – which itself is a creation of solar power. There are plenty who have argued that energy storage won’t be able to address the duck curve – for a time shift – because energy storage is too small, too expensive, not developed enough, etc. Let those who wish to speak, speak. Let those who wish to build – speak louder, and longer.

Neo Solar Power’s mono PERC bifacial modules selected for 100MW PV plant in Taiwan – The module manufacturer also noted that the use of bifacial modules for the project is expected to generate around 5% extra output, compared with traditional solar modules within the limited space and expectation and impact of severe weather conditions. Typically, bifacial modules can generate around an average of 12% more output than conventional mono-facial modules. The lower output cited by NSP maybe due to lower racking heights required for potential typhoon weather conditions, limiting scattered light capture on the rear cell. Two things – 1. Just like yesterday when I was happy to see more monoPERC solar panels on large-scale projects, I am also happy to see monoPERC Bifacial solar panels in projects. We need these projects in the field. 2. Note the efficiency benefits gained from the bifacial, and note why the numbers aren’t as high. These factors will also affect you – the homeowner – when considering these products. As of right now, I am not ready to recommend a bifacial panel to a homeowner installing panels flush on a standard, dark, colored roof. MonoPERC, yes, bifacial…we’ll see.

Associated with the above article – China makers ship 7GWp of double-glass PV modules in 2017 – That’s a lot of volume, 7% of product deployed in 2017. There could be a day when there are only bifacial glass on glass solar panels.

On the tweet below – We are the frog. Enjoying our lukewarm dip, while watching TV it turns into a nice warm bath. As we starting eating dinner it turns into a hot tub.

It's only 11 February, and Antarctic sea ice already reached its 2nd lowest extent on record. Only last year saw a lower minimum, hitting 2.106 million km2 on 3 March. pic.twitter.com/GHvg0RYd3q

— Kees van der Leun  (@Sustainable2050) February 12, 2018

Thoughts on the Bloomberg tweet below – You know what matters? Big, giant piles of money. And big piles of money are buying large piles of solar power development projects. It is the job of these investors’ to buy these projects because they generate long-term, safe revenue.

"Institutional investors have realized that wind and solar power offer a safe play with decades of visibility, and in recent months have stepped up their efforts to buy such assets" @nserota

Read the full article here: https://t.co/COZBKUvZUo pic.twitter.com/dyO1raL5ma

— BloombergNEF (@BloombergNEF) February 12, 2018

Featured image is from the Department of Energy SunShot program. The 1350°F ceramic receiver at Crescent Dunes developed through SunShot will meaningfully increase efficiency, energy storage capabilities, and lower capital cost. Photo by Julianne Boden.

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