EGEB: Musk’s pyrrhic victory vs Buffett, ‘Congressional Solar Caucus’, exponential solar, more

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

Musk Notches a Small Win Against Buffett in Nevada – At its peak in August of 2015, the Las Vegas solar market had monthly volumes of over 700 ($14 Million assuming an average of $20,000 per system). The peak in August of 2015 was more than 3x the installation volume for all of 2016. Following the passing of AB 405, the market has rebounded to nearly 200 a month – a healthy recovery, which should continue in 2018, but still a fraction of the frothy market in 2015. The author said ‘small’ victory because they’re a solid optimist, forward-looking. ‘Pyrrhic’ victory could also be the case. If you look at their chart, residential solar has been smashed relative to what it was. Of course – the original growth of residential solar was huge and fast in Nevada, so maybe something had to be done. In the end I’d argue that Buffett won, and Buffett will end up selling a lot more electricity than he would have. Though, with Buffett building a lot more solar now – and residential growth coming back – ‘we’ win the long game.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi Announces Formation Of Bipartisan Congressional Solar Caucus – As the former president of a solar firm in the Chicago suburbs, Raja is the first Member of Congress to come from the solar industry. Norman worked at his parents construction company right out of college. Now I’ve got two new politicians to learn about. Does anyone have feedback on these folks? Illinois has a strong solar industry about to get going according to everything I’m watching/reading. South Carolina is one of those edge markets that is going to hurt as a result of the Trump Tariff. Tesla pulled back from the market after the Solar City acquisition.

The weekend read: Tracker market is adapting to bifacial module technology – Bifacial panels now add only about three percent to the total cost of a tracker system. “For bifacial modules we use p-type crystalline silicon, but in the future, n-type will represent the largest portion of the market. N-type helps the back performance but it is getting more expensive now,” Parjanya said. ‘We have looked into different ways to tab glass-glass modules, but in terms of total system cost, it may be cheaper if you add the frame to the module.’ Array has been testing bifacial rows of trackers, for over a year, and found that a portrait orientation is best, considering that it is far enough from the torque tube that reflected light is not shaded. Array also is working with Sandia National Laboratory to develop a model for analyzing bifacial panel performance optimization on a tracker, relying on advanced analytic algorithms. This article is chock full of cool information. The header paragraph breaks down the different efficiency gains. I know most of you have homes versus fields – but for those with large amounts of land, this makes it worth more money.

Buy 2 Panels, Get 1 FREE! (from WholesaleSolar.com) – They got to me through my Instagram account. Not sure if any of you are buying right now to build on your own, or if WholesaleSolar.com’s pricing is comparable. But a panel costs over $300, and average solar system needs 18-21 panels – so that’s $1,800 to $2,100 savings in panels. That ain’t bad.

There’s a story I want to write on the tweet below…it’s percolating. For now though – enjoy this exponential growth.

Solar PV value-add is based on factory manufacturing, material science, IT and software. It has no real resource constraint. Traditional energy economists have no real clue how to integrate it into resource-based models with limited learning-based feedback. Discuss. HT @patbahn pic.twitter.com/2d4uNmNmRj

— Michael Liebreich (@MLiebreich) February 15, 2018

Featured image is from the Department of Energy SunShot program. View of the Ivanpah Heliostats and Towers taken on April 24, 2014. Photo by Cliff Ho.

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