Engineering that is designed right, looks good and drives both economic and environmental benefits – that’s what solar power done well can be. A couple of common homeowner questions are how will these solar modules look and what’s going to happen to my property value? Expand Expanding Close
Dubai received bid of $.0299/kWh for 800MW of solar power. This price represents the lowest yet recorded for solar power (and might not represent the end of the price drops…).
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received 5 bids from international organisations for the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, said HE Saeed Mohammed AlTayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. The lowest recorded bid at the opening of the envelopes was US 2.99 cents per kilowatt hour. The next step in the bidding process will review the technical and commercial aspects of the bids to select the best one.
It looks like Tesla is about to change the battery game – this time by installing more energy storage capacity in 2016 with SolarCity alone than all of the USA installed in 2015. In a recent filing with the SEC, it was found that Tesla foresees an almost 10X increase in sales to SolarCity for behind the meter storage.
We recognized approximately $4.9 million in revenue from SolarCity during fiscal year 2015 for sales of energy storage products governed by this master supply agreement, and anticipate recognizing approximately $44.0 million in such revenues during fiscal year 2016.
According to an analysis by GTM’s Ravi Manghan this revenue projection means Tesla expects to install approximately 116 MWh of behind the meter storage. In all of 2015, the United States installed about 76 MWh of behind the meter. Starting from a very low base, SolarCity and Tesla Energy doubled their battery installation volume last year. These were small installations at test locations for special customers, but that wall of ‘start up’ is already starting to fall. Expand Expanding Close
Today is the 46th Earth Day. Though from the perspective of the earth, it’s probably closer to its 1.6 trillionth day. Nonetheless, Earth Day is supposed to be an occasion to demonstrate your support for environmental protection.
You can show your support in very simple ways like using less energy or finally recycling those dead batteries that have been piling up in your junk drawer, or you can try to pick up some new habits and initiate yourself to new and greener technologies. Expand Expanding Close
But now we change the pace as we learn that Ardes Johnson, a long-time former GE sales executive and more recently SolarWorld’s Vice-President of Sales in the US, joined the automaker to lead the new sales team in its ‘Tesla Energy’ division. Expand Expanding Close
SunEdison has officially filed for bankruptcy. This has been expected by some players as far back as the 3rd quarter of 2015. SUNE has been a big player in the solar industry for a long time as they’ve strived to become the biggest global developer. By aggressively going after growing markets around the world and innovating with Solar Power YieldCos it looked like SunEdison might make it as well. Now, both SunEdison and their YeildCo is being sued. Alas…this party has come to an end. Expand Expanding Close
Ray Kurzweil is known for inventing things, wanting to live forever, The Singularity and – of relevance in this article – Exponential Growth of technology, like solar power. Recently, during a medical device presentation, Kurzweil reiterated his predictions that solar power will continue to double its global capacity every two years and six more times in the next twelve years. Some charts look suspiciously like they’re shooting upward just ahead of his predicted pace. Personally, being in the field day to day, as a Project Developer, it is hard to believe that solar power might install such volumes in the next twelve years – but ten years ago, when I got into the industry, I never thought it’d grow like it has. Expand Expanding Close
SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable-energy developer, has been going through some serious financial troubles for a while now and could reportedly file for bankruptcy as soon as this week. Its stock (SUNE) lost 98% of its value over the past 12 months and people are starting to jump ship.
Through the troubles, Electrek has learned that Tesla hired a key member of SunEdison’s energy storage team. Expand Expanding Close
With South Africa’s electricity rates set to increase by 9.4% this year and the country’s unstable grid prone to outages, home energy storage systems are expected to become quite popular in the region. Tesla is aware of the opportunity and opened an office in the country earlier this year to develop the market for its ‘Tesla Energy’ products: the Powerwall and Powerpack.
Now we learn though a new report from Bloomberg that Enel Green Power SpA, the renewable energy unit of Italy’s biggest utility, is offering a “home-power kit”, which includes a Tesla Powerwall, to the South African market. Expand Expanding Close
SolarCity’s Solar Bond Program is looking more and more like SpaceX’s private investment platform. After market close yesterday, SolarCity revealed in a SEC filling that it expects Elon Musk’s rocket company to buy $90 million of the $105 million in new Solar Bonds issued.
Last year, SpaceX already purchased solar bonds from SolarCity on two separate occasions: another $90 million followed by $75 million. SpaceX’s involvement in SolarCity’s Solar Bond Program is set to total around $255 million, which should help finance a lot of solar installations. Expand Expanding Close
In an effort to lobby Nevada lawmakers for the development of solar energy following the Public Utilities Commission’s decision to slash net metering, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive organized an event Wednesday night at the Gigafactory for Nevada politicians and top government officials.
Tesla and SolarCity executives held presentations meant to be “forward-looking and educational” and the whole event also included a tour of the Gigafactory. Expand Expanding Close
France-based automaker Renault recently confirmed having signed a letter of intent with Utrecht City Council, ElaadNL and LomboXnet to develop a Franco-Dutch framework of smart solar charging solutions for electric vehicles.
Under the agreement, Renault would supply a fleet of 150 Renault ZOE models through 2017 to the Dutch city, while ElaadNL would manage the required infrastructures and the smart-charge standard, and LomboXnet would take care of the installation of the charging stations. Expand Expanding Close
SolarCity and Whole Foods announced an important deal today that will see up to 100 solar power systems installed at Whole Foods Markets across the country. SolarCity’s stock is up 7% following the news. Expand Expanding Close
In a rare interview this week, Billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett discussed his reason for successfully lobbying for a change in net metering in Nevada, where Buffett owns the state’s largest electric utility, that effectively stopped the growth of residential solar installations in the state. Expand Expanding Close
GULF OF MEXICO – APRIL 21: U.S. Coast Guard fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of offshore oil rig
The Bloomberg New Energy Finance report that came out last week (press release at bottom) says that in 25 years, electric vehicles will make up just 35% of new car sales. That means that in a generation from now, 65% of people will still be buying petroleum-based cars. It is hard to imagine a world where this few EVs makes any sense, even given BNEF’s own data.
The report and the numbers it presents are much too conservative for any reasonable circumstance. Take its own lede for instance:
“Continuing reductions in battery prices will bring the total cost of ownership of EVs below that for conventional-fuel vehicles by 2025, even with low oil prices.”.
Why would anyone buy a gasoline car when an electric or even a plug-in hybrid costs less than a gas car? Electric cars are cleaner, quieter, faster and safer than equivalent oil cars. Keep in mind that 2040 is 15 years after the cost of an electric car passes parity with oil in their scenario. Furthermore, by Bloomberg’s own estimates, batteries will reach less than one-third of today’s break-even prices.
At the core of this forecast is the work we have done on EV battery prices. Lithium-ion battery costs have already dropped by 65% since 2010, reaching $350 per kWh last year. We expect EV battery costs to be well below $120 per kWh by 2030, and to fall further after that as new chemistries come in.”
The US department of energy has a handy calculator (above, current prices) which shows that in every state in the union, even with insanely cheap gas prices, it is still on average 50% cheaper to run on electricity than on gasoline. That means once battery/electric engine powertrains reach parity with combustion, it is really game over for oil.
So somehow 65% of people in the year 2040 will want to pay a huge premium for a fossil fuel engine car? Even if the world weren’t heating up this makes no sense at all… Expand Expanding Close
Elon Musk shines in MIT Technology Review’s recently published top 10 list of technology breakthroughs of 2016. According to the MIT, the list “identifies innovations from the past year that solve difficult problems or create powerful new ways of using technology”.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is directly involved in 3 of the 10 projects identified by the MIT. Expand Expanding Close
Solar installer SolarCity announced this week a new package combining solar panels, battery storage, smart electric water heaters and the Nest Learning Thermostat in order to “prevent energy from being exported back to the grid”, says the company in a new press release.
The system, called ‘Smart Energy Home’, will first be offered in Hawaii, where the company had problems with the local electric utilities before. Expand Expanding Close
Germany-based solar energy component supplier Memodo confirmed having received a large shipment of Tesla Powerwalls this week and that installations will start soon.
Memodo CEO Daniel Schmitt claims that his company is the first Tesla Energy distributor to receive the new home battery pack in Germany and he shared the picture seen below. Expand Expanding Close
SolarCity published its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2015 yesterday. The company’s stock price fell 25% following the results, mainly because of lower than expected guidance for the first quarter 2016 and a miss in installed solar capacity following its exit from Nevada, as well as difficulties completing a few commercial projects on the east coast.
On a more positive note, we learn from the company’s SEC filing that it more than doubled its battery pack business with Tesla Energy in 2015 versus the previous year, despite the market for home energy storage only being in its infancy. Expand Expanding Close
SolarCity, the largest residential solar installer in the US, employs a grid engineering team to integrate its systems and evaluate the impact on the grid. The company decided this week to publish the team’s findings in a white paper titled: “A Pathway to the Distributed Grid”. Expand Expanding Close
The first Tesla Powerwall for residential use in Australia has reportedly been installed in a Sydney suburb this week. Nick Pfitzner was one of the first to reserve an installation with Natural Solar, an official Tesla Energy distributor, and the Pfitzner family finally received their home battery pack this week. Expand Expanding Close
Two homeowners with rooftop-solar systems initiated a class action lawsuit in Clark County District Court against Nevada Power, a utility part of Warren Buffet’s NV Energy, over the recent net metering rate changes approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Expand Expanding Close
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