Solar power

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $8 million in research funding for six agrivoltaics projects – that is, pairing solar with farming.

Wind and solar are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025, according to “Renewables 2022,” the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual report on the renewable sector.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has determined that four out of eight Chinese solar companies that it’s been investigating are “attempting to bypass US duties by doing minor processing in one of the Southeast Asian countries before shipping to the United States.” Here’s what it means for the US solar industry.

The largest landfill solar project in North America, a 25.6 megawatt (MW) solar farm in Mount Olive, New Jersey, is online – which means yet another dumpsite has been turned into a revenue-generating, clean energy asset.

Renewable energy provided almost 23% of electrical generation in the US during the first three quarters of 2022, according to new data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.

San Francisco-headquartered Sunrun, the largest residential solar and battery storage installer in the US, yesterday posted on social media that its transition to electric fleet vehicles is under way with a photo of Sunrun-branded Ford F-150 Lightnings.

Swell Energy today announced that it has raised $120 million to grow its virtual power plants (VPPs). Virtual power plants allow clean energy to be quickly added to the grid to address frequency and voltage imbalances, local disruptions, and keep the grid stable.

Enel North America, through its affiliate 3Sun USA, today announced that it will build one of the largest solar PV factories in the US. Initially, it’s expected to produce at least 3 gigawatts (GW) and scale up to 6 GW of high-performance bifacial PV modules and cells annually. This facility will be among the first in the US to produce solar cells, a vital part of the supply chain.

First Solar, the largest American solar panel maker, will invest up to $1.2 billion to ramp up production of US-made solar panels. The announcement follows the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in August, which incentivizes domestic clean energy manufacturing.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – the largest utility in the United States – will launch a first-of-its-kind pilot program to determine whether closed coal ash storage sites can host utility-scale solar.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the nonprofit trade association of the US solar industry, just flagged a proposed change to the 2024 International Building Code by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that would do more harm than good to the US solar industry.

Dallas-based Hover Energy, which makes wind-powered microgrids with solar and storage, is going to begin commercial-scale production in January 2023. And potential customers can feel confident about the resiliency of the company’s rooftop-mounted microgrids – one survived 105 mph winds during Hurricane Ian.

The Japanese government is discussing the possibility of remotely controlling privately owned ACs and water heaters in order to avoid power outages as the country switches to renewables.

In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that will require all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – to be covered by solar panels.

Nearly a quarter of the 200,568 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired capacity currently operating in the US has reported plans to retire by the end of 2029, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported today.

Scientists have used advanced computing tech and AI to design a clear window coating that could lower the temperature inside buildings, thus saving a whole lot of cooling energy.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) analyzed roughly 2.8 million residential rooftop solar systems installed through 2021, representing 86% of all US systems. Here are the latest trends based on income among American solar adopters, according to the data.

Since 2015, power lines have caused six of California’s 20 most destructive wildfires. Dryad Networks’ solar-powered sensor can detect a fire within 60 minutes, and its IoT network provides accurate location data. Electrek spoke to Carsten Brinkschulte, cofounder and CEO of Dryad Networks, about how utilities can strengthen their wildfire mitigation strategies and how solar is playing a part in forest protection.

New clean energy communities are coming to California. Leading homebuilder KB Homes announced Wednesday it has established what it calls the first all-electric, solar-and-battery-powered microgrid community in the golden state.

China’s government-owned utility State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has launched the world’s first commercial offshore floating solar that’s paired with an offshore wind turbine.

It would be 10 times more expensive to operate gas-fired power plants in the long term than to build new solar PV capacity in Europe, according to a new study from Oslo-based energy research company Rystad Energy.