Could Perovskites Be Right Around the Corner? Solar-Tectic Earns Patents For Thin-Film Perovskite Technology

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Perovskites have been the hot solar technology for several years now without, frankly, a lot to show for it. But one company – Solar-Tectic – has reached the patent stage for its thin-film perovskite technology. Could perovskite modules be close behind? The answer is a definite maybe. According to the company’s release, the breakthrough is the width of the bottom layer in the tandem cell. The release says: Wafer sized bottom poly- and monocrystalline silicon layers in PERC, PERL, HIT, HJ, or perovskite/silicon tandem cells are typically 200-280 microns thick, whereas ST’s thin-film crystalline inorganic … Read More →

Solar FlexRack Completes Shipments to 71 MW Solar Project in North Carolina

Soltec Supplies Trackers to the Largest PV Power Plant in Colombia PPA for 100 MW of Solar

U.S. Solar Continues To Grow Despite Significant Headwinds

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent First the good news: The overall U.S. solar industry grew year over year by 13%, adding 2.5 GW-DC in the first quarter of 2018. Now the bad news: That’s a 37% quarter-over-quarter decrease. So the latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insights Report, put out by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, is a bit of a mixed bag. But the fact that the U.S. solar market has shown any growth at all, in light of heavy tariffs on module imports, flat residential growth and a significant decrease in “non-residential” installations, is a … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for June 12th, 2018

10 Days Out, Chicago! Next Thursday, join your solar colleagues in Chicago for a full day event hosted by yours truly. We’ll be going over all segments of the solar market in Illinois under the Future Energy Jobs Act and putting the industry in a room to get matched up for dealmaking. Join me and register at solarwakeuplive.com 
Incremental Cost Of Solar. The words, we can add solar at no incremental cost, are dying and will be replaced with, we can add solar at a savings of. Don’t take it from me, listen to Vote Solar’s Adam Browning in this epic tweet thread, which outlines the recent pricing for solar plus storage across the Country. Add this to the value generated by distributed generation and the future is sunny!
Get Involved, Get Efficient. Many of you listened to my interview with Andrew Birch about the solar permitting initiative that the solar industry is rallying around. The objective, in short, is to have solar installed instantly after a customer signs on to the project. The key result is gaining initial municipalities to opt in to accomplish this and take over the Country from there. Are you close to a mayor that wants more solar? Send me a note and let’s get this going. High quality solar installed quickly!
Innovate, Locally. Puerto Rico went through a horrible year rebuilding after Hurricane Maria. After every major power group talked a big game on changing the energy economy it seems that the local solar/storage sectors are taking on the future locally. I guess that makes sense because if you ask EEI to come up with a future vision for Puerto Rico it looks much like the 20th century grid. Self generation isn’t just for power, its for policies as well. Check out the SESA-PR group.
Changing Economies. When I was looking at solar markets across the world it always dawned on me that solar was creating new economies in those Countries. Now that solar is creating incremental savings (see above), it’s great to think about the double bottom line that our industry creates. Plus the environmental benefits to boot!

News

Have a great day!
Yann

What The Heck Is It With This Obsession On Solar Roads?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent If you’ve followed my writings over time, you know how I feel about solar roads. I find them to be one of the greatest boondoggles of all time, a brilliant grift that does nothing to advance the future of solar power but does get a lot of publicity for the people building it. The last time I visited the solar roads issue in 2017, the combiner box on the “test road” – more like a patch that a sidwalk, really – had caught on fire in Standpoint, Idaho, where this “demonstration” road has been in … Read More →

Puerto Rico Advocates Form Solar + Storage Trade Group For Island

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent A group of solar + storage advocates has formed a new trade organization to fight for solar + storage solutions in Puerto Rico. The Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA-PR) will promote the use of solar and energy storage to restore electricity to the entire island, something with which the U.S. protectorate has struggled since Hurricane Maria devastated the area last September. “At this crucial moment for Puerto Rico, we are calling on the people to join this effort that aims to guide and educate around the use of solar energy to … Read More →

This is your SolarWakeup for June 11th, 2018

I’ll Take Instant Permits for $1. Imagine a solar market where you can install solar like it was an air conditioner. Sell it, install it and then pull the permit. It puts some pressure on you to do it right but it solves so many more of the solar market’s inefficiencies. This idea, not without prior attempts, is being spearheaded by Andrew Birch and many others and I sat down with Andrew in this episode of SolarWakeup Live! podcast. We talk about why, why now and what’s next. If there is a conversation you want to be listening to, this is one of them.
A Meeting To Make It Happen. The starting point on the execution towards instant permits is a two day summit which happened last week. Day 1 hosted at Sunrun and day 2 hosted at Mosaic in the Bay Area. Co-chairing with Andrew Birch are Lynn Jurich and Billy Parish. Facilitated by the Rocky Mountain Institute and with involvement of SEIA and The Solar Foundation this makes it a venture to be looked after. More details about the meeting in the podcast and how you can get involved.
Where Do We Go From Here. This is just the start! After the meeting comes a decision of how to proceed, how to raise money and where to get the early victories. SunShot invested in this idea through Broward County, a venture that appears to have failed as the program was passed to the Florida Solar Energy Center and the website is dead. Unfortunate but hopefully recoverable by the trade groups and private sector. The residential advisory council from SolarWakeup will be involved and advising the course of this endeavor to make sure that small solar installers have a seat at the table because without the small installers this will not go as well as it can.
Laudato Si Se Puede. The Pope is doing the work that few can assemble. Bringing oil and gas to the table and asking them to understand the needs of the planet as part of their business. The Pope and I believe in some different things but on this issue, we are in sync.
Chicago! One last panel to put speakers on, the one that has billions at stake so I’ll let you give me some ideas. Development of large scale solar in Illinois is already in the works and I want to hear from those working on it. If you know of anyone that would make a great panel discussion at SolarWakeup Live! Chicago.www.solarwakeuplive.com

News

Have a great day!
Yann

Instant Solar Permitting, The Most Important Issue Facing Solar? (Podcast)

[

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor This may be the most important topic to be organized in solar since the start of net metering. The permitting process in the US adds almost $1/watt to the cost of the installations and increases the cancellation rate for customers looking to go solar. In this episode of SolarWakeup Live! I speak with Andrew Birch who was a co-founder of Sungevity. Andrew tackles this issue by spearheading a two-day meeting which happened last week along with his co-chairs Billy Parish of Mosaic and Lynn Jurich of Sunrun. SEIA and The Solar Foundation will be intimately … Read More →

OhmHome Introduces New Solar Mapping Project To Facilitate Solar Adoption

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent OhmHome, a website devoted to educating consumers about the Solar Revolution and other energy issues, has decided it wants to one-up Google’s Project Sunroof with its new solar mapping service called NextDoor Solar. In addition to showing consumers what other homes in the neighborhood have solar, it will also tell them which companies have done the installations – a feature OhmHome says is important because of its long-term financial implications. In its release, the company cites NREL research that shows local installers can offer consumers 10% more savings than large national companies. It also cites … Read More →