Solar paired with battery installations makes up about 9% of all installed residential net metering capacity in California

California residents are increasingly pairing battery storage with solar installations

California residents are increasingly pairing battery storage with solar installations, according to the latest preliminary data in our Monthly Electric Power Industry Report.

The share of new residential solar photovoltaic systems paired with batteries has increased since we began collecting data in October 2023. In April 2024, more than 50% of residential solar photovoltaic installations were paired with battery storage, compared with just over 20% in October 2023.

The shift toward more battery storage at solar installations eligible for net metering came after changes to California’s compensation structure. Net metering compensates customers for the distributed generation output that is returned to the grid by crediting their electricity bills.

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Source: eia.gov

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Critically, community solar programs are increasingly focused on ensuring these energy bill savings are shared with low-income households

Community solar can help affordable housing residents fight inflation

Travel across the country, or even your home state, and you’ll see shining fields of silicon that weren’t there decades ago. There’s no mistake that we’re in the trenches of a momentous energy transition. As the transition evolves and the impact to our existing power generation grid and environment grows, the calls for this transformation to do more than just provide clean power will increase.

In addition to a cleaner grid, we can deliver more equitable energy distribution solution for all. Thankfully, that’s what many states and the federal government are trying to accomplish with community solar.

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Source: Solar Power World

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A team of scientists at ETH Zurich has come up with a new photovoltaic ceramic known to transform the solar energy market.

1,000 times more powerful than solar panels: This ceramics breaks the laws of physics

Photovoltaic energy has established itself as the most powerful source, even taking space away from the dreaded nuclear power. However, there is still a challenge ahead, and that is to make way for a new generation of solar panels that produce more electricity (i.e., have higher efficiency). A group of experts has succeeded in creating the first photovoltaic ceramics, with unprecedented potential and an unsolved problem: it defies the laws of physics with an incredibly small size.

Why do we use solar panels? ETH Zurich has introduced the latest photovoltaics invention

A team of scientists at ETH Zurich has come up with a new photovoltaic ceramic known to transform the solar energy market. This concept of breaking through ceramic tile is “amazingly”, one thousand times more effective than the current photovoltaic silicon-based solar panels.

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Source: Eco News

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Researchers hope the palm-size solar-powered robot will help monitor remote disasters and link telecommunications systems

Watch the world’s tiniest solar-powered robot take flight

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When disaster strikes in a remote location—an oil spill, for example—scientists and officials need eyes in the skies to monitor conditions from afar. Drones can swoop in to help, but short battery lives can limit their usefulness. Enter ColoumbFly, the world’s lightest and smallest solar-powered flying robot. Described today in Nature, researchers hope its design could inspire a new generation of robotic fliers that can link Wi-Fi networks, send photos, and accomplish other remote-monitoring tasks for long periods of time.

CoulombFly, designed by a team at Beihang University, is palm size and weighs just a little more than 4 grams. Unlike traditional tiny flying machines that use an electrified magnet to power their rotors, the CoulombFly’s motor is powered by the so-called Coulomb force—the force between electrically charged particles at rest. Here, a solar cell generates electricity and creates an electric field between oppositely charged plates aligned in a circle. The opposing charges, like repelling magnets, generate enough force to turn the blades of a rotor. That creates enough torque to propel the robot off the ground.

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Source: Science

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California's power grid remained largely unscathed by a nearly 3-week record-setting heat wave thanks to renewable energy and giant batteries

California’s grid passed the reliability test this heat wave. It’s all about giant batteries

California’s power grid emerged from a nearly three-weeklong record-setting heat wave relatively unscathed, and officials are crediting years of investment in renewable energy — particularly giant batteries that store solar power for use when the sun stops shining.

“This was a good early test that we passed in very good shape,” said Elliot Mainzer, president and CEO of California Independent System Operator (CAISO), on Monday. “Investments in new clean energy and in dispatchable battery storage played a major role.”

CAISO last issued calls for voluntary conservation two years ago, during a 2022 bout of extreme heat. Since then, roughly 11,600 megawatts of new renewable energy sources have come onto California’s electricity grid.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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The 12,000-hectare solar installation is expected to generate 17-20 GW (at peak times) and a minimum of 10 GW from its expanse of PV arrays.

World’s largest green energy project to send Australian solar power underwater to Singapore

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Australia’s Northern Territory has granted initial approval for the world’s largest ever green energy and transmission project, which aims to deliver solar power from the land down under all the way to Singapore via a 4,300-kilometre-long undersea cable.

The AAPowerLink project is led by SunCable, an energy company founded in 2018 and focused on harnessing Australia’s sunshine and exporting it to Asia. The latest move by the federal division effectively gives the go-ahead to the firm’s Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) to take it towards Final Investment Decision (FID).

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Source: Travel Tomorrow

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This vertical solar panel could be the answer to the prayers of an industry desperately seeking new ways to exploit solar energy.

The mystery of this vertical solar panel: it generates more energy, but experts don’t understand it

A mystery hangs over the vertical solar panel. It generates more energy, but there’s still something experts don’t understand. If you were surprised by what we told you about the first solar panel that produces hydrogen, you can’t miss what comes next. Solar panels are a viable solution in the energy transition the world is undergoing.

They provide an efficient and cost-effective way to produce clean, renewable electricity and help mitigate climate change and the energy challenges facing humanity. They also provide opportunities for employment and economic growth. Opting for self-supply through solar panels is a lifesaver for people living in rural or remote areas where grid electricity is not available.

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Source: Eco News

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Agrivoltaics help preserve & improve prime agricultural land while providing farmers with additional income.

Smart agrivoltaics policy allows us to harvest the sun while preserving American farmland

American farmland can play a critical role in the clean energy transition, evolving to thrive alongside renewable energy development like solar, wind and energy storage. With respect to solar generation, in order to meet a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2035, the Biden Administration has set a goal of having 40% of our nation’s electricity coming from solar by that same date, up from the current 4%. Brownfields, closed capped landfills, rooftops and other preferred sites will provide important sources for hosting solar arrays. However, American farmland also has a significant role to play, and it is estimated that farmers and other landowners will lease more than 2 million acres of agricultural land in the United States for community and utility-scale solar projects by 2030 (a small fraction of the 880 million of farmlands reported by the USDA in 2023).

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Source: Solar Power World

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The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined.

China building two-thirds of world’s wind and solar projects

The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined, a report has found.

Research published on Thursday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO, found that China has 180 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar power under construction and 159GW of wind power. That brings the total of wind and solar power under construction to 339GW, well ahead of the 40GW under construction in the US.

The researchers only looked at solar farms with a capacity of 20MW or more, which feed directly into the grid. That means that the total volume of solar power in China could be much higher, as small scale solar farms account for about 40% of China’s solar capacity.

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Source: The Guardian

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Soltec launched a new floating tracker, dubbed Flotus, designed for inland water bodies such as reservoirs and ponds.

A new concept in floating solar trackers

Last month, Spanish solar PV tracker manufacturer Soltec launched a new floating tracker, dubbed Flotus, designed for inland water bodies such as reservoirs and ponds.

Flotus features an east-west tracking system, similar to horizontal ground-based solar trackers, and an “advanced naval design” that Soltec claims enables it to withstand the rigours of being located on water.

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Source: PV Tech

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