A US-based start-up SunCulture Solar Inc. has come out of stealth mode and launched a potentially game-changing fully-integrated residential and off-grid solar system. ‘SolPad’ Home combines multiple patented technologies into a single device, including breakthrough solid-state battery technology, an innovative inverter system and intelligent software to enable real ‘plug and play.’ This is the only PV system in existence that provides complete integration of energy storage, management and high-efficiency solar cells.
The FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) over the solar industry entering it second major overcapacity cycle is being replaced by a focus on how much overcapacity verses end market demand exists, especially in 2017 and therefore how low will PV module ASP’s go?
Post-Brexit the world is not on fire. To learn more about the realities of the new normal, PV Tech publisher Solar Media has convened a cross-channel group of experts overseen by the law firm Eversheds and chaired by veteran energy journalist Terry Macalister. Here, he forms his first view on the mood of the assembled investors, operators and policy experts in the forum.
With competition in the tracker marketplace becoming extremely fierce, rival companies are adding new features all the time aimed at minimising installation and operation costs, and enhancing durability. Here we profile some of the single-axis trackers currently available on the market and the innovative design features they offer.
Despite US solar rapidly transitioning from an alternative energy source into a leading energy solution in recent years, barriers in regulation, communication and technology still prevent the industry from taking off into the mainstream arena, according to a panel of experts at Solar Power International (SPI) 2016.
Community solar is emerging as a promising new source of demand in the US, opening up access to solar among previously excluded groups. John Parnell reports on the prospects for a new market segment whose time seems to have come.
GE Power Conversion is introducing Silicon Carbide (SiC) technology into its next-generation 1500V PV inverter product line, bringing increased power conversion efficiency to the PV industry. The LV5+ Solar Inverter is the first multi-MW, utility scale inverter based completely on SiC technology and has an efficiency rating of 99% weighted EU and is being showcased at Solar Power International 2016.
Energy storage in the US is being propelled forward by falling costs and increasingly favourable markets and policy. But for the full value of storage to be realised, numerous regulatory and fiscal barriers must still be surmounted, writes Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association.
Growing 43% year over year in 2016, the US solar industry is taking off at a pace no one could have foreseen. Naysayers may cite the industry’s slow start, hampered by high upfront costs and initial niche appeal as reasons why solar still will not experience a consumer boom. But panellists at the opening session of the 13th annual Solar Power International convention made it clear just how solar energy could exceed expectations and is poised for not only growth, but mainstream acceptance.
Over the past 12 months, the US solar business has been on a rollercoaster ride, with the high-profile bankruptcy of SunEdison and the merger of SolarCity and Tesla stealing the headlines. Danielle Ola talks to the experts about some of the key trends shaping the world of solar finance
and investment in the US.
