The PV commercial and utility-scale operations & maintenance (O&M) market has been growing in tandem with the growth in global installations. Once seen as an ancillary market, its presence and significance has taken on a new meaning in recent years and is providing innovations and business practices that only enhance the PV project market.
Industrial technology firm ABB is restructuring its multiple market divisions into four core divisions with its solar energy offerings including PV inverters joining its Electrification Products segment from its existing Discrete Automation and Motion (DM) division.
The US Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has highlighted continued PV system cost reductions in its latest quarterly report, ‘US Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark Q1 2016’.
Fully digitized solar power plants will be the next focus for improving efficiencies in the solar PV industry according, to Guoguang Chen, general manager of inverter manufacturer Huawei’s Smart PV Europe Business.
EDF Renewable Services (EDF RS) is in the process of taking over the operations and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities for 206 solar projects spanning across 13 states from New Jersey to Hawaii that total around 200MW.
Independent global testing and certification body UL (Underwriters Laboratory) has acquired renewable energy engineering services and support firm, AWS Truepower for an unspecified sum.
A US-based start-up SunCulture Solar has come out of stealth mode and launched a potentially game-changing fully-integrated residential and off-grid solar system that really is ‘plug and play.’
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 US Energy Department is planning to provide solar technology funding to the tune of US$107 million via the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) SunShot Initiative.
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.
