With federal support for renewables having been depleted in recent years, utilities in the US have taken a leading role in the deployment of solar and energy storage. Jules Scully examines how integrated resource plans are driving solar deployment.
The rapid evolution of photovoltaic technology has continued, as modules with peak power outputs in excess of 550W are emerging fast. Driven by a thirst for more power and increasingly larger cells, developers and EPCs now face tougher procurement decisions than ever before. But is the industry ready for such a jump?
Our ability to generate renewable energy is scaling up fast, and solutions to integrate that energy will rely on technologies like blockchain to help keep new solutions on track. Power Ledger’s executive chairman and co-founder, Dr Jemma Green, looks at the role blockchain plays within her company’s platform to integrate and automate solar energy trading and balancing.
The optimal integration of distributed energy resources such as solar, battery storage and smart thermostats becomes an ever-more complex and pressing question. Rahul Kar, general manager and VP for New Energy at AutoGrid Systems looks at the role artificial intelligence can play in smarter energy networks.
Battery system integrators must navigate a broad array of technologies and varying market drivers when putting systems together. Andy Colthorpe speaks to Powin Energy and Sungrow about the engineering challenges involved in building lithium-ion battery storage systems at scale.
In the second of a two-part series for this journal, Jens Noack, Nataliya Roznyatovskaya, Chris Menictas and Maria Skyllas-Kazacos from CENELEST, a joint research venture between the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology and the University of New South Wales, examine the potential of vanadium redox flow batteries in the future energy system.
The growing volumes of variable solar and wind generation on the grid raise the risk of depressed wholesale prices, particularly at times of high generation and low demand. James Brabben of Cornwall Insight explores the phenomenon of so-called price cannibalisation and how its most serious potential impacts on the renewables industry can be avoided.
The era of subsidy-free solar is well underway in a growing number of markets, with Europe leading the way. As Solarcentury’s Peer Piske explains, the greater sensitivities around modelling zero-subsidy projects mean new approaches to design and planning are required by developers.
