China holds key to corporate solar take-up but lags way behind Texas at present
The Lone Star State accounted for almost half of the activity witnessed in the world’s biggest corporate clean energy marketplace but analysts are excited about the prospect of Beijing mandating companies to purchase minimum levels of green electricity.
Harnessing heat for 80% theoretical efficiency
Scientists at Rice University in Texas have developed a device which converts heat into light by squeezing it into a smaller bandgap. The ‘hyperbolic thermal emitter’ could be combined with a PV system to convert energy otherwise wasted as heat – a development the researchers say could drastically increase efficiency.
The Sunshine State is finally living up to its billing
Scottish consultancy Wood Mackenzie has raised its 2019 forecast with Florida and Texas starting to deliver on their potential as the U.S. solar market returns to growth.
Anheuser-Busch buys big solar in US
The brewer of such fine beverages as Busch Light has signed a power contract with Recurrent Energy for the electricity generated by the 222 MWac Maplewood solar project in Texas. The deal will positions the brewer to reach its sustainability goals four years sooner than anticipated.
US energy storage market set to almost double this year
The solar-plus-storage combination is super-charging the deployment of batteries across the country and IHS Markit says the U.S. will become the largest market for grid-tied energy storage this year.
Medium and small power-to-gas conversion already viable
An international team of economists says power-to-gas may already generate hydrogen at costs competitive with fossil fuel power plants in Germany and Texas, provided certain production output levels are not exceeded. If medium and small power-to-gas is competitive, large-scale should be viable by 2030.
US will see more than 8 GW of solar come online this year
With 4.3 GW of utility-scale solar and 3.9 of distributed generation predicted, the figures collated from federal sources don’t take account of the huge capacity of solar projects waiting in the interconnection queues of seven grid operators.
University of Texas develops new solar system integrating energy generation and storage
Researchers at the University of Texas have been awarded $3 million by the Texan Department of Energy in a bid to accelerate research in battery storage technology to overcome the “Achilles heel” of solar power
US regulators open markets to energy storage
As the conclusion of a 15-month rule-making, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will require grid operators to value the contributions of energy storage, and begins a process to look at how aggregated distributed energy resources can compete in wholesale markets.
Mission Solar to double US solar module manufacturing
The expansion to 400 MW will make Mission the fourth-largest PV module maker in the U.S.
