North America

On this week’s Interchange podcast: how residential batteries differ from other forms of distributed energy.

Germany has long been a global leader in driving acceptance of clean technologies through its progressive energy policies and regulations. Its influence in addressing climate change extends well beyond its borders, and the country is taking an active role to support the global energy transition through international cooperation. Germany has bilateral energy partnerships with approximately 20 countries, and its strong partnership with California is focused on creating a route to the future – a carbon-neutral one. State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Andreas Feicht met with pv magazine to discuss the country’s partnership with California, and its journey toward decarbonization.

Solar and storage developer 7X Energy has spent more than US$100 million to stockpile 2GWac of Power Electronics inverters in order to take advantage of the full investment tax credit (ITC) before it starts to taper next year.

Colombia’s still-dormant solar scene is poised for a major boost under a new partnership, bringing together a European and a Latin American player.

Batteries that power our smartphones need lithium – an increasingly precious resource. Could Bolivia supply the world?

American John B. Goodenough, Brit Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, from Japan, have received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the lithium-ion battery. A statement from the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden said the invention “laid the foundations of a society without wires and fossil fuels, and [they] are of great benefit to humanity”.

Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon announced last Thursday it is considering selling its silane gas facility in Butte, in the US state of Montana.

The rising solar appetites of global investors so far in 2019 have put the industry on course to reach full-year financing volumes unseen since 2017, according to Mercom.

US assistant secretary of state for energy Francis Fannon says Indian solar developers should put quality, service and diplomacy above one-time expenditure.

Total corporate funding in the solar sector (including venture capital/private equity, public market, and debt financing) for the first nine months of 2019 was up with $9 billion raised, compared to $6.7 billion in for the same time period in 2018, a 34% increase year-over-year.

Engie has been selected to supply a solar power plant in Guam with 50 MWdc of generation capacity and approximately 300 MWh of storage – with the express purpose to deliver 100% of the electricity after sunset.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative has removed the exemption of bifacial products from Section 201 tariffs, effective October 28.

This year will see strong growth for the global PV market, to 114 GW, and that pattern will continue in the years ahead, according to analyst Wood Mackenzie. a report has highlighted soaring inverter replacement costs for PV project owners as a side-effect of the solar success story.

Researchers from Canada have unveiled a new germanium deposition process which is said to eliminate threading dislocations and be significantly cheaper than previous approaches. The scientists say their technique creates nanovoids on the surface of the germanium layer which can attract and annihilate undesirable dislocations.

Ameresco will develop a 27MW PV project in the village of DePue, Illinois that will be the largest PV installation in Bureau County upon completion.