Disruptive advances in solar technology are unusual, with industry-wide design improvements often taking place in very small increments. These small changes create the buzz at solar trade shows like Intersolar North America, which is wrapping up this week in San Diego.
New solar energy innovations are being unveiled at Intersolar 2020 in San Diego this week, including the California launch of a concrete solar shingle, a unique under-the-panel battery storage configuration, and a single-axis tracker that can accommodate a 10% grade on undulating sites. And one forward-looking company is now buying up broken solar panels in expectation of mining the components for recycling.
The evolving technology for connecting EVs to home solar systems with battery storage is expected to be a key driver of growth in attendance and exhibition at the Intersolar North America trade show, being held for the first time under new ownership this week in San Diego.
Burlingame, California Mayor Donna Colson inaugurated a unique six-unit dual axis solar tracker car canopy at the Kahala Tower near the San Francisco Airport, on November 13. The commercial installation is being called the first of its kind in the United States because of the technology involved.
Corporations have finally put their collective weight into a green energy rush this year that may expand much faster than over the recent past.
One of the stealth technologies that was unveiled at the recent Solar Power International trade show in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago is the plug-and-play solar+storage+nanogrid solution from start-up DR Microgrid, of Santa Ana, CA. It looks like a killer app because it is the only other system of its kind on the US market except that of Sonnen, which is more expensive, says DR Microgrid President AJ Perkins.
The Solar Power International trade show is the largest in the country, and this year was dominated by new entrants in the solar+EV storage category amidst many other ingenious technological advancements in the industry. As such, energy storage represents the plus in the solar+ label, and additional developments like EV charging represent what the industry is now calling Solar++.
The days of over-designing and over-building solar power plants to make up for unforeseen generation losses are gone. This is largely thanks to the emerging solar strategy of pursuing every tenth of a percent of system performance by better understanding the impact of equipment specifications, plant monitoring, and maintenance on the Performance Ratio, and therefore on the bottom line.
The Portuguese energy secretariat has secured 1.15 GW of solar development at an average cost of €20.33 ($22.53 per megawatt-hour), representing an investment of about €800 million or $887 million.
One of the bids was made at €14.76/MWh ($16.44/MWh), which was declared a new world record for low solar bidding, according to Portugal’s Journal Económico.
With such a groundswell of solar growth, what can limit the performance of PV systems? The answer is dust, or other forms of soiling that accumulate on the glass surface of solar panels, obscuring light from the cells within. Driven by location and weather, soiling is worst in deserts like the US Southwest, in the presence of air pollution, and on solar arrays that have flat tilt designs.
