What’s The Secret Sauce Behind New “Forever” Solar Panels?
Is this thin sheet of aluminum foil the secret sauce behind new low-cost “forever” solar panels from the US startup Violet Power?
soft costs
Solar Interconnection Delays Cost America Millions — Here’s How We Solve Them
Solar interconnection delays, or connecting a new rooftop solar system to the grid, costs America millions every year. New research shows how to solve them.
Can Installation Innovations Keep Cutting Solar Soft Costs?
Solar soft costs are the largest slice of system installations – can these industry installation innovations keep driving down the cost of new projects?
Solar Starts Giving Utilities A Bargain Fuel Option
In its latest Utility Solar Market Snapshot (2014, published last month), the US Solar Electric Power Association offers renewable energy interests some welcome news: solar energy is becoming increasingly attractive to utilities. Since the shale gas boom, solar has become the fastest-growing power source in the nation, and the Solar Energy … [continued]
New Community Solar Program Aims To “SPARC” 100% Renewables
The new SPARC community solar program aims to help neighborhoods, towns, and cities go solar faster, and cheaper.
Sunrun Receives SunShot $1.6M For Fully Automated Solar Design System
Sunrun is one of America’s leading home solar companies, and on Tuesday it was announced that the company had been awarded $1.6 million from the US Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative fund. The money is targeted towards furthering the development and implementation of the solar industry’s first “end-to-end workflow automation … [continued]
Three Ways Automation Can Smash Solar Interconnection Costs
Originally published on Clean Power Research by Scott Tewel It’s no secret that although solar hardware costs have been steadily decreasing, solar soft costs— including permitting, interconnection, customer acquisition and installation labor—have remained steady. In fact, according to studies by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, soft costs … [continued]
Lowering The Resilient Soft Costs Of Solar
Originally published on the Rocky Mountain Institute website By Dan Seif and Jesse Morris Why does Germany, a country with the same amount of sun on a yearly basis as Alaska, have residential solar costs half that of the U.S.? Why have solar panel prices dropped significantly while whole-system cost … [continued]
Soft Costs Make A Bigger Difference As Solar Gets Cheaper
Last week’s graphic on the impact of local permitting on the cost of solar power was a big hit, so here’s a follow-up on “soft costs,” the expenses in a solar installation (including permitting) that are not the solar module. The chart compares the soft costs in the US to … [continued]
Palo Alto Streamlines Going Solar
Palo Alto is a leader in so many ways. It is one of the best bicycle cities in the US, and it is also becoming a clear leader in solar (as well as many other things). Here’s more regarding its latest solar news via Solar Love: Solar permitting, obsessively onerous, … [continued]
