What has changed in the solar energy storage industries and energy in 2018?

January 19, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

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I began to seriously cover the solar energy industry in 2009. This seemed to be an exciting and exciting time in the industry – growth was exploding. I remember a first story in which readers even a little scolded me because I put "Solar Energy Explosion" in a title, and they thought I was referring to real explosions. In 2019, 2009 and 2010, progress looks like anthills.

Returning to our What Changed archives, you will find below a long summary of the significant changes that have occurred in the solar energy and energy storage industries in 2018. I am sure I have some forgot a few – drop a note in the comments if you have a favorite that I jumped. . I'm also sure this message is far too long for the casual reader – do your best. In addition, stay on top of the record progress made in 2019.

policies

Nevada has increased its renewable electricity standard (requirement) by 15% by 2025 to 50% by 2030.

California has approved new standards requiring the installation of solar panels on the roofs of almost all new homes, condos and apartment buildings by 2020.

California has approved the bill "Million Solar Roofs Energy Storage".

California has pbaded a law requiring 100% clean energy by 2045.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has launched a $ 1 billion program under Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) with $ 100 million a year for solar energy in multi-family dwellings .

The governor of Illinois, Rauner, has signed two bills aimed at supporting the conditions of solar energy development for farmers and rural areas of Illinois. These bills are expected to generate between $ 250 and $ 350 million in tax revenue.

In the United States, New York has started to become more and more a solar energy player, with 26 new large-scale solar power plants approved for development, a community solar boost, and broader efforts to stimulate the industry. .

Washington, DC, has adopted a 100% renewable energy bill.

It has been revealed that the US Department of Energy "may have about $ 600 million in FY18 funding for FY18 research and development. clean energy, despite the clear and strong recommendations of Congress to invest public funds in new technologies. and an innovation that will pave the way for America to become a leader in a clean energy future. "

DOE has awarded research grants to several universities to develop a new solar integration technology.

DOE has also committed $ 72 million to support next generation concentrated solar energy efforts.

The Trump administration has allocated $ 46 million for progress in solar energy resiliency and networking.

The preferential tariffs on Chinese solar panels were implemented in the first quarter of 2018, based on an obscure, absurd, irrational and counter-productive law that no one would be considered serious. Slight reaction outside the world of clean technologies and in mainstream media almost totally missed the story – that is, more American jobs will be lost than saved or created. Did these poor reports and this lack of attention also allowed Trump to apply steel tariffs?

10 American cities modeled how to bring the United States to a 100% clean energy.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has invested in a 5 gigawatt initiative of wind and solar energy.

Moreland, Australia, has launched a solar energy program for tenants and homeowners.

Engie said he has "signed a 50-year strategic alliance with the city of Greater Springfield, Queensland, Australia, to make this city a zero-energy city by 2038".

Victoria, an Australian state, has announced that it will increase its renewable energy target to 50% by 2030. Yes, it's the same goal as Nevada's new goal.

France has announced that it will "close the remaining four coal plants by 2022 and 14 of the country's first-generation nuclear reactors, with a capacity of 900 MW, by 2035". Naturally, they would be replaced by wind and solar power plants.

Ireland has approved the long-awaited Renewable Electricity Support Program (RESS) and has announced its intention to deliver the first RESS auction in 2019.

The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has launched a pilot project supplying its trains with solar energy.

The European Union has removed barriers to trade in Chinese solar panels.

The European Union has adopted a new EU-wide legally binding target of 32% renewable energy by 2030, which should result in a strong Small scale solar energy growth in the EU, as well as through the establishment of larger solar projects.

The World Bank Group announced "a new set of climate goals by 2021-2025 and indicated that it doubled its current investments over five years to approximately $ 200 billion, so to help countries take ambitious action in the fight against climate change ".

The Green Climate Fund has approved $ 1 billion for climate action in developing countries.

India has announced a $ 1 billion aid for solar energy projects in several African countries.

The Japanese company TEPCO has announced its intention to develop 6 to 7 GW of renewable energy in order to move away from nuclear energy.

South Africa has replaced nuclear energy with more renewable energy in a new national energy plan.

IRENA has partnered with countries in Southeast Asia to develop renewable energy in the region.

A coalition of 26 Caribbean nations, more than 40 private sector giants, Usain Bolt, eight-time Olympic gold medalist, and world music superstar Sean Paul have teamed up to launch the climate-smart climate accelerator. $ 1 billion Caribbean, which aims to make the region the first climate-smart zone in the world.

CleanTechnica has launched a new clean-up political campaign to help elect leaders of clean technologies to political positions.

Rooftop solar companies

Azuri Technologies and Unilever Kenya have started to implement distributed solar home systems in off-grid homes in Kenya.

Kazang Solar received $ 1.6 million from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund to provide domestic solar lighting for 7,000 homes, mostly off-grid, in Zambia.

Kingo, supported in part by Leonardo DiCaprio, aims to provide small-scale solar storage + to 500 million people in Latin America.

Nissan has introduced to the UK market a solar storage + "all-in-one" for drivers of electric vehicles who want to go even further – or drivers without an electric vehicle. Building on its leading position in the electric vehicle business, it has also begun offering energy storage from 2nd Life batteries.

Panasonic & SolarEdge have announced a new energy-optimized solar panel that speeds up installation times.

Panasonic Eco Solutions has begun "aggressively developing its network of residential solar installers nationwide [in the US], seeking to compete more equitably with Tesla, Sunrun, SunPower, Vivint and others. "

Pika Energy Storage unveiled its scalable residential energy storage solution.

Real Goods Solar has received $ 127 million in pre-orders for its solar shingles, which are based on technology purchased from Dow Chemical. (We have already reported on Dow's solar shingles in 2009, 2011, and 2012.)

Simpliphi Power, another California-based energy storage company, cut prices after seeing sales triple.

SolarEdge has announced the acquisition of the solar energy storage company Kokam.

sonnen & tiko Energy Solutions has been prequalified by Germany's network transmission system operator, TenneT, to exploit its existing distributed energy storage systems pooled in a virtual power plant in order to provide primary balancing power.

sonnen launched a second sonnenCommunity in the United States, this time in Manatee County, Florida (which is actually the county in which I live).

Sonnen launched EcoLinx for residential energy management.

Sonnen has invested 60 million euros (70 million dollars) in a new series of investments, with the financial influx led by Royal Dutch Shell. "This investment will help it grow its share of the solar and Australian storage market in the United States and Australia."

SunExchange & Powerhive have partnered to bring solar energy to 175,000 Kenyans.

Sunflare has put a new solar shingle on the market.

Sunnova has launched in the United States a solar storage +, SunSafe. SunSafe uses Tesla Powerwall 2 for storage.

Sunnova has also introduced leasing and solar lending in Illinois.

Sunnova has introduced its new solar storage + offer in its state of residence, Texas.

Sunnova has also implemented residential solar insurance nationwide.

SunPower has offered members of the National Parks Conservation Association a $ 500 cash discount + a donation to the organization when they start solar energy by July 2019.

SunPower has launched a new solar storage + offer.

Sunrun has been ranked as the leading supplier of solar storage and residential storage.

Sunrun has expanded its offering of solar services and energy storage in Florida.

Tesla has reduced its prices for domestic solar energy by 10 to 20% thanks to the financial benefits badociated with the transfer of sales in its stores.

Tesla also announced that its Powerwall energy storage system featured new features … at a higher cost.

Tesla has laid off 9% of its staff, many in the area of ​​solar energy storage and energy, including a dozen SolarCity installations in 9 states.

Tesla and the city of Taipei, Taiwan have joined forces "to create a new 1.5 hectare hub to help local startups find land and train new energy companies in the city."

Western Australia, another Australian state, has begun to introduce a Tesla, Synergy + "PowerBank" community storage system for residents of Meadow Springs who may be participating in the trial.

Vivint Solar has begun offering solar leasing in the states of Sunshine State, Florida and Illinois.

Vivint Solar has reached 1 gigawatt of rooftop solar power capacity in the United States.

Projects

In Connecticut, solar energy has proven itself by winning 9 out of 12 contracts. Solar energy has become the most competitive option for new electricity even in Connecticut!

California utilities have accelerated the replacement of advanced natural gas production units with large battery storage units.

Californian utilities PG & E have proposed a gigantic battery storage project of 730 MWh, 567.5 MW.

SDG & E, another California utility, has approved energy storage projects that double its energy storage capacity.

California had its first floating solar energy system.

ACWA Power won a contract for a 250-megawatt solar power plant in India at an extremely low 2.4 ¢ / kWh, a record high in the country.

ACWA Power also won a solar power plant contract in Saudi Arabia for 2.4 ¢ / kWh, a world record apparent at the time.

A record solar energy price in the United States has also been set at 2.155 ¢ / kWh (with an indexing mechanism) for a project in Nevada. That was right after an American record bid on the price of solar energy in Arizona.

Enel Green Power has reached 1 gigawatt of solar energy in Mexico.

Enel has announced plans to invest 10.6 billion euros in 11.6 gigawatts of renewable energy over the next three years.

Portugal said it would get 31 new solar power plants, with a total capacity of 1 GW, by 2021.

Indian coal mining companies have announced $ 1.6 billion in solar energy investments.

Global Infrastructure Partners acquired a 4.7 gigawatt SunPower solar project pipeline.

The World Bank has committed $ 1 billion for battery storage in developing countries.

Capital Dynamics made a new $ 1.2 billion investment in a clean energy infrastructure fund.

The green investment group of Macquarie Capital, formerly the UK Government's Green Investment Bank, has acquired the solar energy development portfolio (including staff) of Conergy Asia & ME.

India has announced its intention to 5 gigawatts solar park. Yes, 5 gigawatts! The solar park must be located in Gujarat.

A few months later, India announced its intention to create a 25 gigawatt solar park. Yes, 25 gigawatts! The solar park must be located in Jammu and Kashmir.

Vestas has started testing a hybrid solar + wind project in Spain.

ACWA Power has become the first public service in the world to adopt the SolarCoin blockchain currency.

WePower has raised $ 40 million for Green Energy Trading, the largest ICO ever created in the energy sector, based on the blockhouse chain.

SkyPower "announced a historic $ 1.3 billion foreign direct investment in Uzbekistan for the construction of a 1 gigawatt (GW) solar capacity."

Tesla has inaugurated its network controller in Samoa as part of efforts to bring the country to 100% renewable energy.

Greenpeace Energy, a German electricity company, has "proposed a public takeover bid on open-cast lignite mines and power plants currently owned by the German electricity company RWE. , in order to close them by 2025 ". These plants would be replaced by wind and wind power plants. solar power plants.

Research

According to a report released by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, floating solar power could provide 14 percent of the US's electricity needs.

BNEF found that "unsubsidized solar and onshore wind turbines [have] become the cheapest source of new bulk energy in all major economies except Japan. "

Lazard has released its Levelized Cost of Energy 12.0 report, showing the extreme competitiveness of solar energy costs, even without subsidies. (But wind energy is still cheaper, on average.)

Electricity from renewable energies in the United States exceeded for the first time that of US nuclear power.

The Institute for Local Self Reliance has released a report stating where "distributed solar" is leading in the United States.

IHS predicted that the global solar industry would reach 123 GW of new capacity installed in 2019, a record forecast that reflects all the progress made in the solar energy sector.

BNEF estimates that the world has exceeded 1 terawatt (1,000 gigawatts) of renewable energy capacity installed worldwide in June 2018.

Stanford mapped approximately every solar roof in the United States and found 1.47 million.

Environment America said new solar energy laws and loans could triple the country's solar base by 2045.

According to a study by Clean Energy Trust and the national non-partisan business group E2, Indiana employs more renewable energy than any other sector.

A study found that US solar tariffs would cost customers $ 236.5 million.

Another study found that US solar financing in the open market had increased by $ 800 million in the first three quarters of 2018.

The members of RE100 have increased their use of renewable energy by 41% from 2016 to 2017, with 37 new companies' bringing the total to 155 companies creating demand for a phenomenal amount of renewable energy of 188 terawatt hours each year".

Research has revealed that solar home loans have escaped third-party funding for rooftop solar systems in 2018. Last year, loans were transferred to cash to become the second most popular option for pay residential solar energy systems.

A new report found that new renewables are cheaper than old coal in Southeast Asia.

Another new report revealed that "not a country" is on track to limit global warming to 2 ° C.

NIPSCO, an Indiana utility, estimated that a future renewable energy would save customers $ 4 billion.

The global solar floating capacity has exceeded 1 gigawatt.

The UK's renewable energy capacity reached 42 gigawatts in the third quarter and was outpaced by the power generation capacity from fossil fuels.

Maryland has released a report stating that the economic value of solar power in the state over the next decade would be $ 7 billion.

Other news

HBI and IREC have developed a program to help at-risk youth find employment in the solar energy sector.

Sony has raised its goal of 100% renewable energy by a decade.

Airbus Zephyr S, a solar powered aircraft, set a world record by staying in the air for 26 days.

After a long hiatus, Shell joined the solar energy market by acquiring a $ 217 million stake in Silicon Ranch Corporation and then investing in a British solar CAC.

Capital Dynamics acquired First Solar & SunPower Yieldco 8point3.

Hanwha Q CELLS, a Korean manufacturer of solar cells and solar modules, has announced the construction of a 1.6-gigawatt solar module plant in Georgia (the US state and not the country).

Hanwha Q Cells also went private for $ 825 million a few months later.

The producer of solar trackers Soltec has raised 100 million euros for its expansion.

Solar energy has become the most important new source of energy on micro-grids.

Facebook is committed to using 100% renewable energy by 2020.

The US Wind Energy Foundation is renamed the Wind Solar Alliance.

The Solar Panel Art Series series is made in North America with a launch in New York.

Keywords: ACWA power, Australia, California, Cities, Energy Department, DOE, Donald Trump, Enel, Enel Green Power, ENGIE, European Union, Europe, Florida, India, Irena, Panena, SolarEdge, Sunnova, Sonnen, Sunpower, Sunrun , Tesla, Utilities, Vivint Solar