PV modules have a 30-year lifespan. There is currently no plan for how to manage this at end of their lifespan. The volume of modules no longer needed could total 80 million metric tons by 2050. In addition to quantity, the nature of the waste also poses challenges. PV modulesRead More

Concentrated solar PV doesn’t make many headlines these days, but research continues to show its possible impact in the future. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published another solar cell research breakthrough: The fabrication of a six-junction solar cell that achieved a record-breaking solar conversion efficiency of 47.1%. TheRead More

WattBuy, an energy intelligence service that enables consumers to make smarter choices about their electricity provider, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced a new project to automatically collect and make public a searchable database of all electricity rates in the U.S. NREL will publicly shareRead More

  The following is a summary of research conducted by Nielson Scientific, NREL, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and ARPA-E. For further insight into why this data matters and how it should affect your solar installation business, check out our accompanying webinar this week: The Solar Study: How to Value High EfficiencyRead More

  The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) named the 10 finalists from Round 1 of the American-Made Solar Prize, a $3 million competition aimed at revitalizing U.S. solar manufacturing. The range of innovations among the competitors include cell and device-related concepts as well as module and applicationRead More

We wrapped our arms around California’s new Building Energy Efficiency standards in Installment I of the Countdown to 2020. In this installment, we take a closer look at how these 80,000 annual additions to the solar pipeline (based on historical averages) will more broadly impact the California solar market. RegulationsRead More

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers estimate that installing floating solar photovoltaics on the more than 24,000 man-made U.S. reservoirs could generate about 10 percent of the nation’s annual electricity production. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, reveal for the first time the potential for floatingRead More

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been awarded nearly $2.8 million in funding to develop a system for grid electricity storage and power generation that includes a high-temperature charging device, low-cost thermal energy storage modules, a high-performance heat exchanger, and a closed-loop Brayton cycleRead More

Rigid silicon solar panels dominate the utility and residential markets, but opportunity exists for thin-film photovoltaic and emerging technologies notable for being lightweight and flexible, according to scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Thin films such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium galliumRead More

Shaving the peaks off commercial and industrial (C&I) electric bills is the top revenue stream for energy storage systems, and given the trend in increasing utility charges for time-of-use consumption, peak shaving can pay for a system in as little as three years, system providers say. Just how high theRead More