In this week’s Solar News Roundup, General Motors sides with California in an important legal fight about clean air standards, and bifacial solar panels lose their exemption from the U.S. Section 201 solar tariffs.
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The energy storage industry is always evolving, generating new and improved battery options for homeowners each day. For an example of this, look no further than Electriq Power – this California-based energy storage company just released a new product called the PowerPod 2 that comes with some impressive upgrades to their original PowerPod product, such as lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry and improved storage duration. We recently sat down with Electriq to learn more about their newest offering, and what’s coming up next:
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If you live in Northern California, you’ve likely been impacted by electric power shut-offs or outages from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) over the last couple of years. As wildfires become increasingly prevalent in the state, and as the link between utility infrastructure–like transmission lines–and wildfires becomes increasingly clear, that trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, we wanted to take a step back and look at PG&E outages: why are they occurring, what does the past timeline of outages look like, and what can you expect moving forward.
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Electriq Power is a San Leandro, California-based energy storage company that designs and engineers its storage systems in the United States. Electriq’s original product, the PowerPod 1, includes a battery, hybrid battery/solar inverter, home energy management system, and an energy meter. Their newest product, the PowerPod 2, has a different chemistry and upgraded technical specifications that build on their already impressive storage system.
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(Updated November 2020)
California’s Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) is one of the first incentives for battery energy storage in the country. The program has been very successful, helping California to lead the nation in residential energy storage deployment. Recently, the program has received additional funding, with a slightly revised charter for how to use those funds. Below, we detail the adjustments to SGIP and how it will impact individual, residential solar + storage shoppers in California.
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Community solar is one of the easiest ways to save on electricity bills. However, as you compare your options, you’ll notice that most community companies won’t provide an average monthly savings estimate, and there’s a very good reason for this – truthfully, your bills and savings can vary quite a bit from season to season. We’ll dive into why below.
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In this week’s Solar News Roundup, a Yale study on the support of transitioning to a clean economy, and Arizona’s new carbon-free generation requirement.
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People who invest in solar are inherently forward-looking: solar panels last for 25 years or more, producing clean energy for decades to come. For people who are considering a new solar–or solar plus storage–installation today, it’s worth thinking about more than just what solar panels to install on your property. There are a few specific ways that you can set up your solar panel system now so that it’s future-proofed for anything else you might want or purchase over the next three decades.
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Many people are under the misconception that they can’t install solar panels on their roof for a variety of reasons, whether because of the material, their location, shade, or the dimensions of their roof. Truthfully, there are many factors that make a roof more or less suitable, but while some roof qualities make them a total no-no for installations, others have a minimal impact on a solar panel system investment. In this article, we’ll review two roof factors that impact the performance of solar panels: orientation and tilt.
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More and more homeowners are looking for ways to improve the resilience of their home’s electricity systems. Historically, many people who wanted backup power for their homes in the event of an emergency–think natural disasters and other outage events–looked to back up generators for that resilience. These days, however, homeowners are increasingly looking to energy storage systems, and solar plus storage systems in particular, for that peace of mind during outages.
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