As you compare your solar energy options, you may hear your solar installer discuss wiring your solar panels in series or in parallel. How you wire your panels can impact the performance of your system, but the question is, which option is best for your home? And how much does it really matter?
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Just like with any industry, there are a lot of players in the solar business. As someone considering your options, it can be helpful to understand the different solar companies that may play a part in your installation.
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In this week’s Solar News Roundup, the IEA’s World Energy Outlook report paints a positive picture for solar around the world, and New York commits to 70 percent renewables by 2030.
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Last week, EnergySage released our eleventh Solar Marketplace Intel Report. The free, publicly available report provides insight into the state of the solar market nationwide and at the state level through July of 2020. In this report, we take a look at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the solar industry, check in on how solar pricing compares on EnergySage to data from the rest of the market, and introduce a few brand new analyses of energy storage data, from cost to brand preference. A few key takeaways from the report are outlined below, and we look forward to your analysis and feedback on the report.
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When we talk about the environmental benefits of solar power, we often compare the overall carbon offset of a solar panel system to the environmental impact of planting trees. Ironically, maximizing the benefits of solar power may mean cutting down a tree or two prior to installation. It’s a difficult truth, but unfortunately, solar power and trees don’t really get along. Branches and leaves can block sunlight from hitting your roof, which means your solar panels aren’t generating as much clean electricity as they could otherwise be in a sunny area.
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Your solar panels need to be exposed to sunlight in order to produce power. However, unless you live somewhere with high amounts of smog, dust, dirt or sand blowing around, solar panel cleaning is generally not necessary. In most cases, occasional rain will be enough to naturally and safely keep your solar panels clean and free of debris that could lower production.
It may be a good idea to freshen up your panels occasionally if you live in an area with heavy particulates in the air. Here are answers to some of the top questions solar panel system owners have about cleaning solar panels and how to do it safely.
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Although utilities and the solar industry haven’t always had the most positive relationship across the country, there’s one distributed technology that utilities have been very quick to embrace: energy storage. When installed at a home or business, energy storage systems provide myriad benefits to both the owner of the system, as well as to the electricity grid as a whole. As a result, many utilities throughout the country are now actively encouraging the adoption of energy storage systems. Here are just a few of the reasons that utilities want you to have a battery.
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In this week’s Solar News Roundup, the world’s largest solar plant goes live in China, while in the U.S., solar generation has grown over 20% through the coronavirus pandemic so far.
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For many, solar panel systems are mostly a “set it and forget it” investment, requiring very little maintenance over the 25+ years. However, if you’re looking for extra peace of mind, one upgrade to consider is a solar operations and maintenance (O&M) package. Simply put, O&M packages are essentially protection plans for your solar investment. You can think of them as a sort of “homeowner’s insurance” for your solar panels; if a tree falls on a portion of your house, a home insurance plan will likely cover a large portion of the repair costs – the same is true of solar energy system repairs under O&M plans.
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It’s rare that very technical demonstrations of technology and supply chain advancements manage to jump beyond industry and into the public consciousness. But as with all things Tesla, the announcement of the company’s Battery Day was met with significant hype beyond just the storage and electric vehicle industries, and with good reason: teasers in anticipation of the event seemed to indicate that Tesla had discovered a breakthrough in energy storage manufacturing that would reduce the price of batteries to the point that they could begin to produce and commercialize a truly affordable electric vehicle.
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