Spencer Frazier’s Post

✅ The introduction of Artificial Intelligence in community solar is giving a new dimension to home solar arrays, making solar power more efficient and scalable. ✅ Puerto Rico’s solar net metering law is facing challenges, threatening the region's leading status in residential solar installations. ✅ Stable Solar Power Purchase Agreement prices present lucrative investment opportunities in home solar arrays in the current market scenario. Discover how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing community solar projects, with a US company raising a significant $50 million for this innovation. This breakthrough can boost the energy production and management of home solar arrays, making solar energy increasingly accessible and efficient. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico, the leader in residential solar installations last year, is witnessing a threat to its solar net metering law from a federal oversight board, a development that needs to be closely monitored. Even with this, the Solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) prices are currently stable, opening up an excellent window of opportunity for prospective solar array investors. In another development, false concerns regarding hail damage and toxicity risks have been alleviated by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), bringing a sigh of relief for stakeholders. Lastly, the increasing trend of pre-fabricated and customized wire management systems for solar installations is setting new benchmarks in project efficiency and longevity, giving solar companies an upper hand. For more information on selling solar virtually across the USA, visit www.tstpros.com.

This is awesome. Interconnectiveness, renewables that aren’t correlated (think wind and pv - also at different locations), large scale “batteries” (Norwegian, Swiss and Austrian hydro) - with Li-ion emerging … One can see the energy grid of the future with this visualisation!

Exciting Update on British Energy Grid Visualisation! We’re thrilled to share a groundbreaking update to our British energy grid visualisation. For the first time, we’ve integrated embedded (distribution connected) wind and solar data, thanks to a remarkable API provided by National Grid Distribution System Operators (DSOs) in the South West, South Wales, and Midlands. This enhancement marks a significant leap forward in our understanding of the grid’s green energy contributions. We’ve tried to plot them close to the highest conventrations of the technology in each area while minimising clutter - the sizes are to the same scale as the transmission generators. They also provide Demand data - which we hope to reuse soon. This morning, it’s much windier in the West, and the limited wind capacity we have is contributing more than its fair share of output (Johnny Gowdy?) Why This Matters: Spotlight on Solar The inclusion of embedded energy sources is crucial, particularly for solar energy. Solar installations, being predominantly small and embedded, have often been under-represented in energy data analytics. While there are notable exceptions like Larks Green and Burchwood, the vast majority of solar generation operates behind the scenes. Our current figures only include those with operational metering - but National Grid are hoping to broaden their remit on this soon and we are also looking at the possibility of using the Sheffield Solar data for other regions / as a stop gap. However, envisage a future where we can access a unified dataset of this hidden energy treasure - the potential insights are enormous! Looking Ahead: Expanding Our Horizon Our ambition doesn’t stop here. We’re eager to add more regions, especially those with significant energy contributions. While we’re particularly interested in obtaining live solar data for UKPN in the South East, we also recognise the value of embedding wind data from SSE’s glens. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive view of the UK’s energy landscape, highlighting the crucial role of embedded generation. Web: https://gb.kilowatts.io Android: https://lnkd.in/ejf5N3GC iOS: https://lnkd.in/emznkM4p Contributions for other DNOs data especially welcome https://lnkd.in/eNrsSQis. I found the Open Power Platforms rather opaque and lacking (at least as yet with real time data)- any pointers would be really welcome! #nationalgrid #solarpv UK Power Networks National Grid Electricity Distribution SSE plc Northern Powergrid Electricity North West

The Pennsylvania Solar Center is hosting a webinar on #netmetering. Net metering provides a number of benefits to Pennsylvanians, from avoided generation and lowering line loss to incentivizing development and creating economic development opportunities. Pennsylvania’s net metering policy has supported the growth of solar across the Commonwealth for over a decade by providing solar owners with credit for the electricity their solar system produces. Yet there’s still a lot to learn about the full potential of Pennsylvania’s net metering program that can unlock more benefits and opportunities for solar and non-solar owners alike. Strong net metering policy maximizes the potential for solar to economically benefit everyone by lowering wholesale electricity rates during periods of peak demand and reducing the need for grid upgrades, and much, much more.    Join the Pennsylvania #Solar Center as we discuss net metering with industry professionals and researchers, including Janet Gail Besser who chaired a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee to study net metering and its impacts on the electricity grid and consumers. We’ll also be joined by speakers that will discuss the various benefits of net metering, and how measuring those benefits can lead to a sunnier grid.    https://lnkd.in/gBxmyaaK

NEM 3.0, California's new net metering rule, went into effect last April, and many in the solar industry saw the move as the death knell of rooftop solar. But in the intervening year, residential developers have pivoted, choosing to focus on storage development and deployment. The latest research from EnergySage, an online solar marketplace that was acquired by Schneider Electric, found that there’s been a nearly 45% increase in storage attachment since NEM 3.0 went into effect. In this sense, the tariff seems to be doing exactly what it promised: https://lnkd.in/eFNHsaeH

Discover the dazzling leaps being taken in the solar industry through New York State's revolutionary tool, NYSolarCast, that is set to transform solar generation predictions and management. ✅ NYSolarCast, a groundbreaking tool offers highly accurate forecasts of potential electricity output from solar panels, updated every 15 minutes. ✅ The tool adapts from real world data from various utility-scale solar power plants and a host of distributed solar sites, coupled with related weather conditions. ✅ NYSolarCast uses data from New York State’s diverse network of weather monitoring stations—the NYS Mesonet, which takes into consideration a myriad of atmospheric parameters. New York State's innovative solar tool, NYSolarCast, is showing the power and potential of state funded schemes, by outperforming commercial counterparts significantly. Predicting the potential electricity output of solar panels, it updates every 15 minutes, providing unparalleled precision. Created in response to the increasing need for accurate electric generation predictions, as financial settings swiftly evolve and rapid installation of wholesale electricity occurs globally, NYSolarCast fills a crucial industry void. Drawing on data from multiple utility-scale solar power plants and distributed solar sites, along with corresponding weather conditions, it takes its learning capabilities a step further by drawing information from New York State’s extensive weather monitoring station network. Although the tool isn't perfect and has areas in need of improvement, NYSolarCast represents a promising development and confirms the fast paced evolution of solar technology. For more information on selling solar virtually across the USA visit www.tstpros.com.

A post on Solar Industry Math written by me and not AI -- seriously, LinkedIn, take off this annoying option. Double counting in the solar industry oversizes both capacity and shipments. Concerning capacity – many manufacturers use the following math to define their total capacity: ten gigawatts of cell capacity + ten gigawatts of module assembly capacity = twenty gigawatts of total capacity. Nope. The solar cell is the most important component, without which, again, no electricity can be produced: ten gigawatts of cell capacity + ten gigawatts of module assembly capacity = ten gigawatts of total capacity to manufacturer electricity producing modules. In another example of interesting solar industry math, a manufacturer may have ten gigawatts of solar cell capacity and twenty gigawatts of module assembly capacity for a total of exactly what it sounds like. I do not mean thirty gigawatts of total capacity. I mean buying cells from another source and claiming module shipments of thirty gigawatts – and they are technically correct. However, as both sources claimed that an extra ten gigawatts, industry shipments have been oversized. To be clear, the manufacturer can only claim ten gigawatts of shipments. A few years ago the industry began announcing lists of top cell manufacturers and top module manufacturers based on shipments. The cell list is the meaningful list. The top module manufacturer, because of outsourcing, means almost nothing in terms of correctly sizing the industry. Sizing the industry correct is very important for any producer of anything including polysilicon, wafers, trackers, inverters, etc. Oversizing the industry can lead to some risky business decisions. By the way, the same counting mistakes apply to the demand side – there is always a lag between what was bought, what was installed, and what was connected, and what was off grid. Since outsourcing and announcing shipments is a common industry practice and since the industry has over 900-GWp of cell capacity and >1.1-TWp of module assembly capacity, you can see how the industry is oversized and why most top ten lists (no matter how popular) are mostly PR. You can apply the same logic to the bankability and Tier 1, 2, and 3 lists because, back to outsourcing, it is difficult to determine whose technology is in which modules.

In off-grid locations, solar power is necessary, not just a green choice. There are many challenges, like the mystery surrounding solar battery performance. While solar devices keep an eye on operations, the performance of solar batteries remains a blind spot. The result? Overpriced replacements, unnecessary callouts, and expensive truck rolls. Imagine saving millions by eliminating all that hassle. The good news? There's a solution! FreeWave's groundbreaking remote solar power system manager offering total visibility into remote solar-powered operations. Read more in Solar Magazine by William Conley and learn how to join our exclusive beta user program! https://bit.ly/3sRCpJ1 #SolarPower #RenewableEnergy #CleanTech #Innovation

The Economist's essay on solar power is a thorough review of the industry's growth to provide one of the cheapest and most reliable forms of electricity generation available. The future is not without its challenges, but there are accessible ways to ensure success. Here are our main takeaways from the in-depth piece: 🏭 Growing competition: The relatively simple design of a solar module means incumbent manufacturers don't necessarily have a major edge on new players. The multitude of industry participants forces prices down, making solar power even more accessible over time. 📉 Falling cost: The levelised cost of solar—the breakeven price a project needs to get paid to recoup its investment—has dropped by a factor of more than 1,000. In 2014, BNEF, a research provider, estimated it at $122/MWh; it is now in the low $40s. And it continues to fall. ♻ More deployment: In 2004, it took the world a year to install 1GW of solar capacity. Twenty years later, that same amount was installed on a single day—on more than one occasion. 🛣 Pathway for continued growth: The increased popularity of solar power has led to grid constraints and negative pricing challenges in some countries. There are, however, manageable ways around those limits: long-distance connections for geographical arbitrage; battery storage for time arbitrage; increasing demand; and further innovations that’ll come from lower prices. You can read the full article with all its detail and nuance here: https://lnkd.in/gW3VbB3F #SolarEnergy

🌞 Considering solar batteries? 🌱 Delve into the world of solar energy storage to uncover surprising truths: 🔋 **Worth the Investment:** Installing a solar battery adds resilience and cost savings by avoiding peak electricity prices. How intriguing is it that a charged battery can be your lifeline during unpredictable outages or high-demand electricity periods? 💡 **Metaphor Reimagined:** Imagine a solar battery as your financial armor, shielding you from escalating energy costs and providing a safety net when the lights flicker out. ☀️ **Variety of Options:** From lead-acid to lithium-ion, each battery type offers distinct advantages and limitations. How fascinating to explore which suits your energy needs best? 🏡 **Residential Insights:** The average cost reveals an investment range, with considerations for maintenance, lifespan, and the evolving technology landscape. ⚡ **Federal Incentives:** The presence of a 30% tax credit sweetens the deal, making the case for solar batteries even more compelling. 🤔 **Join the Conversation:** Ever pondered the game-changer solar batteries could be for your energy strategy? Share your thoughts below! https://lnkd.in/gbMDAwvZ