Tesla’s price shock: Solar + battery as cheap as grid power

Compared to Powerwall 1.0, peak power has increased by 40 per cent, continuous power by 50 per cent, storage capacity by 100 per cent (to 14 kWh) and an inverter is included. And all this for US$5,500 ($A8,800) – about the same price as Powerwall 1.0.

In other words, the price per kWh stored and re-used has halved in less than a year. Indicative installed prices in Australia are a little over $10,000. The commonly accepted wisdom was that battery costs would decline more gradually than the precipitate decline seen in solar PV costs. This has been proved wrong.

Let’s do a solar PV+battery+grid versus grid-only price comparison.

First, let’s assume a 4,800kWh per year household in Adelaide and that its electricity bill is either the average of all 77 market offers after all conditional discounts, or the average of all 77 Market Offers before all conditional discounts, from the 16 retailers operating in Adelaide (data from MarkIntell). Read more…

Tesla’s price shock: Solar + battery as cheap as grid power

Amazing off-grid Tiny Solar House travels across the U.S.

The Tiny Solar House is a 210-square-foot off-grid home on wheels that’s powered by six 280-watt photovoltaic panels. The owner, an advocate of clean energy, has taken his tiny house on a journey across the U.S. to visit national parks and educate people about the advantages of smart, solar-powered design.

The tiny mobile home measures approximately 18 feet long and 9 feet wide and it was constructed with a cedar exterior using vertical tongue-and-groove siding and long walls. It features a living room / office space; a kitchen with a fridge, double sink and a four-burner stove; a bathroom with shower and compost toilet; a sleeping loft with a queen-sized mattress and storage space.

The solar panels installed on the roof generate enough clean energy to keep the house powered throughout the day. These are connected to maintenance-free deep cycle AGM batteries and a MidNite Solar charge controller and Xantrex inverter that keep the system running throughout the night. Read more…

Amazing off-grid Tiny Solar House travels across the U.S.

How solar energy can (finally) create value

(McKinsey&Company) The market for solar power is growing faster than ever, but profitability has been lagging. The keys to improvement are better capital and operational efficiency.

Solar energy is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Last year, China and the United States installed a record 15 and 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar, respectively. This year, the world could install as much as 66 GW.¹In 2015, investors poured $161 billion of capital into solar, the largest amount for any single power source.²In China, 43 GW of capacity have been installed, more than in any other nation; India aspires to build 100 GW of solar capacity by 2017. Across the sun-drenched Middle East, investment rose from $160 million in 2010 to about $3.5 billion in 2015.³

The world is building more solar-power plants because they are getting cheaper. Since 2009, the total installed costs of solar have fallen by as much as 70 percent around the world. New power-purchase agreements frequently fall below $100 per megawatt-hour, with some reaching less than $30.⁴That price puts solar at or below the cost of a new natural-gas plant.

Regulatory measures, such as the Investment Tax Credit in the United States, further support the economics of solar. In many instances, solar is often “in the money”—that is, less costly than the next cheapest alternative. A number of leading multinationals are signing solar deals not only to gain green credentials but also to lower their energy costs and diversify their sources of supply. Read more….

How solar energy can (finally) create value

Elon Musk wants to sell people solar roofs that look great. Here’s his much anticipated design

After hinting for weeks about a groundbreaking design to lure more customers to solar energy, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday showcased a line of high-design roof tiles that generate power from the sun without the clunky panels sold by most companies.

“The key is to make solar look good,” Musk said during the product introduction staged on the old set of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” series at the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. “We want you to call your neighbors over and say, ‘Check out this sweet roof.’ ”

Musk, chief executive of Tesla and chairman of SolarCity, intends to build a personal alternative energy ecosystem connected by software and harmonious design, all under the Tesla brand name. The idea is that green-minded homeowners will mix with performance-oriented automotive geeks at Tesla retail stores to shop for electric cars, charging stations, solar rooftops and wall-mounted batteries for energy storage — all available separately but designed to work best as a system. Read more…

Elon Musk wants to sell people solar roofs that look great. Here’s his much anticipated design

SolPad: A Compelling Foretelling Of Residential Solar’s Future

Last month, Silicon Valley startup Sunculture Solar unveiled its solar-plus-storage solution, to Jobsian fanfare. SolPad™ was all over the tech media on the morning of September 22 (here, there, and seemingly everywhere).

And while the iMac’s solar cousin hasn’t yet dented the universe, it seems that its effects were felt in Fremont. How else to explain Elon Musk tweeting at 10 am that same morning about the eventual unveiling of Tesla/Solarcity’s solar roof product? (He is known to be somewhat competitive, after all…) Or was that just one of the universe’s funny coincidences?

Owing to the comically belated nature of this article, most CleanTechnica readers have probably heard of the SolPad. (And wondered why CleanTechnica hadn’t covered it yet!) A combination solar panel + storage battery + microgrid generator that can be plugged directly into an electric outlet, it looks to be the world’s first all-in-one, off-the-shelf plug-and-play solar solution. SolPads can also be daisy-chained together to create bigger systems offering more power and storage, as required. Read more…

SolPad: A Compelling Foretelling Of Residential Solar’s Future

Yale-Led Project to Widen Access to Household Solar Receives Federal Grant

Over the past three years a Yale-led project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) yielded key insights into the kinds of incentives that will make solar more competitive in the household energy market and the valuable role of peer groups in influencing wider adoption.

A new $1.35 million grant from DOE will extend the project, allowing partner organizations to explore how to further broaden the appeal of solar power to a mass market — including low- and moderate-income households.

Led by Kenneth Gillingham, assistant professor at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), the program will specifically examine the potential value of adding solar power in places where the power grid faces the greatest challenges to accommodating demand and strategies to make solar a more accessible option for lower income communities.

The project is funded by the DOE’s Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Studies (SEEDS) program. The Yale-led SEEDS-2 project will involve several partners, including: the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY); SmartPower, a social marketing firm; the Connecticut Green Bank; Duke University; and MySunBuddy, an online marketplace that connects solar owners with solar buyers. Read more…

Yale-Led Project to Widen Access to Household Solar Receives Federal Grant

India’s Rooftop Solar Power Capacity Crosses 1 Gigawatt Mark: Report

India’s Rooftop Solar Power Capacity Crosses 1 Gigawatt Mark: Report

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: October 19, 2016 14:47 IST

  

by Taboola 

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Power generated by rooftop solar panels has crossed 1 gigawatt across India, a report stated.

New Delhi:  India’s rooftop solar energy capacity has crossed 1 gigawatt (GW) mark this year with 513 MW generation capacity added over the past 12 months, says Bridge to India report.

“As per the report, titled ‘India Solar Rooftop Map’, India’s rooftop solar capacity has crossed 1 GW mark this year,” said consultancy services provider Bridge to India.

India has added 513 MW of rooftop solar capacity over the past 12 months, growing at 113 per cent over previous 12 months, reaching total installed capacity of 1,020 MW, according to the report released today at Intersolar Mumbai.

Last year’s capacity addition is more than the addition of all previous years put together. 22 per cent of capacity added through PPA (power purchase agreements) based projects.

CleanMax, Amplus Solar, Cleantech Solar, Azure Power, Rays Expert and Hero Future Energies are some of the leading companies offering PPAs. Read more…

India’s Rooftop Solar Power Capacity Crosses 1 Gigawatt Mark: Report

Stanford University to go for solar rooftop energy

With one of the largest campuses in the country, the private research university in northern California announced the Stanford Solar Generating Station project last year.

US’ Stanford University is moving ahead with its goal that 50 per cent of its electricity will be powered by a new solar plant now in the final stages of construction. With one of the largest campuses in the country, the private research university in northern California announced the Stanford Solar Generating Station project last year. The plant, in Kern county of southern California, is scheduled to be functional by the end of November, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

After a testing period, according to a news release from Stanford, the plant located on a site of 242 acres, or nearly 1 sq.km, in the high desert region about 300 miles, or 483 km, southeast of Stanford is expected to be providing power to the 125-year-old school on a regular basis by the end of 2016. Read more…

Stanford University to go for solar rooftop energy

Energy Efficiency Is Key To Taking On Climate Change—Here Are The Numbers That Matter

Energy efficiency isn’t as sexy as inventing new, cleaner forms of power. But, if you care about climate change, you really ought to care about it. Efficiency will need to account for a third of emissions reductions by 2040 if we’re stay within relatively safe global warming limits, according to the International Energy Agency.

“Simply put, there are no realistic or affordable energy and climate change policy without a sizable and vigorous energy efficiency component,” the IEA says in a new report.

The good news is we are becoming smarter about energy use. Energy “intensity”—the amount of energy needed to generate a unit of global GDP—improved by 1.8% last year. That was higher than in 2014, even though energy prices have been falling, which normally encourages people to use more energy, not less. Read more…

Energy Efficiency Is Key To Taking On Climate Change—Here Are The Numbers That Matter

10 Myths About Solar Power — Busted

Despite the overwhelming growth of residential solar installations, many myths remain about solar power. Here are the top 10 solar power myths — and the facts that refute these myths.

Myth: Solar panels do not work well in cold climates.

Fact: Most solar panels actually work best in cold, sunny conditions. Conductivity increases in cold temperatures, making electricity flow more efficiently, while higher temperatures can reduce the panels’ efficiency. As solar panels get hotter, they produce less power from the same amount of light.

Myth: Solar power will get more efficient, so I should wait to buy or install.

Fact: While many companies are working to improve the efficiency of solar panels, the current technology for solar panels is well established — in fact, we’ve been using the same solar technology, more or less, since the 1960s. The potential efficiency gains of future panels are small compared to the panels ready for installation today, and the efficiency gains when measured in total dollars saved on your energy bills is miniscule.

Myth: I won’t live in my home long enough to make my investment in solar back.

Fact: Depending on your system and location, solar panel arrays can pay for themselves within6 to 15 years. Combined with the best state and federal tax credits and incentives, you could start seeing a return on your investment within 2 to 4 years. Solar panels also increase the resale value of a home by about $15,000, so even if you won’t be in your home for the next 15 years, you can still see a significant return on investment when you sell. Read more…

10 Myths About Solar Power — Busted