Category: Solar

Solar for dryland soil health

Read the full story at pv magazine.

Biocrusts are microbe-rich deposits in soil that are crucial to ecosystem sustainability in arid environments. Researchers are restoring biocrusts with the help of shade from solar.

Solarcycle CEO, fresh off $31.5M in public and private funding, discusses solar recycling’s future

Read the full story at Utility Dive.

Solarcycle recently raised series A funding and received a U.S. Department of Energy research grant. CEO Suvi Sharma said his company is scaling up as the solar industry adapts to circularity.

Gentle method allows for environmentally friendly recycling of solar cells

Read the full story from Chalmers University of Technology.

By using a new method, precious metals can be efficiently recovered from thin-film solar cells. This is shown by new research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The method is also more environmentally friendly than previous methods of recycling and paves the way for more flexible and highly efficient solar cells.

Regenerative agriculture and agrivoltaics: Farm-to-solar could accelerate the renewable energy transition

Read the full story at LA Progressive.

Embracing regenerative agriculture and agrivoltaics may be able to ally solar industry stakeholders with local farmers and the global agriculture industry.

Pioneering project helps renters cash in on solar savings

Read the full story from Canary Media.

By cleverly stacking an array of incentives and credits, two nonprofits are helping Minneapolis apartment dwellers slash their power bills by up to one-third.

Solar panels could be installed in the spaces between railway tracks in world first

Read the full story at Euronews.green.

Solar panels are being rolled out “like carpet” on railway tracks in Switzerland.

Swiss start-up Sun-Ways is installing panels near Buttes train station in the west of the country in May, pending sign-off from the Federal Office of Transport.

Building with Benefits: Meaningful Benefits as a Foundation for Equitable Community Solar Webinar Series

Join the National Community Solar Partnership as they launch the webinar series, ‘Building with Benefits: Meaningful Benefits as a Foundation for Equitable Community Solar’ to highlight best practices in developing community solar projects and programs that deliver meaningful benefits to subscribers and their communities. The webinars showcase the winners of the 2022 Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar and are moderated by a leading industry expert about the unique challenges related to delivering specific meaningful benefits, the best practices their project or program developed to address these challenges, and how their solution can be replicated or scaled.

Toyota teams with Alabama utility on $49M solar project

Read the full story at Manufacturing Dive.

Toyota plans to run more than 70% of its Alabama manufacturing operations on solar power through a $49 million project with a local utility. 

Toyota Alabama, Toyota Tsusho America, and Huntsville Utilities last week announced a power purchase agreement to support a 168-acre facility that will generate 62,000 megawatt hours a year, reducing about 22,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. 

The solar facility is expected to begin generating power in the summer of 2024. Toyota has a goal of achieving carbon neutrality within its operations by 2035.

Addressing Regulatory Challenges to Tribal Solar Deployment

Download the report.

The Addressing Regulatory Challenges to Tribal Solar Deployment guidebook is organized into three books:

  • Book 1 presents each significant regulatory challenge and associated solutions identified during the course of this project.
  • Book 2 includes a set of case studies of Tribal solar deployment projects or examples of policy solutions.
  • Book 3 contains a set of “issue briefs” presenting details on issues that are uniquely/specifically relevant to solar deployment on Tribal land.

The three books strive to provide accessible information about solutions to common challenges, to improve stakeholders’ understanding of unique aspects of developing solar on Tribal land, and to help stakeholders to work together on future policy solutions.

A huge community solar order is latest in US clean manufacturing boom

Read the full story from Canary Media.

A record-setting supply agreement between solar hardware builder Qcells and project developer Summit Ridge Energy was announced last week, indicating that the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act are already driving the deployment of domestically sourced renewable energy infrastructure.

The 1.2-gigawatt panel deal is the largest equipment purchase for community solar in U.S. history, the two companies said in a release. It will spur the construction of 2.5 million solar panels that will likely be deployed in hundreds of proposed projects across Illinois, Maine and Maryland. Summit Ridge Energy expects the first 200 megawatts to be installed before the end of this year.