SolarBOS is pleased to support Strata Solar in the construction of the 65MW Warsaw Solar Farm project located in Duplin County, North Carolina. SolarBOS will provide disconnect combiners as well as more than 4 million feet of pre-fabricated wire harness assemblies for this utility-scale project.

According to Strata Solar, the Warsaw Solar Farm is one of the largest solar projects in the country and the largest solar farm in North Carolina. It is located on 550 acres and once completed, it will consist of over 850,000 solar panels and create approximately 500 local jobs during the six-month construction schedule.

“We are proud to support Strata in their largest project to date and appreciate the trust they place in our products, our engineering, and our design team,” says Renee Garcia, East Coast Sales Manager for SolarBOS. “We are especially pleased to be able to provide wire harness solutions from our new Michigan facility for this project.”

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ONEnergy and Ideal Power, a developer of innovative power conversion technologies, said Sunwave Energy Efficiency division of ONEnergy has selected Ideal Power‘s power conversion systems (PCS) for use in its line of energy storage solutions to be launched in Canada and select U.S. states beginning in mid-2015. Ideal Power’s products will be included in certain Sunwave new energy storage solutions that address multiple commercial and industrial applications including demand charge management, peak shaving, off-peak energy storage, renewables integration, power quality and emergency backup systems.

“We’re focused on providing the most efficient and flexible power conversion systems to optimize products made by the world’s leading energy storage manufacturers,” said Ryan O’Keefe, Senior Vice President of Business Development for Ideal Power. “Working with Sunwave to broaden our customer reach is a great opportunity to strengthen our impact in this market and expand the footprint of our power conversion systems within the energy storage industry.”

“At Sunwave Energy Efficiency we aim to offer our customers best-in-class products to help them effectively manage their energy consumption and costs,” said Sandro Costa, Vice President, Sunwave Energy Efficiency. “Ideal Power’s products are a key part of a highly efficient and reliable energy storage solution, and we are pleased to add Ideal Power as a solution partner. The Ideal Power products are an integral part of ensuring that Sunwave’s energy storage solutions deliver maximum efficiency and performance at a highly competitive total cost of ownership for our customers.”

The deployment of these storage systems will help to fulfill the growing demand for behind-the-meter energy storage and management systems, and increase the availability of energy storage for grid-support and microgrid applications. Ideal Power expects this agreement to promote further adoption of its power conversion systems in the energy storage sector.

Ideal Power’s grid resilient power conversion systems, based on its award-winning, patented Power Packet Switching Architecture (PPSA), enable the integration of multiple power sources including solar PV, battery storage and conventional generators to form stable, flexible, reliable energy on-grid or off-grid. Its PPSA eliminates the need for many of the bulky components comprising conventional converters. This advancement has allowed Ideal Power to develop the lightest power conversion systems with the smallest footprint in the industry, making it a modular and easy-to-install solution that lowers installed system costs.

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CyboEnergy, a the developer of a solar power off-grid mini-inverter, said its product has the merits of both central inverters and microinverters. The inverter design includes multiple input channels, each of which has its own control and MPPT, solving partial shading problems, maximizing power production, reducing costs and making rooftop solar safer to install and operate.

CyboEnergy CEO, Dr. George Cheng said, “The technology in this latest patent addresses the urgent need for building more cost-effective and user-friendly microgrids, especially in rural parts of the world where billions of people live without electricity. In these areas, batteries are usually not available; therefore, traditional power inverters that require batteries to operate are not useful. Our off-grid CyboInverters can take DC power from solar directly, with or without batteries, so microgrids built on our IP are flexible for all parts of this large market.”

As shown in the following drawing, an off-grid CyboInverter has 4 input channels, where Channel 1 and 2 can connect to 2 solar panels and Channel 3 and 4 can connect to a 36V battery set. Its AC output can power lights, fans, TV, PC, battery chargers, and refrigerators. The CyboCharger takes power from the same off-grid AC circuit as a load and charges the battery during the day. When there is sufficient sunlight, CyboInverter will pull power from the solar panels and leave the batteries idle, extending battery life.

The company has been awarded a U.S. patent 8,994,218 entitled “Smart and Scalable Off-Grid Mini-Inverters.” This award follows the CyboEnergy 2014 U.S. patent 8,786,133, entitled “Smart and Scalable Power Inverters.”

The technology in CyboEnergy’s issued patents has been implemented in the company’s on-grid and off-grid family of CyboInverters, now being shipped to customers around the world including the U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Africa. The products include the following patented benefits: (1) multiple input channel design offering seamless integration of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, fuel-cell, and hydro, with batteries where battery energy storage is desired and affordable; (2) ability to operate and provide renewable power without drawing from the integrated battery storage until it is needed, thereby preserving battery life; (3) single or multi-pack “Master-Slave” design enabling flexibility for small off-grid applications and larger microgrid; and (4) ability to operate completely without any batteries. A battery-less microgrid is shown below where an off-grid CyboInverter H model can be used for electric water heating and solar cooking.

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DCIM100MEDIA

Smartsolar, a developer of rooftop PV systems in Honduras, has completed the largest rooftop power plant in Latin America, with energy produced by SMA Sunny Tripower TL-US three-phase, transformerless string inverters. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández attended the recent commissioning ceremony for the 3 MW system, located at the PepsiCo bottling plant in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The decentralized system comprises 98 SMA Sunny Tripower 24000TL-US inverters and 11,702 Jinko Solar modules. It is expected to generate 4,252,423 kWh of power annually, enough to offset 16 percent of the manufacturing facility’s energy consumption.

Project owner Embotelladora de Sula, S.A. (EMSULA) installed solar at the PepsiCo bottling plant in order to reduce power costs; better manage energy price fluctuations; be a more competitive, socially responsible company; and positively impact the environment by reducing its carbon footprint.

“We are honored to help EMSULA and PepsiCo reach their energy and sustainability goals,” said Henry Dziuba, president and general manager of SMA America. “The Sunny Tripower TL-US is the complete commercial solution, optimizing design, production and reliability while reducing the levelized cost of energy and improving financial returns.”

The Sunny Tripower TL-US features unmatched design flexibility, high efficiency and enhanced safety, making it the ideal solution for decentralized commercial PV plants. Also available in 12, 15 and 20 kilowatt models, the Sunny Tripower TL-US boasts peak efficiency of more than 98 percent while its OptiTrac™ Global Peak maximum power point (MPP) tracking algorithm further maximizes energy production by minimizing the effects of shade. It is suitable for both 600 VDC and 1,000 VDC applications and offers two independent MPP trackers, a combined or detached connection unit, and myriad mounting configurations (vertical to 15 degrees from horizontal), further increasing design flexibility.

“SMA was the right partner for the project because it is a leading global photovoltaic company that has demonstrated reliability based on its high-quality products and services,” said Roberto Larach, general director of EMSULA. “SMA also provides unparalleled technical expertise and support before, during and after project installation.”

The Sunny Tripower TL-US delivers a future-proof solution with full grid management features including power factor correction, low-voltage ride through, curtailment and frequency response. It also offers innovative monitoring and communications features allowing start/stop/reset remote capability, as well as SMA Service, technical support and plant-wide O&M availability. Safety and reliability have been enhanced due to its all-pole ground fault protection, integrated AFCI, reverse polarity indicator and DC monitoring per MPPT, granular down to four strings.

The Sunny Tripower TL-US is available through SMA’s North American distribution program. To locate an SMA Authorized Distributor, solar professionals can visit SMA America’s website and click “Where to Buy” to learn more about each distribution partner.

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Renusol America, a provider of solar PV mounting solutions with systems installed across the U.S., announced that it has provided its pre-assembled, ‘rail-less’ mounting solution, Renusol MS, for mounting a recently completed PV solar system at Service Steel in Huntsville, Alabama. The 148.2-kW system consists of 456 Suniva 325 panels in three arrays on a pitched trapezoidal sheet metal roof that serves as a canopy over Service Steel’s heavy duty welding and material handling operations and its data and administrative facility.

“The power loads at their industrial facility varied from the typical 120 volts for the computer and admin building, 240 volts for welding machinery and a 3-phase 480 volt application for cranes and material handling equipment,” says Chuck Boggs, CEO of Ace, LLC Solar, the energy contracting company based out of Pulaski, TN that designed and installed the system. “The Renusol MS is the easiest roof mount system we have ever worked with, requiring no field training. We believe it’s the most foolproof, forgiving and cost-effective solution available. It eliminates the need for long rails and left us plenty of space to install the wire management system needed for distributing the generated power to the different functions.”

The PV solar system will reduce Service Steel’s annual utility cost by an estimated 90%, representing an annual savings of $35,000.00. For the month of April 2015, Monte and Matt Taylor, Owners of Service Steel, enjoyed a $ -3.75 utility bill. By utilizing all the solar incentives, this system will have a 4.6 year payback and a 19.9% ROI.

The system will generate an estimated 6,876,851 kWh of electricity over the expected thirty-five year life span of the installation and offset more than 4,742 Metric Tons of carbon dioxide and reduce CO2 emissions by an amount equal to 5,093,383 pounds of coal burned.

“Renusol America has been leading the way in providing easy to install, cost-effective mounting solutions for the industry,” notes Bart Leusink, Renusol America’s CEO. “Eliminating the need for rails with this innovative mounting system means enormous savings in installation time and shipping costs for installers.”

The Renusol MS mounting system is compatible with all widely used trapezoidal metal roofs 26-gauge or thicker with flat peaks at least ¾” in width. The adjustable Renusol MS system fits all commonly used modules, reducing the inventory that installers need to carry and is ICC and UL approved, which helps to expedite the permitting process.

More information can be found at www.renusolamerica.com.

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Power Electronics offers its new utility scale solar inverter HEC1500V, ranging from 1MW to 3MW. The outdoor, modular, redundant inverter generates high yields and provides outstanding up time with eight years of tracked hardware reliability.

The manufacturer explained that five solar PV module manufacturers have released 1500-V PV modules, and EPCs and developers are seeing 1500V as an opportunity to lower the price per watt and gain competitiveness. “The release of HEC1500V utility solar inverter is another example of our commitment to the solar industry and our contribution for a sustainable future,” said David Salvo – CEO.

Power Electronics’ Industrial Division has been manufacturing and installing 1700Vdc power converters for over eight years for leading mining, Oil & Gas and water companies that require their processes to be running 24/7 under the highest up time ratios. Now the technology has been migrated to the well-known HEC platform that ensures outdoor durability with stainless steel construction, 50mm mineral isolation and the best-in-class cooling 50ºC performance.

The HEC1500V Solar inverter is available with the ultimate FSDK 1500V recombiner to help the beginners with a successful first experience. The FSDK is featured with fuse and contactor per input that reduces fuse servicing and ground fault detection time, as well as being fully NEC2014 compliant. An unbeatable offering and a unique philosophy Power ON Support, makes Power Electronics the right choice for worldwide utility scale PV plants.

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Solarrus Corporation and meteocontrol, two of energy service providers for the solar PV industry, have announced that they formed a partnership to jointly develop a new operations platform to promote and deliver their respective services.

By partnering with Solarrus, meteocontrol will now have the capability to offer North America customers the commissioning, corrective repair, and maintenance capabilities on sites that have meteocontrol hardware. Furthermore, the partnership will also be able to expand meteocontrol’s capabilities to also monitor the key performance indicators for electric vehicle charging stations and battery energy storage systems.

The field capabilities will be fulfilled by True South Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of Solarrus. Customers will benefit from this cooperation because the integration combines high quality field services with easy access to other meteocontrol quality analytics, such as performance checks or on-site evaluation of systems in order to optimize project yields and costs.

“Incorporating True South Renewables field capabilities into the meteocontrol offering makes a lot of sense for our customers,” stated Robert Pfatischer, Managing Director of meteocontrol. “Selection of the asset management platform is an important decision for each and every project. meteocontrol is offering market leading solutions, we recently surpassed a monitored capacity of more than 10 GWp. Now we are able to also incorporate service and maintenance of the equipment from a field organization that is recognized as the largest independent solar O&M company in the US market.”

Solarrus Corporation, the parent company for both True South Renewables (TSR) and MaxGen Energy Services (MaxGen), will work with meteocontrol to customize a new software platform for a new, state of the art monitoring and reporting capability that will coordinate all of its field operations, including technical operations management for solar, electric vehicle charging, and battery energy storage installations.

The new meteocontrol monitoring and reporting operations center will not only receive and analyze data from the field, but will also be fully integrated with the dispatch system for Solarrus’ field technicians. Solarrus field technicians are active in the United States from coast to coast, and in 2014 performed O&M services for over 2,000 unique locations. By integrating meteocontrol analysis and alarm triage with Solarrus’ field footprint, overall operations management is anticipated to be more efficient.

“A critical element of the software platform provided by meteocontrol is that the operations center will be technology agnostic, allowing data for all field services provided by TSR and MaxGen to be captured and integrated with the ability to dispatch field technicians,” said Bill Klein, co-founder and CEO of Solarrus. “The operations center will continue to allow TSR and MaxGen to take on service and maintenance contracts regardless of the type of equipment selected by our customers. By incorporating meteocontrol’s software, we will be able to further automate the analysis that we deliver for our customers today.”

The new meteocontrol monitoring and reporting operations center will be co-located in the Solarrus headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, and the staff will integrate personnel from Solarrus, True South Renewables, MaxGen, and meteocontrol.

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High Performance Homes releases its first model home has received the distinguished U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home certification. By exceeding the rigorous DOE Zero Energy Ready Home National Program Requirements, this home is effectively in the top 1 percent of homes in the nation for outstanding levels of energy savings, comfort, health and durability.

Located near historic Gettysburg in the Links-style golf course community, The Links at Gettysburg, the 5,500 square foot single-family detached home employs a comprehensive package of leading-edge high-performance home building technologies. This includes DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles, a geothermal heating and cooling system, energy-efficient appliances, structurally insulated panels (SIPs), and advanced air quality systems. High Performance Homes’ proprietary home automation and energy monitoring technology is also included, enabling complete heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) control, as well as remote control of lighting, thermostats, and security from any smart device.

DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes are verified by a qualified third-party and are at least 40-50 percent more energy efficient than a typical new home. This generally corresponds to a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index Score in the low- to mid-50s, depending on the size of the home and region in which it is built. High Performance Homes model achieved a HERS Index Score (with on-site electricity generation) of 23, meaning the home is nearly 60 percent more energy-efficient than an average new home in Pennsylvania and as much as 100 percent or more energy-efficient than the average existing home. The annual energy cost of this home is $3,506 dollars less than a house built to the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (which is the current model energy code in Gettysburg) and $6349 dollars less than an existing home of the same size in the same city.

Samuel Rashkin, Chief Architect for DOE Building Technologies Office said, “Zero Energy Ready Homes like this new Links at Gettysburg model are the home of the future because they live, work, and last better with incredibly low or no energy costs. And what’s exciting for American homebuyers, they are available today thanks to leading builders across the country.”

“I am incredibly proud of the merit of this home,” said High Performance Homes President, Kiere DeGrandchamp. “We are a small builder with a big vision. With three hundred lots available, we aim to build the largest concentration of single-family homes built to the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home National Program Requirements.”

The home builder has also received the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certification on another home, achieving a HERS Index Score (with on-site electricity generation) of 16, and has four more homes in production that High Performance Homes anticipates will also receive the prestigious certification.

National and regional leaders of the home building, energy, and real estate industries, along with local officials, will gather at The Links at Gettysburg in June for a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration of the High Performance Homes model, and to raise awareness for the environmental and consumer benefits of homes built to these stringent standards.

High Performance Homes is a DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Partner committed to meet all requirements set forth in the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home National Program. Additionally, the home builder is a National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Green Partner, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Indoor airPLUS Partner and ENERGY STAR Partner.

Solar Power World

smartblue AG now offers its recently developed Smartblue data logger as part of its PV monitoring system. The data logger is a simple, easily organized data acquisition equipment connected with the cloud based Smartblue portal.

The components of the modular data logger are supplied from industrial automation hardware specialist, Phoenix Contact. Smartblue then integrates the standard software protocol which fits current industry requirements and can easily adapt to any changes brought in the future – for example: smart grid control. The data logger hardware can be extended any time with software and hardware interfaces. And the spare parts for the components are available long term. This fulfills the need for the long life cycle of PV systems.

“We are committed to provide long term solutions that meet the needs of our customers and the photovoltaic industry. The Smartblue data logger provides standard hardware and software at industrial grade with reliability and long term availability”, says Günter Seel – CEO & founder of smartblue AG.

The Smartblue data logger is suitable for both medium and large scale PV systems. It continuously collects data from sources like inverters; string connection boxes, weather sensors or energy meters and provides access to the exact current status of the entire PV system. Users can easily access this information through the Smartblue monitoring console.

The data logger is now available and the first orders have been delivered to customers in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. It will be presented at the Intersolar Europe 2015, where Smartblue will also highlight its new sales and service partners and the functions and features of its new Smart Control Center.

Solar Power World

Principal Solar Inc. has contracted Alpha Energy as its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner to build its Principal Sunrise IV project located in Cumberland County.

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Tigo Energy stated that never before did a single line of solar electronic component products address such a broad spectrum of horizontal stakeholders in each vertical market. The manufacturer explained its TS4 is a module-level platform of solutions, empowering manufacturers, distributors, installers, financiers, developers, homeowners, O&M providers, utilities and micro grids, with an open architecture device, which is nothing less than a solar operating system – PV 2.0 arrived. The solutions apply for all market segments; residential, commercial, and utility.

The TS4 is a unique hardware-software combination in the industry, replacing the traditional PV modules’ junction boxes with two, soon to be industry standard, key components, according to the manufacturer. The first is a universal TS4 base, which connects to the module and incorporates the power cables. The second is its mating detachable lid or cover, housing the application electronics. Together they form a new generation of junction boxes; flexible, replaceable and upgradable, accompanied by a powerful PV 2.0 communication-centric architecture backend.

Tigo said its TS4 is revolutionary by design, yet when examining its roots it’s clear that this is the most logical evolution from PV module and add-on power electronics. This next generation hybrid enables each TS4 base module to become Smart by changing its inherent functionality, at any given point of its life. Unlike its predecessors, TS4 does it without any additional cables, boxes or rewiring.

There are also no boxes involved. Why is it important? Tigo Energy explained that for a 500-kW, installation, competing solutions can include as many as 2,000 boxes (nearly 3,700 pounds) that will have to be carried to the site and later disposed of, which is easy to forget, and time-consuming once remembered. The additional cables add up to ~14,000 feet –increasing resistance and damaging performance.

The first five TS4 covers offered by Tigo include the following incremental functionalities; diode, monitoring, safety, optimization and longer strings. Finally the company explained a customer can select the exact functionality needed, for the exact budget; maximizing performance at optimal cost. The covers can mix and match, thanks to the universal base, open standard PV 2.0 communication protocol, and a state of the art optimization mechanism that can be selectively deployed.

Each TS4 cover with optimization capabilities is equipped with the new and improved Predictive IV technology, using module unique parameters and advance analytics based on historical module behavior statistics and patented Impedance Matching (as recently demonstrated by NREL to recuperate an average of 36% of the energy lost otherwise).

Deployment of Predictive IV accommodates selective placement as needed and can be applied to any module in a single string, therefore, minimizing the number of optimizers needed to gain the maximum energy generation, Tigo said. In other words, any PV Module in a string that is exposed to shade, higher temperature or has a higher mismatch characteristic with other modules, can be outfitted with TS4-O or TS4-L and gain the maximum energy generation efficiencies. This is by far the most cost effective solution that exists today to ensure maximum energy harvest. In fact, 3rd party tests are consistently showing a higher overall power boost with Tigo at as little as $0.05/watt.

Taking longevity and maintenance into account, tips the scale further towards TS4, even without the systems management features and sticking to the diodes cover – TS4-D. Functionality is identical to a traditional PV module, however in addition to having the option to upgrade or replace covers down the road; TS4 base modules have best-in-class thermal management. The Tigo TS4-D dissipates less heat on the back sheet of the modules than a traditional junction box, improving even a “standard” module’s reliability and performance over time.

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This illustration shows the typical PV+storage system layout.

Tesla’s launch of its new residential battery system, the Powerwall, represents a major step toward affordable distributed energy storage. In promoting the Powerwall, Telsa has emphasized its ability to time-shift solar generation to hours of peak demand. However, it is not entirely clear how customers would benefit from this time-shifting given that net-metering already allows them, in effect, to use the electricity grid as a battery. For time-of-use rates with a large delta between peak and off-peak hours, energy storage could prove to be viable, but the vast majority of residential utility customers are not on such rate structures and many utilities do not even provide this option.

The benefits of residential energy storage appear to be limited under net-metering, but these storage systems may be well positioned to dominate markets in which net-metering is limited or nonexistent. Several U.S. states, such as Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as large parts of Texas, do not currently allow net-metering. But perhaps more importantly, net-metering has increasingly come under attack from utilities in many states where the solar industry has historically been successful. In parts of Hawaii, high solar penetrations have led utilities to halt or significantly delay new interconnections. In some cases, this is leading customers to install non-exporting systems, which do not send excess generation to the grid. APS, the largest utility in Arizona, has pushed the state’s Corporation Commission to impose large fees on net-metered customers, and while this has so far been largely unsuccessful, the battle is sure to be fought again.

Telsa has emphasized its ability to time-shift solar generation to hours of peak demand with solar energy storage. Traditionally, PV generation peaks in the afternoon and loads peak in the evening, after families arrive home from work and school.

In markets where net-metering is not allowed or is heavily penalized, cheap energy storage may provide an alternative by allowing solar customers to store their excess generation rather than feeding it into the grid. A year ago, I authored a White Paper titled Residential PV-Storage System Optimization Under Self-Consumption, which investigated the very question of whether residential energy storage can provide an alternative to net-metering. In order to examine the economic viability of such a setup, I developed a nonlinear optimization model that determines the optimal sizing and operation of a residential PV + lithium-ion battery system under a variety of cost assumptions and utility rate structures.

Based on this model, it does not appear that the Powerwall, with costs of around $350/kWh can serve as a replacement for net-metering in most locations. However, in markets like Hawaii, where electricity costs are extremely high and net-metering is already being curtailed, these batteries are already looking attractive for solar customers. And with battery prices projected to reach $200/kWh by 2020 and to continue declining for the foreseeable future, much of the U.S. is likely to reach this same threshold in the next decade.

Beyond these high level findings, I found that the economics of solar+storage are highly dependant on how utilities structure their rates, and that this relationship is not always intuitive. For instance, time-of-use rates that charge more for electricity during the day than at night can lead to relatively small optimal system sizes and a trade-off between a larger PV system and a larger battery system. Given the important role that rate structures will play in shaping the future of distributed energy storage, more research is needed by regulators and utilities, academics and renewable energy providers to ensure that distributed storage realizes its full potential to enable a clean and reliable electricity system.

For more detail, please see the full paper: Residential PV-Storage System Optimization Under Self-Consumption by Graham Provost.

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Trojan Battery Co. LLC has added Energy Products as a master distributor, expanding its distribution network in the U.S.  Energy Products will work alongside Trojan’s current master distributor WorldWide Battery Co. LLC to manage customer sales and support activities in Michigan and Ohio.

Serving as a master distributor for Trojan Battery ensures that customers in the region will have access to Trojan’s broad portfolio of deep-cycle battery products, and will benefit from the support of Energy Products’ knowledgeable team of experts.  Energy Products offers Trojan’s complete line of deep-cycle flooded, AGM and gel batteries, to support Trojan’s key market segments, which include aerial work platform, floor cleaning equipment, golf and utility vehicles, marine/RV, material handling, and renewable energy.

“Expanding Trojan’s distribution network with the addition of Energy Products, enables us to readily meet customer demands in the region for deep-cycle batteries to power a variety of applications,” said Dave Godber, executive vice president of sales and marketing.  “Energy Products also will provide the high level of service our customers have come to expect from Trojan Battery.”

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SolarBOS is pleased to support Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) in the construction of their first utility scale storage battery in North America.

The 500KWH storage battery was installed in a 40’ sea container and paired with a 1MW grid interactive inverter. The storage battery has been deployed by a San Francisco Bay Area Fortune 500 company at one of their research and development centers.

Amperex Technology Limited is among the top 4 global suppliers of lithium-ion batteries. ATL lithium batteries are used for consumer electronics, transportation and grid connected energy storage from as small as 5KWH to multi-megawatt hour installations.

“We are proud to support (ATL) with the installation of their utility scale energy storage battery.” says Daniel Sherwood, Director of Product Management for SolarBOS. “Our deep experience manufacturing high voltage DC equipment for the solar industry translates easily into the emerging energy storage industry. We are able to help our customers integrate batteries with inverters as well as supply the high voltage DC connection panels and switch gear if required.”

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Con Edison Development, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, has acquired six shovel-ready solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 140 megawatts (MWDC) from a PV project portfolio developed through a joint venture between SolarReserve, , and GCL Solar Energy, Inc. (GCL). The acquisition adds to Con Edison Development’s existing portfolio of solar projects in California and to its overall renewable energy asset base around the United States. SolarReserve is a leading global developer of utility-scale solar power projects and advanced solar thermal technology. GCL Solar Energy is the U.S. solar development and IPP division of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited, the world’s largest polysilicon and wafer supplier.

“With the acquisition of these solar projects, Con Edison Development is significantly expanding the role we play in California’s dynamic, renewables sector,” said Mark Noyes, SVP and COO of Con Edison Development. “Moreover, these transactions help us build upon our long-standing record of responsible environmental stewardship in locations across the country.”

“We are pleased to continue our efforts to bring affordable clean energy to consumers, as well as deliver highly viable projects from our successful PV development efforts in the US,” said Kevin Smith, SolarReserve’s CEO. “These PV projects developed here in our home state are part of our global large-scale solar project development portfolio of more than 6.6 gigawatts (GW), which includes our advanced solar thermal technology, photovoltaic technology, and combined solutions that can deliver reliable, 24/7 baseload solar power that is cost-competitive with conventional energy sources.”

Ranging in size from 20 MWDC to 25 MWDC, the projects acquired by Con Edison Development are located in Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties and have the capacity to power approximately 25,000 homes. The projects are all fully permitted, with interconnection agreements in place. Power Purchase Agreements have been secured with Southern California Edison (SCE) for four of the projects and with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for the remaining two.

Dr. Fang Peng, President of GCL Solar Energy, said, “GCL is pleased to collaborate with Con Edison Development again, building upon a relationship established in 2012 when GCL developed and sold four central California utility projects to the company. GCL is committed to developing high-quality solar projects for investors and our own portfolio in North America and other international markets.”

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Solar Solutions provider ecoSolargy has installed a solar system on the roof of the Diamond Bar headquarters of VHA Prepaid Wireless, an authorized master agent. The 504 ecoSolargy Orion solar panels will produce over 184 MWh of electricity and will save VHA over $1 million in electricity costs over the next 25 years.

“With generous government incentives available, many companies are finding that solar systems can be installed inexpensively and will dramatically reduce their monthly electricity bills,” said Alan H. Lee, CEO of ecoSolargy. “Additionally, solar energy is clean energy, which is great for PR and the environment.”

Incentives include the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which gives a 30% tax credit to companies which purchase solar systems. The ITC will expire on December 31, 2016, and for solar systems to qualify, they must be completed by December 31, 2016.

Other tax incentives that can be combined with the 30% ITC include the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS), which allows a company to depreciate the system over 5 years, as opposed to the traditional 20 years. The ITC and MACRS together can pay for over 60% of the cost of installing a solar system. That is over 60% of the system cost recovered without even factoring savings on the utility bill.

Martin Brix, Director of Commercial PV at ecoSolargy, noted that the VHA solar system was designed to address the specific energy needs of the client. The project began with an extensive energy study which outlined how and when the energy was being consumed.

He explained, “It’s not always about offsetting 100% of the electricity usage of a client, but about finding the proper balance between use and expense. Our goal is to create a solution that optimizes energy production benefits and minimizes cost.”

The company is also working on a variety of other commercial projects in the area, Brix added, including projects in Irvine, Yorba Linda and Riverside.

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A large percentage of solar arrays are installed on appropriate roof surfaces or open land in the case of ground-mounted systems. However, some of the greatest opportunity for simple, successful installations actually comes from an unexpected source – brown fields and land not otherwise considered suitable for traditional development.

DCE Solar has released a report focusing on the unique installation challenges and opportunities present with landfills, brown fields and other locations where standard beam-driven rack mounts would be inappropriate or impossible.

Common challenges such as corrosion prevention, anchoring and slippage, and streamlined assembly are highlighted in the report. Other considerations such as materials used in composition, the ability to pre-assemble off-site and methodologies for minimizing maintenance are also discussed.

“Land that is otherwise unusable for development or building holds tremendous potential for solar energy collection,” said Bill Taylor, CEO of DCE Solar. “By adding a new source of revenue generation for these properties, property owners can optimize their return on investment for a wide variety of real estate assets.”

Besides presenting additional streams of income for property owners, DCE Solar’s report also highlights excellent earning potential for installers.

“One of our goals for this report in particular is that it will attract additional opportunities for the solar energy industry,” said Taylor. “By reducing the cost, we expect to see continued expansion of the solar market.”

Read or download the report here: http://www.dcesolar.com/docs/03-Leveraging-Simple-Solar-Installations.pdf

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DTE Energy today announced it is teaming with Domino’s Farms and Ford Motor Company to build and operate the two largest solar arrays in Michigan.

Solar Power World

Live webinar is Tuesday, June 9 at 2 PM Eastern.

As battery storage begins to move into the mainstream of the US solar industry, new storage equipment solutions are being introduced and being marketed for a wide range of market applications. With the rising interest in battery storage solutions, various code and standard making bodies are expanding along with increasingly well organized local municipal building and electrical codes as aligned to the National Electric Code. Bob Magyar of VARTA Storage along with Fire and Safety expert Mark Iannucci, the retired former Battalion Commander for the City of Yonkers, New York will speak about the requirements and concerns of the various code making and certification agencies in regard to battery storage installations.

In this webinar you’ll learn about:
-Installation requirements for lead acid versus lithium ion battery storage installations.
-Underwriters Laboratories expanding battery storage standards
-Understanding NEC to state to local installation authorities installation protocols

Register for this webinar here.

This webinar is sponsored by Varta Storage.

Solar Power World

Unit holders will get credit for their portion of the array’s power production, along with a pro rata rebate from the state under Washington’s Renewable Energy Cost Recovery program.

Solar Power World