Tag Archives: system
In Focus: Off Grid Solar Power Billboard Lighting
The biggest challenge associated with lighting the scores of billboards located along remote stretches of highways and byways throughout the US is the accessibility of AC power. When AC power is not readily available or too costly to access, SEPCO’s ultra reliable grid-free solar power systems—combined with energy efficient, high performance LED flood light fixtures [...]
In Focus: Dupont’s Solar Quality Standards
Solar installations were removed from twenty-four San Diego Unified School District campuses after corrosion was discovered that threatened the possibility of electrical issues that could lead to fires. The 4.3-megawatt installation was built in 2005-06 by Solar Integrated Technologies (SIT). SIT was acquired by Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) (PINK:ENERQ) in 2009. ECD’s Uni-Solar manufactured the [...]
California’s Oldest Winery Goes Solar
The Charles Krug Winery, California’s oldest, has joined a growing number of California wineries turning to the sun for more than just growing grapes. The winery is becoming the latest to add photovoltaics to reduce its grid-supplied electric demand. It’s also taking advantage of the installation to reduce its energy use. The Napa Valley winery [...]
India’s Power Grid Failure: What Happened?
This is the first part of a two part piece by Raj Prabhu of Mercom Capital addressing the recent blackouts in India. This first part examines technical, regulatory and political dimensions of the problem, and the second part will deal with proposed solutions. The massive grid failure in India last week affected over 600 million [...]
Grid-Tied vs. Off-Grid Solar
Will I need batteries for my solar system? How much does it cost to go completely off the grid? These questions often come up as people start thinking about going solar. So, what does it really mean to go “off-grid” with a PV system? First, let’s take a look at a traditional grid-tied system. Grid-tied [...]
SolarCity, Panasonic Both Working on Home Energy Storage Solutions
Before grid-tied solar, many people bought a battery along with a solar system to keep the lights on during cloudy days. Once solar connected to the grid, that expensive component went by the wayside, but now it could be returning. Both SolarCity and Panasonic are developing small batteries for homes or small businesses to guard against power outages, either from intermittency issues, as [...]
The YBR Solar Parking System
It is nice to see that more and more installations that are out in the open are turning towards solar energy. It makes plenty of sense that when a installation like a street lighting unit or parking system is receiving sunlight all through the day then it might as well tap into this unlimited energy [...]
Kyocera’s PV Power Generation System
If you want a little solar charger for your smartphone or a solar bulb that will help you in the backyard, then many of those are available with new ones coming forth every day. But units like the ones Kyocera is offering are not going to be launched all too often and this Solar Power [...]
Group Net Metering: Community Solar’s Golden Ticket
Almost every state in the country has net metering laws on the books. But only a few states allow a lesser-known policy that is critical for the expansion of distributed renewables, particularly community-scale solar— that’s aggregate, virtual, or group net metering. And there are a lot of good reasons to want to see its expansion. [...]