Industry news

The U.S. residential PV market is one of the most consistent solar markets in the world. It has seen quarter-over-quarter growth in fifteen of the last seventeen quarters and is on pace to exceed 1 gigawatt of annual growth for the first time ever. In its Q2 2014 PV Leaderboard, released last week, GTM Research identifies the leading inverter suppliers

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  In the end, the online rumors proved to be largely accurate. Last night, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk revealed an all-wheel-drive version of the Tesla Model S electric luxury car–known as ‘D’–whose most powerful P85D version will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds. DON’T MISS: Tesla Model S Adds ‘Speed Assist,’ Lane-Departure Warning That makes

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AREVA and Schneider Electric have signed an R&D agreement to develop a new energy storage solution, called the flow battery in order to produce and store electricity by combining hydrobromic acid and hydrogen. Funded by the European Union, the project aims to optimize the existing 50 kW flow battery prototype designed by EnStorage to a 150 kW demonstration module. Under

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REGEN Energy Inc. announced today the closure of a Series B funding round in excess of $12 million. The round was led by new investors including a major US utility company, Export Development Canada (EDC) and EnerTech Capital, and was supported by existing REGEN investors BDC Capital and NGEN Partners. REGEN Energy provides industry-leading demand management and demand response solutions

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The AllSeen Alliance announced an initiative designed to change how people think about and interact with lighting in their homes and businesses. The Alliance’s Connected Lighting Working Group will develop ways for IP-enabled, multi-color and energy-efficient LED light bulbs to work in creative new ways with each other and things including televisions, home security systems, home appliances, smoke detectors and

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The Energy Department today announced nearly $8 million to support research and development of the next generation of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies. The R&D will focus on developing regionally appropriate HVAC solutions that would offer significant potential energy savings for new and existing buildings, and on developing innovative approaches that could replace current vapor compression HVAC technologies

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In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journalNature Communications, researchers atOhio State University reported that they’ve succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device. Key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel, which allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery

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The demand for power supplies capable of reliably working under harsh environments has been growing. In order to meet this need, Mean Well Enterprises Co. Ltd. has introduced the 600W HEP-600 series of ac-dc power supplies and the HEP-600C series battery chargers. These two series employ high efficiency circuit design that delivers working efficiencies up to 96% for HEP-600 and

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Littelfuse, Inc. has introduced the SL1010A Series Gas Discharge Tube (GDT), a small-footprint, three-terminal, surface-mount component that protects a broad range of communication equipment from damage due to fast-rising transients typically caused by lightning disturbances. The SL1010A Series GDT is rated to withstand lightning surge currents of 5kA at 8/20µs. Its low off-state capacitance of less than 1.5pF minimizes insertion

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Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. today announced a new powdered-iron-based, WPC-compliant (Wireless Power Consortium) wireless charging transmitter coil for Qi wireless charging pads. Offering a durable construction and high permeability shielding, the new Vishay Dale IWTX-4646BE-50 provides high efficiency greater than 70% at a 19 V input voltage when tested using WPC-compliant transmitter and receiver chipsets and a Vishay Dale IWAS-4832FF-50 receiver

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