Industry news

10
May

Rapid Charging for Battery-Powered Portable Devices

Mobile devices are becoming an integrated part of our daily life. Let’s use the smartphone as an example. Instead of a simple phone call function, smartphones are now packed with rich features for social networking, web browsing, messaging, gaming, large HD screens and many others. All these features are pushing the phone to become a power-hungry device. Battery capacity and

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8
May

JinkoSolar Providing 100 MW Of Solar PV Modules For Two Projects In Chile

One of the biggest names in the whole of the solar PV industry, JinkoSolar, recently announced that it has signed on to supply the PV modules for two large projects in Chile. In total, about 100 MW worth of modules will be supplied for the two projects. The two new projects will both be situated in the Atacama Desert region

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8
May

Wells Fargo Investing $100 Million To Build 9 New Solar PV Projects In North Carolina

One of the largest banks in the world, Wells Fargo, is investing $100 million of tax equity financing into nine new solar PV projects being developed by Strata Solar in North Carolina, according to recent announcements. The projects will all be utility-scale and will sell electricity directly to the utility company Progress Energy Carolinas. Out of said projects, Strata Solar

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7
May

Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid R-Design Package Adds Street Cred

The Volvo V60 Diesel Plug-In Hybrid is everything we want in a car, and the newly-announced R-Design package adds extra street cred to this Swedish wagon. While purely an aesthetics package, this could be the first step towards the performance Volvo hybrid wagon we have all been dreaming of. For the unfamiliar, the in-demand Volvo V60 Diesel Plug-In is pretty

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7
May

60 Years of Solar Cells

The newsreel is just 90 seconds long. It is incredibly — and, to me, endearingly — crude, ragged, and inept. Against a background of loud, out-of-tune orchestral music, a narrator speaks of harnessing the power of the sun, as the camera shows us (a-ha!) the setting sun, a shot lasting a full thirty seconds. This leads to a shot of

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7
May

Microgrids – Benefits For Reliability and Renewables

1. What are the benefits of integrating renewable energy with microgrids? The obvious first benefit is related to cost of generation reduction. With the increasing costs of traditional fossil fuel based generation, such as diesel, and the reduction in dollar-per-watt cost for renewables such as wind, the tipping point for renewables in remote microgrids has been passed. For remote and

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6
May

Gamesa Lands 100 MW Wind Turbine Order From Indian Company

Spanish wind energy technology provider Gamesa has landed yet another order from an Indian power project developer as it continues to boost its revenue from India. Independent power producer Greenko has placed an order of 100 MW with Gamesa. This order is in addition to the 250 MW order Greenko had placed earlier with the technology provider. Gamesa will provide

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6
May

Electric Truck Maker Smith Vehicles Suspends Operations

Kansas City-based Smith Electric Vehicles has become the latest electric-vehicle building startup to cease operations–though the company says it isn’t shutting its doors for good. The firm builds electrically-powered commercial vehicles both in the U.S. and abroad, but hasn’t yet turned a profit. According to Kansas City Business Journal, the stoppage is a strategic move. CEO Bryan Hansel said the

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6
May

USGBC Launches New Online LEED Resource

Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched its new online data visualization resource that highlights real-time green building data for each state in the U.S. and Washington, D.C. The enhanced state market briefs — highlighting LEED projects, LEED-credentialed professionals and USGBC membership in each state — provide green building advocates and the general public a look into LEED’s impact

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6
May

Solar PV Standards — Differences Between US & The Rest Of The World

Most of us are probably familiar with differences between American electrical standards and those used in most of the rest of the world through personal electronics. Today’s laptop computers and phone chargers can accept either 110v or 220v so all you need to travel between regions is an adaptor for the plug. But it was not always so, and many

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