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by Nicolas Rinaldi
April 22, 2016

Below are the key takeaways from the week in grid edge, solar and energy news.

Grid Edge News

80 Decibels
The level of noise emitted by a Tesla Powerwall recently installed at a home in Germany. That is roughly equivalent to noise from a garbage disposal. (story)

$1.2 Billion
The cost of customer incentives for distributed energy resource aggregation in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and a new GTM Research report. (story)

9,281 Megawatts
Amount of demand response capacity and behind-the-meter demand resources awarded in MISO as part of 2016/2017 planning resource auction. (story)

$7 Million
Announced Series A round for Geli, an energy storage software provider based in San Francisco. (story)

10 Megawatts
The capacity of an announced grid-tied storage project in India promising to be the country's largest. AES Energy Storage and Panasonic are developing the project. (story)

106 Acres
A right-of-way obtained by ARES on U.S. government land for a 50-megawatt, gravity-based rail energy storage project in southern Nevada. (story)

14 U.S. Utilities
The number that filed general rate cases in Q1 2016, 11 of which proposed raising their fixed charge for residential customers, according to EQ Research. (story)

250 Kilowatts/500 Kilowatt-Hours
The size of a new lithium-ion battery system that Lockheed Martin's energy group is bringing to market. (story)

Solar News

1 Million Installations
The number of solar projects brought on-line in the U.S. over the past 40 years; experts forecast the market will bring its next million on-line within two years. (story)

5,113 Megawatts
The cumulative project capacity backlogged as a result of SunEdison's bankruptcy, according to a "cash update" the company provided debtors last week. (story)

$60,000
Fine levied by North Carolina regulators against a nonprofit environmental group for selling solar electricity to a community church within Duke Energy's territory. (story)

$0
SolarCity's planned contributions to Arizona solar advocacy group Checks and Balances Project. SolarCity pulled its support for the group this week amidst a broader policy pivot away from contentious state battles. (story)

10.3% IRR
The average rate of return for PV projects in Africa. New data from software provider Mercatus highlights the higher rates of return coming from solar projects in emerging markets. (story)

294%
Anticipated growth by 2020 over 2015 numbers for commercial solar installations in U.S. annually. GTM Research sees trends in corporate solar adoption spurring growth. (story)

Other Energy News

246 Delegates
The number by which Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in their pursuit for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Interchange evaluates each candidate's energy policy this week. (story)

64%
The amount by which tech giant Apple has cut its carbon emissions since fiscal year 2011. Apple now operates 93 percent of its facilities on renewable energy. (story)

40%
The amount of energy from renewable sources that France is targeting by 2030, according to a draft of an upcoming government decree. (story)

4,400 Jobs
The number of wind turbine technicians employed by the U.S. wind industry. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks wind turbine technician as the country’s fastest-growing profession. (story)

350 Terawatt-Hours
Total electricity generated at Germany's 32-year-old Grohnde nuclear reactor, a new world record. (story)