Here are the key takeaways from the week in solar and grid edge news.
Solar News
22.1%
The current cell efficiency of First Solar's cadmium-telluride module. The success of the company's CdTe technology roadmap resulted this week in the shuttering of its high-efficiency silicon venture, which began in 2013 when First Solar acquired TetraSun. (story)
2012
The year Jim Hughes joined First Solar as CEO. Last week, Hughes stepped down as CEO, and then sat down with Julia Pyper to discuss his industry outlook. (story)
July 28, 2016
The last day Dow Chemical will sell its Powerhouse Solar System. Last week, the company announced it was discontinuing the building-integrated photovoltaic product. (story)
$15 Million
Sungevity's cash on hand three months ago, according to an SEC filing. Sungevity was going through roughly $15 million per quarter, likely leaving the company with little to no money in the bank when Easterly Acquisition Corp. acquired it last week for $357 million. (story)
1.5 GW
Forecasted solar installations in Argentina by 2020, according to GTM Research. The market is emerging under a more hospitable government and in the face of shortfalls in power supply in recent years. (story)
IRR 4,900 per Kilowatt-Hour
The feed-in tariff in Iran for projects under 10 MW, or roughly US$0.13 per kilowatt-hour. The feed-in tariff decreases as project size grows, but experts say the rate of return on projects participating in the country's tariff could reach 30 percent to 36 percent. (story)
Grid Edge News
30%
The amount of the energy storage tax credit to be proposed in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) during the week of July 11. (story)
$400,000
The daily expenditure by CAISO in March 2016 for frequency regulation. In February 2016, CAISO doubled its regulation requirements in the day-ahead and real-time markets to accommodate more intermittent wind and solar. (story)
3 Takeaways
The takeaways from Katherine Tweed's first reading of REV's distributed system implementation plans published last week by New York's investor-owned utilities. (story)
3%
The percentage of PG&E customers who enrolled and were accepted into California's Demand Response Auction Mechanism program so far in 2016. That number compares to 42% for a similar program in ERCOT territory. Jeff St. John explores how bureaucratic application processes have been stunting enrollment in California utility programs like DRAM. (story)
$5,950 Plus Installation Costs
The list price of Sonnen's new 4-kilowatt-hour home battery for self-consumption. Sonnen is targeting island markets with high electricity prices and markets where net metering is being phased out or eliminated. (story)
40%
The target percentage of total energy consumption from renewables that Amazon Web Services is working to achieve at its facilities by the end of 2016. An Amazon partner is working with Dominion Power in Virginia to design a special retail rate for wind and solar that better matches how renewable projects are priced in the PJM wholesale market. (story)
51st State
The name of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) initiative aimed at providing a collaborative platform to discuss the future of the electric industry. Last week, SEPA's CEO, Julia Hamm, sat down with the Energy Gang to imagine how the industry would build an electric grid from scratch in the so-called 51st state. (story)
AUD $17,500-$19,500
The estimated price tag for a new 10-kilowatt-hour flow battery from Australia-based technology provider Redflow. The company is attempting to gain share from lithium-ion technologies in the residential storage segment. (story)
