On May 23rd, 2013 Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E, San Francisco, California, US) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) held a dedication ceremony for a sodium-sulfur battery system in San Jose, California. According to PG&E, the Yerba Buena Battery Energy Storage System Pilot Project has the potential to support increased penetration of wind and solar resources on California's electric grid, and is currently undergoing testing. At 4 MW, the system is California's single largest battery system. Read more...

The difficulties that the global solar industry experienced in 2012 were both clear and expected. Continuing excess solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing capacity spurred a collapse in prices across the PV value chain, creating consistently negative margins and negative profitability for upstream PV manufacturers. This led to a large number of bankruptcies, insolvencies and acquisitions, but also trade wars between the United States and China, the EU and China, and between India and everyone else. Read more...

Solar Server: With so many approaches out there to improve PV efficiencies, what are the main compelling distinctions of Sol Voltaics' technology? Dave Epstein: Sol Voltaics is producing an active layer ink called Solink™ that goes on top of silicon solar panels. This ink contains tiny nanowires – just 1 to 2 microns long made of Gallium Arsenide. These wires act as miniature solar cells. Put billions of them together and you create a lot of energy. Read more...

The drastic consolidations of the past months have caught the entire photovoltaic (PV) industry off guard. Nobody saw it coming, considering the booming regions in Asia, first and foremost India and China, which will lead to an overall record year in 2012 according to IMS Research. Read more...