Recent ArticlesThe energy access minigrid sector is simultaneously a nascent market and a cleaner reprise of a familiar technology set’s debut role as the original building block of the modern grid, targeted at underserved populations. This duality positions the sector as a fundamental piece of the integrated electrification puzzle. But despite consistent business-model innovation, steep cost learning rates and a rapidly diversifying competitive landscape, minigrids are still largely stuck in the “missing mi...
We live in an increasingly virtual world. You can hold virtual meetings with virtual friends using virtual reality systems hosted on virtual servers. And in energy circles, one of the biggest buzzwords in recent years is the virtual power plant, or VPP. The term first started to be bandied about in the 1990s. But VPPs have really taken off in the last 10 years, not just as a concept but as something that a growing number of energy companies are creating, using and commercializing. Here’s the...
Amid massive wildfires, rolling blackouts and the continued threat of large-scale grid outages, California is shifting more than $100 million of its $1.2 billion Self-Generation Incentive Program budget to help low-income communities install about 100 megawatts of stalled behind-the-meter battery projects. The shift won’t tap the $613 million in SGIP funds earmarked for low-income and medically vulnerable customers at highest risk of fire-prevention power outages. Instead, Thursday’s decision...
A Saturday ruling from the U.S. Court of International Trade has once again paused the Trump administration’s plans to extend Section 201 tariffs to two-sided solar panels. Judge Gary Katzmann placed a temporary restraining order on an October presidential proclamation, which members of the solar industry argued should fall under the purview of an injunction the court had already put in place to stop the administration from tariffing bifacial solar panels. For the moment, the ruling quashes t...
Solstice is a community solar company trying to make PV accessible to everyone. And that mission is influenced by CEO Steph Speirs' background. Steph grew up one of three kids in Hawaii. Her mom had immigrated from Korea. She knows what eviction feels like and what it’s like to skirt homelessness. And she knows how a poor credit score can sink a human being. She got a scholarship to a private high school, became a National Merit Scholar and earned master's degrees at Yale, Princeton and MIT. ...
