Here is something that I read a few days ago on the Forbes website. If you are a solar panel manufacturer today then you can dream big to evolve into a energy service provider. Here is one company in the USA called SOLAR POWER that has evolved to compete in the energy market. I am still wondering why the governments take up such projects and manage it themselves when they know that energy is one of the foremost needs of the people. Just like how the hydro-electric power plants are managed by the government we must have huge solar farms in areas where the sun is in plenty and the land / terrain is not conducive for agriculture. Nothing to complain about the private firms doing this. They are probably the drivers of this market and the ones responsible for the evolution of this technology.
Here is the article from the Forbes site.
A year after describing energy storage as part of a “fundamental change in how solar companies compete,” SunPower’s CEO, Tom Werner, said Tuesday the company is now testing technologies in a pilot project with homebuilder KB Home. SunPower will offer around a dozen lithium-ion battery systems free to buyers of KB’s homes in three California communities and install them by the end of the year, Werner told me. The goal is to see how well these battery systems work with solar panels from SunPower, which has sold nearly 3,000 solar energy systems to KB’s customers since the two companies started the partnership four years ago.
“The combination of solar, batteries and energy management will give consumers total control over their energy bills,” Werner said. “We see this as the beginning of that journey.”
The project is worth watching for several reasons. Energy storage makes is new and promises to be lucrative. It makes it possible to use solar electricity not just during the day, when the solar panels are able to capture sunlight. For businesses, they could use stored energy during times of the day when electricity from their utilities costs more. And, of course, having energy storage would make blackouts, especially prolonged ones from big storms or other natural disasters, more tolerable.
Energy storage technology remains pricy, though, and banks that are interested in financing installations want to see solid field performance data first. Public incentives will be a big driver for the market to grow. California promises to be a big market because its three investor-owned utilities are under mandate to buy 1,325 megawatts of energy storage services by 2020.
SunPower has morphed from being a solar panel maker to an energy service provider. It sells solar panels and other equipment to installers, and it develops solar power projects for business and utility customers. SunPower and KB plan to promote energy storage as a way for homeowners to bank solar electricity for use as backup power. Collecting performance data will help SunPower figure out the best way to manage solar energy production and the charging and discharging of electricity from storage.
SunPower is developing its own software to manage the battery system, Werner said. The plan is to integrate that with its software for managing the solar energy production and another software for managing the home’s overall energy use, he added. That will allow SunPower will make money from selling the equipment and software to developers and from developing its own projects.
For the pilot projects, the company is testing lithium-ion batteries from different suppliers. One of them is a battery system vendor from California, Sunverge Energy, Werner said. Sunverge, incidentally, raised $15 million in Series B recently from investors such as Total Energy Ventures International. Total Energy Ventures is part of the French oil and gas giant, Total, which is a major SunPower shareholder.
The pilot project will take place in KB’s communities in Irvine, El Dorado Hills and San Diego. SunPower and KB hope to start selling energy storage to homebuyers starting in 2015. Some of SunPower’s rivals are bullish about the energy storage market. There is SolarCity, which has been touting its lithium-ion battery systems from Tesla Motors. SunEdison has been testing different technologies. SunPower also has been running a pilot project in Australia and plans to start one in Germany in a couple of quarters, Werner said.
The company has been testing not just lithium-ion batteries. It’s also been investigating flow batteries, lead acid batteries and ice energy. Werner said SunPower remains interested in using different battery technologies for the three market segments: residential, commercial and utility.
Source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2014/06/24/sunpowers-growth-strategy-developing-software-to-manage-solar-and-storage/
Here is the article from the Forbes site.
A year after describing energy storage as part of a “fundamental change in how solar companies compete,” SunPower’s CEO, Tom Werner, said Tuesday the company is now testing technologies in a pilot project with homebuilder KB Home. SunPower will offer around a dozen lithium-ion battery systems free to buyers of KB’s homes in three California communities and install them by the end of the year, Werner told me. The goal is to see how well these battery systems work with solar panels from SunPower, which has sold nearly 3,000 solar energy systems to KB’s customers since the two companies started the partnership four years ago.
“The combination of solar, batteries and energy management will give consumers total control over their energy bills,” Werner said. “We see this as the beginning of that journey.”
The project is worth watching for several reasons. Energy storage makes is new and promises to be lucrative. It makes it possible to use solar electricity not just during the day, when the solar panels are able to capture sunlight. For businesses, they could use stored energy during times of the day when electricity from their utilities costs more. And, of course, having energy storage would make blackouts, especially prolonged ones from big storms or other natural disasters, more tolerable.
Energy storage technology remains pricy, though, and banks that are interested in financing installations want to see solid field performance data first. Public incentives will be a big driver for the market to grow. California promises to be a big market because its three investor-owned utilities are under mandate to buy 1,325 megawatts of energy storage services by 2020.
SunPower has morphed from being a solar panel maker to an energy service provider. It sells solar panels and other equipment to installers, and it develops solar power projects for business and utility customers. SunPower and KB plan to promote energy storage as a way for homeowners to bank solar electricity for use as backup power. Collecting performance data will help SunPower figure out the best way to manage solar energy production and the charging and discharging of electricity from storage.
SunPower is developing its own software to manage the battery system, Werner said. The plan is to integrate that with its software for managing the solar energy production and another software for managing the home’s overall energy use, he added. That will allow SunPower will make money from selling the equipment and software to developers and from developing its own projects.
For the pilot projects, the company is testing lithium-ion batteries from different suppliers. One of them is a battery system vendor from California, Sunverge Energy, Werner said. Sunverge, incidentally, raised $15 million in Series B recently from investors such as Total Energy Ventures International. Total Energy Ventures is part of the French oil and gas giant, Total, which is a major SunPower shareholder.
The pilot project will take place in KB’s communities in Irvine, El Dorado Hills and San Diego. SunPower and KB hope to start selling energy storage to homebuyers starting in 2015. Some of SunPower’s rivals are bullish about the energy storage market. There is SolarCity, which has been touting its lithium-ion battery systems from Tesla Motors. SunEdison has been testing different technologies. SunPower also has been running a pilot project in Australia and plans to start one in Germany in a couple of quarters, Werner said.
The company has been testing not just lithium-ion batteries. It’s also been investigating flow batteries, lead acid batteries and ice energy. Werner said SunPower remains interested in using different battery technologies for the three market segments: residential, commercial and utility.
Source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2014/06/24/sunpowers-growth-strategy-developing-software-to-manage-solar-and-storage/
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