To get off the grid with home solar, you need to be able to generate energy when the Sun's out, and store it for when it's not. Normally, people do this with lithium battery systems – Tesla's Powerwall 2 is an example. But Australian company Lavo has built a rather spunky (if chunky) cabinet that
The solar sector has welcomed the UK government’s 31% home carbon emissions reduction target as part of the long-awaited Future Homes Standard update. According to Solar Energy UK, this target could lead to a five-fold increase in new homes built with solar technologies as home builders opt for the low-carbon technology to help meet reduction
After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida. Just five years ago, a 20 megawatt battery storage project was considered big. Now a 300 megawatt project, the largest in the world, has gone online in California, and
The government should reverse the VAT rise for home energy storage to help deliver up to 86,000 jobs and boost UK manufacturing. In an open letter to the government, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) and a coalition of 30 industry groups have called for changes to the controversial rise in VAT
Belfast and Manchester have both revealed climate change plans, with the latter targeting a 2038 net zero target. Having signed a cities pledge that outlines the actions Manchester will take to meet its environmental targets in its Race to Zero, leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese said the council was taking the climate
Driven by technological advances, facilities are being built with storage systems that can hold enough renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The advent of “big battery” technology addresses a key challenge for green energy — the intermittency of wind and solar. The twin smokestacks of the Moss Landing Power Plant tower over
I’ve been covering the solar power industry for more than a decade. I recall writing about the industry blowing up way back at the beginning, because annual installations did indeed climb rapidly compared to previous years. The nice thing about technology learning curves is that you can tell such stories over and over, and they
Incentivising people to use power when renewable output is surplus but demand is low helps balance out peaks and keep the grid in equilibrium Zero-carbon power outstripped fossil fuel in the UK’s electricity mix in 2020 for the first time since the industrial revolution. Back then, Thomas Edison’s Holborn Viaduct coal plant – opened in
It might sound like science fiction, but your home could soon be generating its own electricity. The ‘good life’ used to be all about growing your own vegetables, but in the brave new world of the 21st century, even self-sufficiency has had an upgrade. Although the advent of putting solar panels on the roof of
January 18th to January 24th brings us a National Awareness Week that is the Big Energy Saving Week - this is the week that we are encouraged to revisit our energy suppliers. Remember that switching your energy provider can potentially save you a lot of money and it is well worth going to some