It’s been a really big week for grid edge news -- and we’re not just saying that because we held our Grid Edge World Forum 2016 conference this week. No doubt the biggest story of the week was Tesla’s offer to buy SolarCity for some $2.5 billion, with the aim to create a solar-EV-battery powerhouse. We’ve subjected the prospect of a Tesla-SolarCity merger to a pros-and-cons analysis, a look at the solar strategies the combined companies might pursue, and a live Energy Gang debate from this week’s conference. At the same time, Energy Gang host Stephen Lacey also published an exclusive interview with Opower and its new owner, Oracle, on what’s next for the companies’ combined utility software strategy. And on the utility policy front, Pacific Gas & Electric wants to shut down Diablo Canyon, California’s last nuclear power plant and replace it with 100 percent clean energy resources -- a plan that’s pleasing to environmentalists, but a huge challenge in terms of energy capacity and grid stability. In other news, BMW plans to turn used EV batteries into grid storage systems, SunEdison CEO Ahmad Chatila resigned in the wake of the green energy developer’s financial collapse, and rural electric cooperatives won a regulatory fight to buy renewable energy from parties besides their primary generation and transmission providers.
Yours,
Jeff St. John, Reporter, Greentech Media
Have a news tip for us? Email the GTM Editorial Team at editors@greentechmedia.com or contact me directly at stjohn@greentechmedia.com. |
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