Monday, October 2, 2017

Sunnova Aims At Rebuilding Solar Power On Puerto Rico

Houston-based residential solar provider Sunnova has a big plan to help bring power back to the island of Puerto Rico, by turning the company's many solar power projects on the island into off-grid solar installs. Sunnova--which says it is already the largest residential solar provider in Puerto Rico--says it is working to send battery energy storage systems to the island, to integrate into existing solar installations, as part of the recovery effort. Sunnova said the use of battery storage will create a more resilient, long-term power service for the island's energy infrastructure. Sunnova said it had just under 10,000 systems installed on the island. Sunnova did not say what kind of systems were installed, but they are likely grid-connected systems, which are the most popular systems in the United States for solar power as they allow consumers to put energy into the grid and also pull energy out at night when their panels are not producing. Those are easy to install, but are prone to failure of the power grid.