Our top solar + energy storage blogs of 2020

The world is (happily) turning the page on 2020, but even with a global pandemic impacting almost every aspect of our lives, our team has had to have the opportunity to continue to share our insights with you throughout the year. Everything from changes in the solar + energy storage market to updates within Energy Toolbase, our readers have continued to support our blogs andnewsroom and allowed us to make insightful and educational content. Here are the top 5 blogs you've read the most in 2020: 

1.) Acumen EMS™ In-Depth Case Study: Using Solar + Storage to Capture the Maximum Possibly Demand Charge Savings

The Energy Toolbase Acumen EMS™ (energy management system) was installed alongside an Eguana Technologies storage system for an engineering and construction company in Alberta, Canada. The goal was to determine how efficiently the Acumen EMS™ peak shaving algorithm could reduce demand for a facility with solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and electric vehicle chargers, located in a northern Canadian climate zone. The in-depth case study documents numerous challenges, learnings, and successes that occurred during the first year of operation. Read the full case studyhere. 

2.) Energy Storage Net Metering - An Illustration of Why it's so Valuable 

Energy Storage Net Energy Metering (NEM Paired Storage) allows a customer with a behind-the-meter solar + storage system to discharge their battery, exporting stored energy back to the grid and receive a Net Energy Metering credit, if the battery can verifiably charge 100% from solar. In certain cases, NEM Paired Storage can meaningfully increase the amount of savings an Energy Storage System (ESS) can capture.  Net metering effectively enables a battery to utilize its full capacity by discharging fully when a strong price signal exists, regardless of customer usage. Read the full bloghere, and a follow up on theNEM-3 proceedings happening in California. 

3.) The Primary Components of an Energy Storage System that you Need to Know 

It’s important for solar + storage developers to have a general understanding of the physical components that make up an Energy Storage System (ESS). It gives off credibility when dealing with potential end customers to have a technical understanding of the primary function of different components and how they interoperate with one another which is why we decided to summarize our answers into a blog for you. Read the full posthere. 

4.) The Evolution of New York's Reforming the Energy Vision (REV): An Overview of the Solar & Storage Market Drivers

Over the last decade, we have seen major shifts in energy policy and renewable resource development throughout the United States. Market leaders such as California and Hawaii have continued to set the bar for the rest of the country, but since Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) in 2014, New York has been on the leading edge of clean energy reform and innovation, and the plans indicate they will continue to lead over the coming decade.  Read the full posthere.

5.) Energía Solar + Almacenamiento de Energía en América Latina: Nuestro Primer Blog en Español (Our first blog in Spanish)

The Energy Toolbase modeling platform has been seeing steadily increasing activity in the LATAM (Latin America) market. Since we officially opened up our platform to modeling international (outside the US) projects in April of 2018, we have seen a 19% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in the number of proposals generated from users in the Mexican market alone, and a 15% CAGR in Costa Rica. Read more about our presence in Latin Americahere.