Solar entrepreneur and financier Jigar Shah probably requires little introduction. The SunEdison founder and former CEO is now president at Generate Capital, a project financing venture for sustainable infrastructure investment. Shah spoke with Andy Colthorpe about Generate Capital’s latest solar-plus-storage projects for a school district in California, as well as sharing his thoughts on the economics of energy storage today.

Jigar Shah has said that the addition of backup power helped persuade a California school district to add energy storage as well as going solar and that adding batteries can help “decision makers” see the true value of PV.

More schools in North America will be able to ‘green’ their energy supply and hedge against future rises in the price of electricity, with Jigar Shah’s Generate Capital taking on six solar-plus-storage projects in California.

Tesla Motors’ proposed US$2.6 billion purchase of SolarCity could “substantially” increase SolarCity’s sales, reckons industry veteran Jigar Shah, clean energy entrepreneur and founder of SunEdison.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and energy storage firm is poised for another major initiative after the founder announced that he is working on a “Tesla Masterplan, Part 2.”

PV Tech Storage spoke to Nancy Pfund of ‘social impact’ investors DBL Partners, among Tesla’s early backers and participants in two of the top five VC fund plays of this year’s third quarter.

Reports that a grid operator in France has found battery-based energy storage “too costly” to be used to integrate renewable energy have been criticised by a spokesman for energy storage developer Younicos.

Andy Colthorpe spoke to Energy Storage Association (ESA) executive director Matt Roberts a few weeks ago, shortly after the group’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Based in Washington, the organisation’s activities include advising on policy at regulatory and state level as well as encouraging technologists and researchers to share knowledge.

Andy Colthorpe spoke to Energy Storage Association (ESA) executive director Matt Roberts a few weeks ago, shortly after the group’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Based in Washington, the organisation’s activities include advising on policy at regulatory and state level as well as encouraging technologists and researchers to share knowledge.

Aggregating connected energy storage systems to create ‘virtual power plants’ is likely to become a big part of the next phase of storage, according to the executive director of the US-based Energy Storage Association.