The year has gotten off to a frenetic start, with plenty of news from the global solar and energy storage sectors to digest on the January 2022 episode of the Solar Media Podcast.

In the first part of this interview with Swell Energy CEO Suleman Khan we heard about how Swell Energy has been working to ‘productise’ the virtual power plant proposition: making it attractive to utilities and to their end-customers and then wrapping that into a long-term agreement. This time out, we speak to Suleman about some of the finer details of the VPP proposition and where he thinks the market is heading.

Regulator approves an industry-led roadmap for solar-plus-storage systems to take advantage of net metering.

A trucking terminal in Ohio, US, will play host to a microgrid that incorporates around half a megawatt of wind and solar generation combined with battery energy storage from distributed energy technology company EnSync.

The US’ two leading states in solar and energy storage, New York and California, have taken steps towards valuing the locational and time-of-use value of distributed energy resources and other states should follow, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has said.

The Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission has approved two new programmes expanding its customers’ abilities to install rooftop PV and energy storage systems, while also clarifying the terms of its existing programmes.

Arizona utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP) claims that the cost-effectiveness of a new large-scale solar-plus-storage facility under construction will allow it to provide “more solar energy to more customers for less money”.

To widen the access for solar to low-income utility customers, non-profit solar organisation GRID Alternatives and PV microinverter producer Enphase Energy have partnered to launch a new solar-plus-storage project in California for up to 50 customers.

A company offering solar-plus-storage systems for the residential market has introduced a set of controls that allow consumers to adapt to utility rates and legislative changes with the flick of a switch.