Rooftop solar panel maker SunPower has announced it's plans to bundle energy storage, possibly using lithium-ion batteries, with its solar offerings. With the announcement, SunPower joins a rapidly growing portion of solar companies looking to provide energy storage. SunPower has not established a timetable for the product launch.
With the recent news that a newly-formed solar alliance is targeting utilities, it should come as no surprise that solar companies are quickly becoming another source of competition for utilities. Utilities may not yet face serious incursions on market share, but that day is coming.
Once the technology is refined, energy storage will make renewable and intermittent energy sources like wind and solar far more reliable. In an interview with Utility Dive, Rick Nicholson, VP of T&D solutions at Ventyx, called energy storage the "holy grail" of the power grid--and it's not hard to see why. Residential end-users will be able to discontinue utilities' electric distribution services and viably get all of their energy from, let's say, rooftop solar panels.
SunPower's announcement speaks to the potential disruption the combination of energy storage and solar panels could cause. The only question that remains unanswered is how utilities will react to it.
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