A requirement for new homes built in California starting in 2020 to include solar electric systems is now formally part of the state’s building code. It follows approval Tuesday by the California Building Standards Commission of a plan endorsed in May by a state energy panel. California is the first state in the nation to mandate solar-energy installations on most single-family homes as well as multi-family residential buildings. A requirement for new homes built in California starting in 2020 to include solar rooftop panels is now formally part of the state’s building code. It follows approval Tuesday by the California Building Standards…

Thanks to digitalization, small decentralized power plants can be combined intelligently into larger units. Just like large-scale power plants, they can aggregate the electricity generated and feed it into the grid in a controlled manner. These virtual power plants are becoming an important building block of the renewable energy supply. While virtual power plants have to date played a minor role in the electricity market, it will soon be difficult to imagine our energy supply without them. A few years ago, the focus was on managing various technologies such as biomass, solar and wind power plants holistically; now, solar storage…