By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Virginia is a solar state you on which you sleep at your own peril. It has long caught the eye of trend-spotters who believe it is on the verge of being the next solar boom state but, for various reasons (mostly political), it has never quite lived up to its solar potential. This week, however, Governor Ralph Northam took steps to change the future, unveiling a plan to build nearly 5 GW of solar and wind resources. The plan sets aside 2 GW for offshore wind and sets the other 3 GW aside for solar … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As wind and solar continue to grow as a percentage of U.S. electricity production, it makes sense for new groups to form to bring to bear the combined power of the industries in the political fights to come. That’s why it’s so exciting to see the formation of the Wind Solar Alliance (formerly the Wind Energy Foundation) to bring together the heavy hitters from both industries to work on mutually beneficial policy fights. Having led national wind-solar advocacy campaigns for several years through its “A Renewable America” program, WSA saw an opportunity for increased collaboration … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The Hill has an interesting article about how one community in Puerto Rico installed a community solar project and restored power to the town for the first time in eight months. Setting aside the shame the rest of us should feel for leaving our fellow U.S. citizens in darkness for eight months, the story is inspirational and offers a window into how solar can help Puerto Rico improve the resiliency of its electrical system to build resiliency for future natural disasters. [wds id=”3″] I’m going to quote the entire lead because it was so good: … Read More →

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor In this episode of the Energy Wakeup podcast, we sat down with Anthony Star, director of the Illinois Power Agency, to discuss the process for developing solar under the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, which will increase the amount of solar produced in the state in the coming years. Star discusses in detail the Illinois SREC procurement program, as well as what’s coming with the adjustable block grant that will inform what happens with distributed generation and community solar. He also provides background on how these developments came to be. Listen to the whole … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Ah, Kansas, why did you go and have to be the exception? The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) (which regulates its utilities) decided last week to grant the proposals made by the state’s two largest utilities – Westar Energy and Kansas City Power & Light to lower utility bills for everyone in their service areas except solar users. For some reason, the KCC decided it would allow solar users to be penalized for generating their own electricity by hitting them with a demand charge that could cost solar users anywhere between $27 and $36 a month, … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent People are looking for the next big technical innovation that will revolutionize solar cells and, for the past several years, perovskites have been “the next big thing.” Perovskite is a mineral that has been shown to have significantly higher efficiencies than polycrystalline silicon. The problems were twofold: 1) The width of the perovskite film necessary to see the efficiency jumps had yet to be determined; and 2) The cost of commercialization was still prohibitive. But thanks to recent research out of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, both of those problems may be one … Read More →

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor Governor Jerry Brown has signed SB700, the bill also known as the ‘Sun Shines at Night’. The bill, which had passed the legislature in early September, will extend and fund the popular energy storage incentive called SGIP. “If we are going to get to 100% clean energy, we need to be using solar power every hour of the day, not just when the sun is shining,” said Senator Scott Wiener, author of SB 700. “This bill will protect clean energy jobs while also protecting consumers from ever rising energy bills.” The California Solar and Storage … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent New York has found itself behind its fellow Northeastern states when it comes to joining the solar revolution. New Jersey took the early lead, but now Vermont and Massachusetts are coming on strong, and the Empire State has found itself struggling to make news on its own. Well, at least outside of its … exuberant governor who is always talking a good game but has little to show for it to date. That may, however, be changing, as Key Capture Energy and NEC Energy Solutions announced they are teaming up on a 20 MW battery … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In the past, some installers have grumbled that the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is in thrall to installers and manufacturers who have big money to spend and that it didn’t care about the little guy. They would then point to the dues structure and suggest one of the reasons they refused to join was the expense was beyond what their bottom lines could handle. Well, I’m here to say that SEIA must have heard the criticism, and it’s making changes to accommodate more of the rank-and-file installers that said they couldn’t join before. SEIA … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent For all of Nevada’s struggles with solar energy – the inexplicable, precipitous shutdown of net metering that destroyed the rooftop industry for almost two years comes to mind – they are trying hard right now to bring about its renaissance. First, they reinstated net metering. Now they’re on the verge of increasing the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) through a well-funded, seemingly popular ballot initiative. And today, the Public Utilities Commission (NPUC) adopted a framework that will require investor-owned utilities (IOUs)to create Distribution Resource Plans (DRP), which will determine what resources and grid upgrades the … Read More →