By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent With five days left in the legislative session, Massachusetts is running out of time to solidify and expand its burgeoning solar industry, and activists in the state are ramping up the pressure in an attempt to try to get something done before the end of the month. Yesterday, in an effort supported by advocacy group Vote Solar and others, city leaders from across the state joined forces to send a letter to the legislature urging them to pass the clean energy legislation currently pending before it, which is designed to accomplish three things: eliminiate the … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent There are days when you read about academic studies and wonder out loud, “Did we really have to study THAT?” As I read the excellent story on KSL’s (NBC, Channel 5, Salt Lake City) website about a study concerning renewable portfolio standards (RPS), I had just that sort of revelation. It seems that our intrepid researchers have discovered that states with stricter RPS’s encourage great investment in renewable energy. In other news, water is still wet and the Pope is still Catholic. [wds id=”3″] I’m not diminishing the work by KSL reporter Amy Joi O’Donoghue, … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Because I need another thing to keep me up at night…. The Department of Homeland Security this week revealed that Russian hackers attacked our electrical grid last year and could have created electricity blackouts throughout the United States, thanks to our overreliance on a centralized grid. You’d think we’d have taken the hint by now. [wds id=”3″] But no. In Washington, the geniuses at the Department of Energy are still trying to figure out how to bailout economically untenable coal and nuclear plants. Cool. Newsweek reporter Jason Murdock has the terrifying details: Hackers working for … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Last week during Intersolar North America, Duke Carolinas announced it had hit its 2% net metering cap in South Carolina for residential solar installations, meaning anyone that installs after August 1 will be compensated under less generous net metering rules. And low and behold, a week later, Duke Energy opens its first community solar farm in the state. Fancy that. [wds id=”3″] I’m sure you can see my two minds fighting with themselves over here. On the one hand, I’m all about community solar. As someone whose house is not optimally oriented to have solar … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent DTE Energy has a love-hate relationship with renewable energy. On the one hand, they’ve pledged to be coal-free by 2040, at least in part through investments in wind and solar. On the other hand, they’ve suggested a replacement for retail net metering that has solar advocates screaming “Foul!” from the rooftops. [wds id=”3″] Midwest Energy News reports that DTE Energy has suggested a new reimbursement scheme that would compensate its solar customers at the lower – often significantly lower – wholesale rate of power. In addition, they have discussed imposing fixed fees on solar customers … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Friday ousted long-time executives Tom Kimbis and Christopher Mansour in a shakeup executives say has nothing to do with the financial soundness of the organization. Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO, said revisions to its overall strategic vision required a realignment of resources and rendered Kimbis and Mansour expendable. [wds id=”3″] Hopper said SEIA would replace Mansour, who had served as SEIA’s vice president of federal affairs since 2013. She did not say if it would replace Kimbis, who had served as the organization’s interim president and CEO … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Wow….The fight over the Arizona renewable portfolio standard (RPS) just got ugly. Arizonans for Affordable Energy, a political action committee backed by Arizona Public Service (APS) – the state’s largest utility – has alleged in a lawsuit that 75% of the signatures gathered to put a ballot initiative to raise the Arizona RPS are fraudulent. The action comes as a competing proposal to raise the Arizona RPS, put forth by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) (which oversees APS), moves its way through the process. [wds id=”3″] To review: The Arizona RPS ballot initiative is backed … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent So apparently the bailout of nuclear and coal plants is still a thing that is under consideration, so I have to keep writing about it. This time, there’s a new study out that says the new bailout is going to cost $34 billion – that’s B-illion, with a “b” – to implement. When there are more competitive solutions like solar and wind on the open market. Are we tired of all the winning yet? [wds id=”3″] The Houston Chronicle reported today on the study, which was prepared for pro-solar advocacy group Advanced Energy Economy by … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Washington D.C. is a city full of symbols. Monuments to leaders of the past abound, and as the seat of our national government it carries great symbolic power for the rest of the country. Which is why the fact that it’s considering a resolution to move to a 100% renewable energy future as soon as 2032 could provide tangible gravity to the cause and encourage other cities to follow its lead, according to various local and national reports. [wds id=”3″] Tony Clifford, chief development officer for Standard Solar, a D.C.-area national solar company, is thrilled … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent As more businesses decide to pursue 100% clean energy goals, they often need people to help them get there. CleanChoice Energy has launched a new service in several states designed to do just that. The announcement comes on the heels of solar’s own national association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, signing an agreement with WGL Energy Services to offset its employees’ travel with 373 solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) from two solar projects in Virginia and Maryland, respectively. The move is an effort for the association to practice what it preaches to become carbon neutral. … Read More →