By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent If you’ve followed my writings over time, you know how I feel about solar roads. I find them to be one of the greatest boondoggles of all time, a brilliant grift that does nothing to advance the future of solar power but does get a lot of publicity for the people building it. The last time I visited the solar roads issue in 2017, the combiner box on the “test road” – more like a patch that a sidwalk, really – had caught on fire in Standpoint, Idaho, where this “demonstration” road has been in … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent A group of solar + storage advocates has formed a new trade organization to fight for solar + storage solutions in Puerto Rico. The Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA-PR) will promote the use of solar and energy storage to restore electricity to the entire island, something with which the U.S. protectorate has struggled since Hurricane Maria devastated the area last September. “At this crucial moment for Puerto Rico, we are calling on the people to join this effort that aims to guide and educate around the use of solar energy to … Read More →

By Yann Brandt, Managing Editor This may be the most important topic to be organized in solar since the start of net metering. The permitting process in the US adds almost $1/watt to the cost of the installations and increases the cancellation rate for customers looking to go solar. In this episode of SolarWakeup Live! I speak with Andrew Birch who was a co-founder of Sungevity. Andrew tackles this issue by spearheading a two-day meeting which happened last week along with his co-chairs Billy Parish of Mosaic and Lynn Jurich of Sunrun. SEIA and The Solar Foundation will be intimately … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent OhmHome, a website devoted to educating consumers about the Solar Revolution and other energy issues, has decided it wants to one-up Google’s Project Sunroof with its new solar mapping service called NextDoor Solar. In addition to showing consumers what other homes in the neighborhood have solar, it will also tell them which companies have done the installations – a feature OhmHome says is important because of its long-term financial implications. In its release, the company cites NREL research that shows local installers can offer consumers 10% more savings than large national companies. It also cites … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Mirroring the efforts in the House, two Western-state Senators have introduced a federal bill to repeal the 30% solar tariffs President Donald J. Trump imposed on imported solar modules in January. Earlier this year, solar tariffs repeal became a federal issue when five members of the House of Representatives introduced similar legislation. U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) have introduced the Protecting American Solar Jobs Act, which would accomplish the same goals as the House solar tariffs repeal bill, meaning it would not only eliminate the tariffs immediately but would refund money … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Liberty Utilities, New Hampshire’s largest utility currently has a docket before the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission that sounds like a good idea. At issue is the state’s largest pilot program in history that would allow New Hampshire solar users to install batteries at no cost to them. Sounds good, right? And although the intent of the program – to see how batteries will affect grid resiliency and performance – is pretty benign, solar advocates in the state have concerns about the size of the program and what it could mean for the long-term future … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent No matter how many utility executives say, “We don’t have enough information to decide whether the President Trump nuke bailout is a good idea yet,” the people who know stuff – you know, experts – have weighed in, and the news is not good. At the same time Exelon’s CEO was telling a crowd at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual meeting that no one had any idea whether Trump’s plan to mandate that grid operators buy electricity from failing nuclear and coal plants was a good one yet, the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent NRG Energy shed David Crane in 2015, blaming the company’s financial struggles on the former CEO’s decision to dive head-first into renewable energy and focusing on how consumers wanted to get their electricity instead of focusing on propping up the old centralized utility model. Turns out, maybe Crane had a point. Reuters reports the company is now eliminating more than half its power plants to focus more on the retail side of the business. As new CEO Mauricio Gutierrez told the wire service: NRG started as a generation company that moved into retail and some … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Sunrun officially announced its Florida leasing package only two months after getting its declaratory statement from the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) that would allow it to lease solar systems without penalty. When the FPSC in April formally allowed Sunrun leasing customers to avoid becoming regulated utilities, the company formally announced that Florida residents can start receiving Sunrun leasing’s solar-as-a-service and Brightbox home battery beginning tomorrow. As hurricane season approaches, the battery backup systems should be attractive to Florida customers. “Freedom is a value Americans hold dear,” said Lynn Jurich, CEO and co-founder of Sunrun. … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent According to Maxx Chatsko at The Motley Fool, it may not pay for renewable energy advocates to fit Big Oil for the Snidely Whiplash top hat and cape. It seems they are investing billions of dollars into renewable energy research that could help make a 100% renewable future possible – but only if they’re allowed to continue their work. The argument is all about scale. While solar is spreading like wildfire of its own accord, building an infrastructure like the one Big Oil already has in place would take decades (if not centuries). Plus, solar … Read More →