By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Let me start by stipulating that American jobs are important to me. Let me further stipulate U.S. manufacturing jobs are of particular importance to me. I come from blue-collar roots two generations back, and I am fully on board with keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States and using the levers of government, when necessary, to do so. But these tariffs on solar are killing me, and they are doing real harm to the industry. As we’ve reported, companies like Cypress Creek Renewables are canceling enormous numbers of projects, which means jobs not created and … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Solar’s continued ascendancy – now reaching nearly 2% of all electrical generation in the United States – is coming at the expense of combined-cycle natural gas plants. Two of the nation’s largest utilities – Dominion Energy and Vistra Energy Corp. have announced they will no longer build natural gas plants because the underlying economic case for them is disappearing in solar’s shadow, Reuters reported late last week. [wds id=”3″] Vistra and Dominion are only the latest utilities to bow to the new electrical-generation reality. In states like California, Arizona and New Mexico, public utilities commissions … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Like Puerto Rico, Haiti is a country that often only finds its way into the U.S. consciousness if something bad happens on the island nation. But one year after its new president launched his “Change Caravan,” there is potentially good news coming about the rural electrification of the country – and solar has played a critical role. More than 7,000 individual solar systems have been provided since May 2017 to households in 11 of the most rural areas of the country. The government’s press released notably does not say installed, so it’s unclear how many … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It feels as if the solar industry talks a lot – a lot – about how important federal policy is to pushing the solar industry forward. Which is why, when you have the chance to vote for a strong solar advocate and add another voice to the Congress in favor of our industry, we should do it. Meet Sam Jammal, who is running for the soon-to-be-open California’s 39th District (CA-39) in north Orange County. Jammal comes from a solar background, having worked for Tesla/SolarCity, where he traveled the country speaking on solar issues. As he … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent If it feels like deja vu, you’re not the only one. On Wednesday, Vivint Solar followed its fellow residential solar installer Sunrun in filing a petition with the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) for a declaratory statement assuring their customers they won’t be regulated as utilities if they install solar on their homes. [wds id=”3″] Sunrun broke the floodgates with the FPSC’s decision a little more than a month ago to issue, on a 5-0 vote, a statement declaring that neither Sunrun nor its customers would be considered regulated utilities once they had installed solar … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It’s easy to say the solar-focused publications are making a mountain out of the molehill when it comes to the negative effects of the solar tariffs. But it’s a whole different ballgame when the mainstream press starts taking notice – and they’ve started taking notice. For example, Public Radio International (PRI) assigned reporter Jason Margolis to examine the issue for a five-minute segment that aired yesterday on public radio stations around the country. You can listen to the report, titled “The early impact of solar tariffs: Fewer American projects, fewer American jobs,” below. [wds id=”3″] … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent That was fast. Within 24 hours of Governor Phil Murphy signing two bills to expand solar electricity in the state, Black Bear Energy announced a 2.4-MW solar project in Cranberry, N.J., in conjunction with USAA Real Estate and EnterSolar. OK, the two probably had nothing to do with each other, but the project is real and continues USAA’s longstanding commitment to sustainability, according to its website. [wds id=”3″] “We are pleased that this solar project will allow our site to generate clean, renewable energy,” said Jason McIntyre, director of real estate operations and sustainability at … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent It took longer than many observers expected, but New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law bills that will boost clean energy production in his state, with solar playing a central role in this growth. Murphy also issued Executive Order No. 28, which formally recognized climate change as a threat to the state and has established a multi-departmental committee to establish a 2019 Energy Master Plan. The mandate specifically cites improving both wind and solar development as one of the key goals of the Master Plan moving forward. The governor had run on an aggressive … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent In an industry with some tough stories to tell these days, sometimes it’s worth pausing and savoring a story that is undeniably and unalterably good – and such is the case with Project Bo. The project, designed to purchase, install and maintain a 20kW solar and battery system to provide an uninterrupted 24/7 power supply to the oxygen concentrators and baby warmers at Bo Government Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, is finally under construction after raising 82% of the funds necessary to complete the project. They are currently around $20,000 away from reaching 100% of … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Financing is often the most difficult part of getting a solar deal done, and lower the costs of capital is one of the keys to unlocking solar’s full potential. To that end, one man with experience in researching the problem has created a new working group to address just those issues. Called the Solar Finance Council (SFC), the group is being headed by Mike Mendelsohn as executive director.Mendelsohn previously led the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) work in project finance and capital markets. Prior to SEIA, he established the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) … Read More →