In today’s pv magazine morning brief, John Hancock and APEX Clean Energy buy into 412 and 443 MW solar portfolios, Solarpowerrocks.com updates their residential return on investment charts, Swift Solar raises $4.6 million for perovskite research, Wood Mackenzie requests residential acquisition costs survey, more!

California’s updated maps to the power grid – ICA 2.0 – went online as of December 28, offering insight at every point on the circuit which could affect how much solar can be attached.

The various utility subsidiaries of Hawaiian Electric Industries have submitted bids to state regulators for seven solar plus storage projects totaling 262 MWac of solar and 1,024 MWh of energy storage, with power purchase agreement prices ranging from 8-12¢/kWh.

In today’s pvMB, we look at Michigan’s outgoing governor vetoing solar property tax exceptions, Jay Inslee’s plan to run for president on a climate action platform, Boston’s new hybrid bus fleet, and more.

NREL has found that pre-applications for systems 500 kWAC and greater in Massachusetts were correlated with a 24% increase in interconnection service agreements approved – although complexities make proof of causation difficult.

In the first edition of pv magazine USA’s morning brief, we bring you announcements of new faces on the boards of Tesla and NextEra Energy Partners, an analysis of the technical potential of floating solar, new price information and more.

NREL has released an inaugural report highlighting utility scale energy storage costs with various methods of tying it to solar power: co-located or not, and DC- vs AC-coupled.

Developers have applied to build 139 GWac of large-scale solar projects in the territory of six grid operators – around five times what is currently online across the country – and that figure doesn’t even cover the entire United States. By any metric, we are looking at an unprecedented boom in solar development over the next five years.

Connecticut has announced contracts covering 45% of its electrical load, including nine solar projects (some with storage) averaging 4.9¢/kWh.

RGS Energy has announced it’s first purchase order for its Powerhouse 3.0 solar roof shingle kit, which follows an announcement of the onset of assembly of solar components and wire harnesses on December 11.