Developed to meet the needs of a rapidly-growing distributed energy market and backed by some of the biggest names in the Australian market, the team at Clipsal Solar has developed a platform they say can work with any combination of hardware and resources.

Also in the brief: Geronimo Energy has started construction activities for two Michigan solar projects, a New Hampshire Senator is asking the Defense Department’s progress toward meeting its renewable energy goals, Nelnet launches a renewables spinoff and more.

Whether it be for a groundbreaking SpaceX launch or a contentious tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk finds himself in the news quite often. Yet, one story that has flown under the radar by the brash businessman’s standards has been going on for four years.

Also in today’s digest: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved Mark Menezes’ nomination as deputy secretary, Ginlong Technologies is set to debut its latest hybrid energy storage inverter, The Midwest Renewable Energy Association has awarded eight Clean Energy Leadership Award scholarships and more.

Yuki Hamada, an Argonne remote-sensing scientist is leading a three-year study with the end goal of creating a program that can analyze video of solar projects, identify birds that interact with projects from said video and draw conclusions into the solar-bird relationship.

Also in the brief: SolarEdge is expanding its residential and commercial power optimizer portfolio, Monterey Bay Community Power will help local school districts buy electric buses, L7 Drive has launched an energy management platform and more.

MiaSolé has been the victim of a ransomware attack by a group that has previously targeted Michigan State University, Columbia College of Chicago, Toll Group and Bolloré. What do hackers hope to gain from a defunct company with financially-troubled ownership?

While the program’s expansion is intended to bring more than 3 GW of solar to the state, new land-use restrictions have made the majority of the state off-limits to large-scale development.

While Vermont’s Green Mountain power is paving the way for utilities recognizing customers as generation resources, the company’s BYOD battery program falls just short of maximizing value and load control.

Also in the brief: Terra Pave Albedo is an America Made Solar Prize competition finalist, a list of environment and climate organizations that have made statements on racism. Plus — “Coal consumption will be crushed in 2020.”