Roth: Trump admin could end bifacial tariff exemption
The U.S. Trade Representative has not responded to the claim that it will end the exemption from Section 201 duties. If accurate this could be a loss for Asian PV makers and a minor loss for the larger U.S. market, but a positive for First Solar.
Logic supports renewables, not nuclear
The latest edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report reiterates that clean power is taking the lead in the world’s energy system and nuclear is not only too costly a remedy for carbon emissions but too slow to deploy.
The Open PV Project goes offline
The U.S. Department of Energy has shut down the site for its Open PV Project, which supplied cost and installation data. Is this the winding down of a project whose time had come, or part of a more disturbing trend?
Residential solar is getting cheaper – except for third-party
EnergySage has found that the average price for PV systems quoted through its site has fallen under $3 per watt, echoing findings by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. However, prices are increasing for the big third-party solar companies.
Tesla is selling commercial solar as cheap as $1.01/W
The new tool launched for C&I solar customers is yet another example of Tesla being able to drive down system prices by ditching traditional sales models and customer acquisition costs.
Gas favored over solar as Memphis utility considers TVA exit
Memphis is studying the potential to save money by exiting its contract with TVA. At issue is how much solar and storage to include in any new generating portfolio.
States could save consumers billions with solar, by requiring transparent utility modeling
Many utilities prepare resource plans using biased modeling choices that disadvantage low-cost solar. With transparent utility modeling, states and intervenors could easily see the bias. And if they also have access to the same model used by the utility, they can fix the errors by running the model themselves.
San Diego Gas and Electric looks to quadruple customers’ minimum monthly bill
The utility is looking to raise its monthly minimum utility charge from $10 to $38 under the premise that distributed solar customers represent a “cost shift” to other utility customers.
sonnen turns apartment complex into dispatchable solar + storage power plant
Local utility Rocky Mountain Power will use rooftop solar and 600 batteries at the Soleil Lofts community in Utah to supply demand response and manage peaks on its system, as the latest behind-the-meter contract.
Bernie Sanders wants to nationalize clean energy
The most radical part of Bernie Sander’s plan may not even be a call to move to 100% renewable electricity by 2030. It’s how his campaign proposes to go about it.
