Covid-19

Over the course of this strange year, American residential solar companies such as Sunrun, Vivint, SunPower and Tesla claimed they could weather the Covid storm with remote selling and new online strategies. It turns out they were right. BloombergNEF forecasts that Americans will install 3 gigawatts of solar on residential rooftops in 2020.

With the difficulties of launching a company exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, EnerVenue has been able to not only survive the challenges, but use them to the company’s advantage. pv magazine sat down with CEO Jorg Heinmann to discuss how the company leveraged risk into opportunity.

A new fund has been launched to provide microgrants of $3,000 to $10,000 to the women entrepreneurs and community organizations working to provide clean, reliable and primarily off-grid power to remote communities.

In Vermont and Utah, net metering is under attack — in danger of being significantly devalued or eliminated. In Arizona, the state’s rooftop solar export rates have been saved for at least another year. Outside of policy, Maine has announced the winners of the state’s largest-ever renewable solicitation.

Wood Mackenzie has responded to a criticized report, clarifying that Covid-19 impacts on residential solar finance are much less significant than initially expected — and that faster-than-expected recovery for investments in the industry have kept investor confidence high.

Why is an essentially bankrupt Chinese solar company that had already furloughed most of its staff receiving $5 to $10 million from the U.S. treasury?

A new report released by Ernst & Young shows that power and utility deals in the Americas saw huge drops in volume and value due to the Covid-19 pandemic, though commitment to renewable investment remains strong.

Outside of a 12-month promotional period where customers don’t have to make payments on the system, Mosaic’s newest offering, PowerSwitch Zero, also includes a contactless sales tool and and installer partnership product.

The U.S. solar and storage industry is figuring out how to exchange information without exchanging Covid-19.

Another stalwart of the solar industry was able to take the necessary precautions in order to maintain some sense of normalcy during the pandemic, leading to a quarter of increased sales, net cash and a positive outlook to finish off the year.