Consumer Protection

Lawrence Shaw says understanding solar module hotspots via infrared scans can help quell residential rooftop fire risks, while suggesting missing data represents missing work. Shaw also found the missing USA solar fire data.

Vivint Solar has settled on a case in New Jersey which contained accusations that the company would illegally acquire customers’ credit reports as well as force them to sign purposefully misleading contracts.

Massachusetts regulators have opened an investigation into electric utility National Grid’s handling of the SMART solar power program, which has led to 1 GW of projects being put on hold after many of them were given utility approval.

After adding enough solar capacity to reduce its costly peak load by about 30%, an Arkansas utility plans to cut electric bills by 4.6%. Expansion of a solar-powered factory that will yield 400 jobs is already under way.

A research note by Roth Capital Partners predicts the residential storage market in the United States to grow more quickly than expected. This prediction is founded just as much in disaster mitigation as it in economic viability.

The Clean Power Alliance of California is arguing that in dealing with projected electricity shortfalls, regulators should allow for full state participation and clean energy developers to meet the demand, versus extending the operations of gas plants located in population centers.

Inverter manufacturer Solaredge has filed three additional patent infringement lawsuits against its competitor, Huawei, in China. This comes after three similar legal actions against Huawei that had been undertaken by Solaredge in Germany last summer. While Huawei has decided not to comment on the matter, the Chinese manufacturer revealed that it had filed three patent litigation claims against Solaredge at a Chinese court this May.

The city of Georgetown has instituted a $50 monthly “accounting charge” on all residential solar customers because the city’s accounting software can’t comprehend the concept of energy being sent to the grid.

Amazon unveiled a gauntlet of new climate initiatives today, including 80% renewables by 2024, zero emissions by 2040, a fleet of 100,000 electric vans and a $100 million investment in reforestation measures.

This op-ed from Southern Alliance for Clean Energy argues that the utility does not have any intention of installing 14 gigawatts (GW) of solar over the next 20 years, and notes that the power company has only budgeted for 5.5 GW of solar during that time period.