Members of congress warn of REC Silicon plant closure
A group of senators and representatives from Washington and Montana led by the top democrat on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee are calling on President Trump to negotiate with China and save REC’s Moses Lake facility.
SPI 2018: Contradictions, disasters, resilience
This year’s opening session for largest gathering of solar professionals in the United States alluded to many of the themes that the solar industry is grappling with.
SEIA seeks automated permitting and energy storage retrofits for business
SEIA is seeking to save $1 per watt on costs by automating the solar permit process, and also to unlock 30 GW of solar plant energy storage projects by confirming the 30% tax credit on commercial energy storage retrofits.
Solar and energy storage win big in Indiana
Electric utility NIPSCO announced plans to close all of its coal facilities by 2028, replacing them with solar, solar+wind, wind, demand side response and the spot market. The utility says some of the coal facilities could have stayed open past 2035, but would have cost customers millions of dollars more than shifting to new solar power.
Sungevity rebounds with two Hawaiian grid edge providers
The residential solar company’s move in one of America’s most complicated solar markets may be a key to getting ready for a more complex future.
Locals suing for net metering, utility wants scale and energy storage
Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility has gotten rid of net metering and lowered the rate paid for excess solar produced electricity. Concurrently, the utility is pushing larger scale solar and energy storage programs.
American-Made Challenge gets five generals
NREL has chosen five companies to help administer the America-Made Solar Prize, a program whose stated goal is to develop U.S.-based solar manufacturing. These five companies receive contracts of $100,000 each for their services.
Solar installation costs declined 5 to 11% in 2017, little so far in 2018
This year’s version of Berkeley Lab’s Tracking the Sun report saw residential installs fall 6% to $3.50 / W, small business fall 11% to $2.90 / W and large business fell 5% to $2.20 /W in 2017, with light changes in early 2018. However, these averages cover wide price variances in different markets.
SunPower’s back-contact technology excluded from Section 201 tariffs
The role of SunPower’s planned purchase of SolarWorld Americas in getting a rare reprieve from the Trump Administration’s bellicose trade actions is unclear.
Devil in the details of Rhode Island’s 400 MW renewable energy RFP
The request for proposals issued last week by National Grid includes contract terms that are anything but favorable to renewable energy developers, and seeks projects so large that they will be difficult to site.
