New online solar tools
In this guest post Bentham Paulos brings you some of the top new online tools for the solar industry, including irradition maps, decision tools and finance simulators.
U.S. corporations signed 2.8 GW of wind, solar PPAs in 2017
U.S. corporate procurement of renewables increased 16% last year, despite uncertainty around the future price of solar due to the trade case.
Malaysia, Korea and Vietnam dominate U.S. solar imports (w/ chart)
Over the past five years, the pattern of imports has moved away from China and towards Southeast Asia and Korea.
Report: 88% of Minnesota’s community solar participants are saving money
The widely praised program, largely under the auspices of Xcel Energy, continues to grow in capacity, with what the utility reports are significant rate-savings for participants.
PJM seeks a middle course in capacity markets
The PJM regional transmission organization has come up with a proposal that will determine the impact of certain kinds of subsidies in power generation capacity auctions as well as the parties offering them.
Source: Solar tariffs won’t be as severe as feared
A source told pv magazine that the Section 201 decision has been made but announcement on Friday was delayed, and that while tariffs will be imposed the levels and other details will not be the worst-case scenario.
RMI lays out paths for utility evolution
The research organization’s latest publication looks at what it will take for utilities to meet the changing demands of the 21st century, including accommodating distributed solar and energy storage.
House starts hearings on the PURPA Modernization Act of 2017
Later this morning, the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Energy will hear its first testimony on HR 4476, a bill that some experts say would render PURPA toothless.
TÜV Rheinland: Centralized tracker architecture can reduce LCOE
A report published by TÜV Rheinland, which was commissioned by tracker manufacturer Array Technologies, shows that centralized tracker systems such as those offered by Array Technologies offer an LCOE advantage over other, decentralized system architectures.
Taxing times
Solar and U.S. tax reform: The solar and wind industries largely dodged the bullet in the process of U.S. tax reform. But there will still be impacts on renewable energy project finance, which are many and complex, and it is hard to say what the final end-market impact will be.
