Policy

Trina Solar is spearheading an effort to standardize 210mm silicon wafers and modules, aiming to improve production efficiency, supply chain optimization and innovation.

Also on the rise: Wisconsin to revise dated DER rules, Massachusetts sets a course for 2050 energy goals, Sungrow notches an inverter delivery milestone, and a 1.6 MW solar carport enters service in New Jersey.

Solar is big enough now that its soft costs are a real drag on local economic activity. Soft costs in the U.S. defy the example of other countries that install solar at one-third the cost because of how the steps that drive soft costs have been structured.

SB629 would allow the state’s Dominion Energy customers to buy solar power via subscription from a shared power facility owned by a third-party entity, with 30% of the program’s initial 150 MW capacity being reserved for low- or middle-income subscribers.

Utility regulators approved Xcel Energy’s plan to spend $102 million over three years to build charging stations, incentivize homeowners to install charging equipment and provide support for converting school buses, government and business fleets to electric.

Also on the rise: 8Minute upsizes its credit facility, an NREL-led team publishes a new guide to inverter-based power systems, and Altus Power adds to its portfolio.

Also on the rise: A simple safeguard for the growing danger of arc-fault events; EDF Renewables signs a PPA; Soltec will supply trackers to AES

The solar ITC would remain at 26% for projects that begin construction in 2021 and 2022, step down to 22% in 2023, and down to 10% in 2024 for commercial projects. 

Consumers Energy cuts solar export fees in Michigan, while net metering takes a hit in Vermont. And TVA wants feedback on an environmental report for a planned 50 MW solar and 200 MWh storage project in Mississippi.

The zero-emission fuel is expected to satisfy around 6% of Canada’s end-use energy by 2030 and about 30% by the end of the first half of the century.