Policy

Over the protests of the state’s solar industry, Senate Bill 9 has advanced with an overwhelming majority of support in a senate vote.

Applications for distributed solar in the state increased more than 10-fold in 2017 over 2016, following the reinstatement of net metering in mid-2017. On a monthly basis the increase has been as much as 32x.

It turns out that the public support for a proposed gas plant in New Orleans includes actors who were paid to show up and in some cases provide public comment. Entergy has denied any connection to the hiring.

The California Energy Commission is expected to approve the 2019 Building Energy Code that calls for solar PV on all new homes. The goal is net zero residential energy usage.

The power giant is planning to contract with 760 MW of third-party solar projects by 2020, as well as building 240 MW of solar by 2021 – but also to build new gas plants and keep its nuclear reactors running for unheard-of timelines.

The third party solar company has begun offering its solar finance agreements in Florida after the state regulators rule that a 20-year fixed lease is legal in the state and SB90 passed.

In this week’s solar policy update, we bring you Minneapolis’ plan to go 100% renewable, a potential net metering cap increase in South Carolina, legislation to weaken regulatory oversight in Missouri, and more.

The U.S. government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy is offering up to $30 million in funding to build innovative technologies to enable long-duration energy storage, with the aim to provide reliable electricity from 10 to roughly 100 hours, and longer.

A new analysis by Reuters finds that the solar industry trade group provided $56,500 to Republican candidates in the most recent election cycle, versus $26,700 to Democrats

The EIA’s monthly solar module import report shows that after a ramp up in in mid-2017, volumes of imported PV modules crashed in January and February.