Colorado

Also in the brief: solar pros running for elected office, Longroad Energy has announced a partnership with Maine’s Unity College, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation has chosen a management platform for its distributed generation program and more.

Utilities that are transitioning away from coal are starting to view the creation of a natural gas “bridge” to renewable energy as an unnecessary step.

“Reports indicate that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the Heartland Institute and NERA all have ties to the Koch brothers, who have funded climate denial and pro-fossil fuel campaigns for roughly three decades.”

“The most efficient time to install solar panels is when the builders are on the roof in the first place,” said Bronte Payne with Environment America.

The Bureau of Land Management “has ignored most possibilities” for utility-scale solar “on its vast land holdings across the solar-rich Southwest,” says a paper. Renewable energy development accounts for less than 1% of economic activity on BLM lands, while oil and gas account for 70%, according to BLM data.

Also in the brief: Verizon is back at the bottom of Green America’s Clean Energy Wireless Scorecard, Solar United Neighbors and Vote Solar have submitted over 20,000 public comments against NERA, an early coal plant retirement and more.

Arcadia has partnered with Pivot Energy to develop community solar projects for homeowners and renters across Colorado, including in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Grand Junction

Also in the brief: DOE to invest more than $5 million in tribal energy infrastructure

Also in the brief: Boston Scientific goes renewable in American operations, a semi-temporary solar farm for Holy Cross Energy, a roadmap to Pandemic Resilience and more.

The number of large solar projects is increasing in the U.S. — and pv magazine is keeping track. We’ve rounded up this week’s big news in big solar and included bonus news of a 100 MW battery project.