Solar in the Big Apple
New York City should be great for solar PV. But it isn’t. Despite policy leadership from the state, local installers are facing crippling bureaucratic challenges, and many have chosen to build rooftop solar elsewhere.
El Paso Electric drops solar demand charge in settlement
While the solar-specific charge was dropped as part of a settlement, the utility will increase fixed charges on its Texas customers.
AES to supply, integrate 37.5 MW of battery systems for SDG&E
The San Diego utility says that the battery systems will allow it to improve reliability and integrate higher levels of renewables. AES plans to finish the systems by the end of January 2017.
SolarWorld lodges an appeal against court judgment in Hemlock dispute
A revision request has now been received by the appropriate court in Michigan. SolarWorld has meanwhile filled further protective letters against Hemlock to various courts in Germany, as a precaution to prevent possible enforcement of any penalty in Germany. SolarWorld CEO Frank Asbeck is confident that the U.S. silicon manufacturer will not receive recognition of any judgements in German courts.
Third-party solar moves forward with changes to Rhode Island’s net metering rules
National Grid has filed to change the net metering rules in line with an earlier legislation, making net metering in the state even better than before.
More troubles: the pv magazine USA weekly news digest
This was another difficult week in the U.S. solar industry, with layoffs at SolarCity and the carving up of SunEdison’s empire, but also saw progress in policy and technology.
NRG move to acquire SunEdison assets moves forward, expands to DG
A bankruptcy court has approved the expedited auction of SunEdison projects with NRG as the “stalking horse” bidder, and NRG has separately announced the purchase of 26 C&I solar projects.
NASDAQ warns TerraForm Power, TerraForm Global over delays in filing
The yieldcos have until the end of August to submit a plan as to how they are going to get their financial reports on track, while TerraForm Global struggles with multiple legal proceedings.
Fronius opens new R&D center in U.S. with eye on Tesla partnership support
The Austrian inverter specialist opens sales, product management and R&D center in San Francisco to better serve U.S. markets and commitments. Partnership with Tesla expected to be strengthened.
SolarCity offers $124 million in high-interest bonds
On the same day that the copmany announced that it will lay off workers and cut founder salaries, SolarCity initiated a bond offering at a record high interest rate of 6.5%.
