United States

Interview: In December Energy Democracy, a book telling the story of Germany’s Energiewende from the perspective of citizen ownership of renewable energy, hit the shelves. The book is the latest collaboration of Political Scientist Arne Jungjohann and renewable energy writer Craig Morris, currently a senior fellow at the IASS in Potsdam, who worked together on the German Energy Transition website (energytransition.de). pv magazine caught up with Jungjohann to talk about the book, and why citizen involvement in energy is important.

Under the guise of creating “consumer protections” from unscrupulous installers, two companion bills in the state place such onerous requirements on solar companies that it could significantly slow down the industry’s progress in the state. Other legislation moving through New Mexico’s legislature would boost solar. Will the real New Mexico solar policy please stand up?

The Solar Foundation’s 2016 National Solar Jobs Census shows that project development was the fastest growing job function last year at over 53 percent, while manufacturing jobs were up a robust 25 percent plus. Overall employment in the industry rose by over 24 percent to over 260,000 jobs. More than one out of every 50 new jobs created in the U.S. during 2016 was created by the solar industry.

According to a new GTM Research research report, utility-driven community solar projects will total 410 MW installed in 2017, an expansion that more than doubles the capacity of last year’s installations.

Can solar be moved from a must-take contract to a dispatchable resource – and provide grid services as well? Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has a look at how this could work.

With lawmakers claiming the solar income-tax credit was costing the state $60 million per year, the solar industry agreed to a phase out of the credits by 2021 in lieu of severe caps that would have limited the number of Utahns able to take advantage of it.

GRID Alternatives and Enphase have partnered on solar+storage project in California’s Imperial Irrigation District (IID) territory that may help new PV customers avoid higher costs as they are moved into new billing programs, following fullfillment of the utility’s 5% net metering mandate.

The man chosen to lead the SunShot Initiative at the Department of Energy talked with our own Frank Andorka about the $30 million in grants SunShot awarded, future funding opportunities and why he’s more excited than ever about the future of solar energy in the United States.

Standard Solar’s Tony Clifford says yesterday’s veto override of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the Clean Energy Jobs Act was a great (though not entirely unexpected) start to growing the state’s solar industry, it can’t be the end game. In this essay, he discusses what he thinks the next Maryland solar industry goal should be.

The agreement between the company, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) builds on two previous projects involving the three partners.