PURPA finds itself under siege in Wyoming
Rocky Mountain Power is asking the Wyoming Public Service to slash severely the reimbursement rates it is required to pay to qualifying facilities under the 1978 law, arguing falling solar and natural gas prices mean those rates are too high to sustain long term. (READ THE FULL FILING HERE)
California’s residential, commercial markets show slight rebound in May (full report here)
OhmHome’s May Solar Index report shows solar permits in the Golden State rose 12% from April, with Arizona close behind with 10% growth.
Vivint moves into retail sales
The third party solar provider plans to set up kiosks in retail locations in five states by the end of June, with more to come by the end of the year.
NRG continues moving into solar during Q1
Despite a challenging financial environment, NRG continues its solar expansion, including an increasing presence in community solar.
“Red state” utilities populate the top 10 lists for solar
SEPA’s annual utility list shows utilities in North Carolina, Iowa and Utah among the top 3 in its lists for solar installed on an absolute and per-customer basis. The organization also published new lists of the top utilities for storage deployment.
Salt Lake City joins cascade of cities committing to 100% renewables
The dominoes are starting to fall solar’s way, as the Utah capital committed to producing all of its electricity from renewable sources in 15 years, joining an ever-growing group of cities who have already done so.
Utah eliminates solar tax credit
HB 23 reduces the current tax credit at $1,600 in 2018 and then reduces it by $400 per year until it reaches $400 total in 2021. Any system installed after that won’t be able to access tax credits.
GTM Research: U.S. solar market to decline 10% in 2017 (with charts)
The full release of the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight report gives a number of surprises, including Utah and Georgia rising to the #2 and #3 largest state markets with over 1 GW installed each.
Utah industry reaches solar tax-credit compromise
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.
sPower Connects Nearly 500 MW to grid in 65 days
The independent power producer reached 1 GW of operating solar projects before the calendar turned to 2017.
