US solar industry cut 65,000 workers due to Covid-19, erasing five years of solar job growth
New York, New Jersey, Pennsyvania, and Washington are among the states hit the hardest. SEIA’s analysis shows that vast majority of renewable energy job losses come from the solar energy industry.
SEIA calls for strengthening PURPA
About 9.3 GW of solar projects have come online thanks to the law known as PURPA. The national solar association argues that federal rules implementing PURPA “should be strengthened rather than weakened,” to ensure that solar facilities up to 80 MW may compete in every region of the country.
Morning Brief: Mysterious Rashba effect detected in bulk perovskites, Zanzibar’s ‘solar mammas’
Also in the brief: SEIA disappointed by USTR’s decision to remove Section 201 tariff exclusions for bifacial solar modules, plus VC investment in energy and grid startups.
Massachusetts doubles the size of its SMART solar incentive
Dubbing the measure an “emergency regulation,” the incentive program’s capacity has been expanded to 3.2 GW of incentive blocks, with specific carve-outs for smaller projects and low-income community solar projects.
Morning Brief: Satellites help predict cloud cover for solar plants, REC Group did not infringe Hanwha Q-Cells’ ‘215 patent
Also in the brief: Vistra is increasing the size of its Oakland battery energy storage project, a University of Arkansas professor researching solar project cybersecurity and more.
106,000 American clean energy jobs were lost in March
The industry lost 3% of its workforce in March, erasing the entire jobs growth of 2019. A report projects that, without taking action, 500,000 more jobs could be lost.
What permitting volume tells us about solar deployment during the pandemic
Ohm Analytics has opened up its Weekly Solar Activity Tracker to the public. The tracker aggregates a sampling of solar building and electrical permits from major metro areas across the U.S. — and can be used to measure the impact of Covid-19 on the solar industry.
NEXTracker CEO challenges solar projections from Energy Information Administration
“EIA’s projections greatly underestimate the growth of solar and significantly overestimate coal’s persistence in the energy mix,” says Dan Shugar, CEO of NEXTracker.
Morning brief: Hawaii is installing batteries to support solar and wind, Ted Danson on energy storage
Also in the brief: Tesla is planning to retool its New York gigafactory to manufacture medical ventilators, SEIA is projecting that coronavirus could slash the solar workforce in half, a 50 MW community solar project approved in New Mexico and more.
Guide to installing residential solar amid a pandemic
As long as their businesses are allowed to operate, residential solar companies have to adhere to the changing world that Covid-19 has created. In light of this, Sunrun and SEIA have both released best practice guidelines for installing solar during a global pandemic.
