Toyota isn’t just making the world’s most popular hybrid cars, it’s making more commitments to reduce its impact on climate change. Its latest effort is making its new, North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, a LEED Platinum campus with 8.8 megawatts (MWs) of SunPower solar panels on the campus’ parking structures.

Ahead of the first meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, SolarWorld released a statement urging the two world leaders make China’s unfair solar trade policy a topic of conversation. The statement rebuked China’s “unfolding aggression” in implementing what it called unfair, even unlawful, trade practices to de-stabilize the US solar industry.

William Shatner saved mankind as Captain Kirk in Star Trek and showed travel customers how to save money as the Priceline pitchman. Now he’s taking on both roles at once as a spokesperson for the Solar Alliance’s new campaign to promote the benefits of rooftop solar power. The “Join the Alliance—Save Money, Save the World” will kick-off with the installation of a rooftop solar array on Shatner’s Los Angeles home. Star Trek fans and fans of everything Shatner can watch the campaign roll-out across Solar Alliance’s social media platforms. 

PacifiCorp and subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power, announced a long-term, $3.5 billion energy expansion plan to develop and deploy 3 gigawatts of new wind and solar generation by 2036. The new integrated resource plan (IRP) includes upgrading 900 megawatts of existing wind plants and constructing a 140-mile segment of the Gateway West transmission line to spur further wind and solar development in the Rocky Mountain west region.

Florida Power and Light Co. (FPL) announced plans to add 2.1 gigawatts—from roughly 9 million solar panels—of utility-scale solar projects by 2023, adding to 686 megawatts it has already installed across its service area. Eight solar facilities totaling 600 megawatts are expected to be online by 2018 and are projected to provide customers a net lifetime savings of $39 million. Thereafter, the utility will continue to add an average of 300 megawatts annually for the next 7 years.

Gov. Terry McAullife (D) announced that employment in Virginia’s solar industry surged 65 percent in 2016, growing to 3,236 workers. That’s up from 1,963 workers in 2015. Figures from the Solar Energy Industries Association showed that over the period the amount of solar power installed in the state grew by 192 megawatts to 238 MWs. The commonwealth’s solar industry has grown into a $2 billion revenue generating machine since McAullife was sworn into office in 2014.

The results are in. Solar had its strongest year of growth in a record year of growth for all renewable energy sources. Solar accounted for 71 gigawatts (GWs) of the unprecedented 161 GWs of newly installed and operational clean energy added globally during 2016. That’s according to new data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). 

Ikea announced it now has solar on 90 percent of its US locations as it announced that its newest store, being completed in Columbus, Ohio, has a 1.2 megawatt rooftop solar array. The installation is Ikea’s 46th solar project in the US, which is owned and operated by the Swedish furniture giant that has already surpassed its goal of owning more than 40 megawatts of solar in the US. It's part of Ikea’s larger goal of becoming energy independent by 2020 through $2.5 billion in investments in clean energy.

Solar employees earned $50 billion in wages and contributed $154 billion to the US economy during 2016. To better show the local economic impact of the unprecedented 25 percent increase in solar jobs to more than 260,000 in the US, the Solar Foundation has introduced its latest Solar Jobs Map tool. 

German scientists have built Synlight, the world’s biggest artificial sun, that can generate 10,000 times more light radiation than the sun produces on the earth’s surface. The 149 xenon lamps in the array produces 350 kilowatts of energy focused on an 8-inch by 8-inch target area, producing temperatures up to 5,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The devices is aimed at creating carbon-free hydrogen and other fuels.