President Jimmy Carter (D) has leased ten-acres of his farmland to SolAmerica Energy for a 1.3-megawatt solar farm. SolAmerica recently held a ribbon cutting at the new power field, which is expected to generate 50 percent of the town’s electricity. 

Of the 70 projects nominated, the Better Shelter emergency home won two Beazley Design Awards in London, including the grand prize. The refugee shelter, developed by IKEA and the United Nations Refugee Agency, also took home the design award for developing the flat-packing temporary 188-square foot home with solar panels and a battery-system that provides up to four hours of light and a USB port for charging electronic devices.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced that Amazon Web Service, Community Energy Solar and Dominion Energy have partnered to develop a 100-megawatt solar farm in Southampton County, which will be the largest in the state. The solar farm will power Amazon’s data centers. Amazon also has partnered with the two companies to build and use the state’s second-largest solar array, an 80 MW solar farm that also will power its data centers.

New York just made it easier for prepared community solar projects to get online. The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) announced that it has instituted changes to the state’s Standardized Interconnection Requirements (SIR) for solar projects up to 5 megawatts, a size range that includes community solar projects. The changes expedite the application process and help decrease the costs by making infrastructure changes uniformly. 

Since 2013 Georgia Power has integrated approximately 846 megawatts of solar power into the grid. Now it’s announced that it expected to add up to 1.6 gigawatts by 2021, thanks to the implementation of its Renewable Energy Development Initiative and its Advanced Solar Initiative (ASI).

Fully 565 business leaders are urging the US Senate to deny confirmation of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency through a letter sent by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). The letter contended that Pruitt’s views on clean energy and climate change would hamper future renewable energy market growth and could affect more than 2.5 million workers in the clean power industry. The Senate’s vote is expected to come as early as next week.

There is no better way to teach students about renewable energy than installing rooftop arrays on schools so they can learn from the benefits of solar first-hand and in real time. That's what is happening in North Carolina thanks to the North Carolina GreenPower Solar Schools pilot program and the State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation (SECU). They have teamed up to fund a 2-year investment of up to $140,000 to assist 14 K-12 schools throughout the state install  3- to 5-kilowatt campus solar arrays.

Massachusetts remained the national leader in Solar Power Rocks’ annual state ranking for home solar, beating out Rhode Island and New Jersey. 

New Jersey joins the small handful of states that have surpassed 2 gigawatts of solar installations. That’s according to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU). Almost 66,000 solar projects have been developed across the state, reaching 2 gigawatts of capacity, according to the New Jersey Solar Installation Report, a report issued by one of the NJBPU’s offices.

The New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced New Castle, NY, as the first community with less than 40,000 residents to be designated in New York as a Clean Energy Community for reducing energy use and promoting clean energy practices. New Castle received the recognition for completing clean energy actions established by NYSERDA. It now has the opportunity to apply for up to $100,000 in financing at no cost to the community to fund clean energy projects.