The team of students majoring in architectural and building technology and interior design from Embry-Riddle and Daytona State College (Team Daytona Beach) are bringing their BEACH from concept to reality ahead of next year’s Solar Decathlon in Denver where they will compete with 13 teams in the US Department of Energy’s prestigious Solar Decathlon 2017 in Denver, Colorado. The BEACH (Building Efficient, Affordable and Comfortable Homes) House is a 1,000 square-foot home designed as a forever home (a house a family could live in for 30 years or more) for a small family that wants to live sustainably without sacrificing comfort.

Ever since President Obama initiated his climate change proposal called for the replacing coal-fired energy production in the US with renewable energy, coal workers have been leery of the rapid expansion of the solar power industry. Now solar might save communities by creating jobs and invigorating their local economies.

California solar energy project developer and owner, SolarReserve has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency initializing the study and development of its “Urban Solar Farm” initiative in South African cities. The privately owned and operated solar farms will range from 5 to 30 megawatts in size, are expected to produce 200 megawatts of solar power that will be delivered to customers directly or through distribution agreements with existing utility companies. 

SunPower, a vertically integrated solar company is clearly bringing technology from science fiction films to the real world with the latest generation of its Oasis platform for solar  projects with drones and robots. The company is using drones to streamline design and robotic technology to efficiently and economically maintain the systems. 

The United States military is once again testing innovative solar technology in the field to improve the safety and capabilities of its personnel on the front lines. This time it's the Air Force, which is testing a mobile, solar-powered microgrid system with energy storage designed by Ideal Power and EnerDel that's currently powering lights and air conditioning systems for 10 forward operating base living quarters in San Antonio, Texas, and could soon be deployed at US Air Force FOB facilities worldwide. 

On the heels of Solar Impulse’s groundbreaking solar-powered flight around the world, as well as efforts of Internet of things (IoT) companies like Alphabet (Google) and Facebook, it seems as though the skies could soon be swarming with creative ways to utilize the potential of solar power and technology to fly. Team Gamera, an undergraduate group of students and faculty advisors from the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, successfully designed, constructed and tested the first human-piloted helicopter powered entirely by solar energy. 

Solar energy developer and financier, Standard Solar, announced that it has 35 commercial-scale rooftop solar projects comprising 9 megawatts of solar power in urban areas like New York City and Washington, DC. The projects are installed on schools, fire and police stations in dense urban environments.

With almost 7,000 residential and commercial customers and nearly 100 MW of community solar power from projects already online or in stages of advanced development, Colorado-based community solar provider, SunShare, announced a rollout of services to help speed the adoption of community solar. These managed packages allow utilities to bundle and choose the community solar services to meet their specific needs. SunShare’s in-house team of developers, construction experts and engineers will work directly with utility companies, local governments and financiers to efficiently provide solar power options. 

As the solar energy boom continues to sweep the US, the issue of environmental waste once solar products have reached their end of life is becoming a more pressing question. It’s becoming a bigger issue now that there are well over 100 million solar panels installed across the country and they’re being installed at an ever-increasing pace.

Whole Foods Market, the natural grocery juggernaut, recently announced plans to retrofit roughly 100 of its stores with rooftop solar by 2017. That’s in addition to the 40 solar arrays it had installed by the end of 2015. As such the grocer’s rapid rollout of solar power has generated interest from the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and The Solar Foundation, which recently studied its model for rapid solar expansion as one that could be used by other companies.