The California State Senate took control of its energy future on May 31, passing SB 100, the California Clean Energy Act of 2017, and two other renewable energy bills to transition the state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. The bills are now under consideration in the State Assembly. 

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has started the process of shuttering the Mercer and Hudson coal-fired power plants in New Jersey. They are the last two coal plants in the utility’s service area. They’re being replaced with natural gas generation and plans to expand its use of renewable energy.

Toronto’s Daymak, an ebike manufacturer, announced the launch of its EC1 Special Edition (SE) electric bicycle and a solar charging station. The station has wireless charging capabilities and can charge the EC1’s 36 volt lithium ion battery within 4 to 6 hours giving it an electric power range of 15 to 18 miles.

Xcel Energy produced 25 percent of the electricity it supplied to customers in 2016 from renewables, with 1 gigawatt coming from solar and 6.7 gigawatts coming from wind. That’s according to its 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report. The power company also is expanding its renewable energy portfolio even further and is on pace to reduce its carbon emissions across its 8 state service area by 45 percent by 2021, compared to its 2005 levels.

The 263 unit Hanover Olympic apartment building in the heart of Los Angeles has become the first rental property in the city to offer net zero-energy apartments outfitted with individual solar installations. Now 20 units feature a 3 kilowatt solar panel system, allowing renters to receive direct savings on their electric bills from the power it generates. With a total of 65.5-kilowatts of solar installed by solar provider Promise Energy, the systems are expected to generate approximately 90,000-kilowatt hours of electricity annually.  

Solar advocates in Nevada are excited about the passage of revised Assembly Bill 405 through the State Assembly with a 38-2 vote. The bill would restore net-metering for every rooftop solar customer throughout the state and includes a “Solar Bill of Rights” provision.

Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, CA, is celebrating the summer by cooling down its three-screen movie house with a new solar-plus-ice-battery-storage system. The 73.6 kilowatt rooftop solar array, installed by Horizon Solar Power, will provide power to the theater during the day, while charging five Ice Energy Ice Bear cold energy storage units. The combined system is expected to reduce the theater’s peak hour cooling costs by up to 40 percent.

Ameren Corp. is piloting the first investor-owned utility microgrid able to island customers on an active utility feed. The system will integrate wind, solar, energy storage and natural gas-based electric generation, allowing the microgrid its energy sources to maximize its efficiency and allowing the utility to test how generation sources react to live customer demands on a utility distribution feeder.

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) and the Jacksonville Energy Authority announced on May 22 that they filed a plan to shutter the 1.3 gigawatt coal-fired St. Johns River Power Park plant near Jacksonville, FL, by the end of 2017. In its stead, FPL will develop 2.1 gigawatts of utility-scale solar by 2023 and modernize other facilities. The moves are expected to save its customers an estimated $183 million and decrease carbon gas emissions by 5.6 million tons annually.

Housing cooperative Georgetown Mews is becoming a solar-powered oasis in the middle of Queens in New York City. That's thanks to a partnership with Sol Alliance to construct 1.56 megawatts of rooftop solar across 90 roof surfaces on 32 buildings. The project, the largest rooftop installation to date in Queens, will provide 930 apartments with clean electricity and is expected to save residents an estimated $425,000 per year.