Late last night (Dec. 16) Congress introduced its omnibus appropriations bill, which extends tax breaks and allows the government to continue operating. In it the House and Senate extended Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which helps offset the cost of solar power materials, and the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which helps offset the costs of wind power. The moves were ballyhooed by the renewables industries. However, the House and Senate still have to vote on the massive bill, which could happen by the end of the week. 

Today (Dec. 15) was already a decent day for the solar industry. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decided to keep net metering in the nation’s largest and most populous state, which also is the largest solar market in the country. At the same time whispers in Washington, D.C., suggest that the tax extenders legislation being debated in Congress may include an extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in a meaningful way. That would help ensure tens of thousands of jobs across the country wouldn’t be lost if the ITC expires, as planned, at the end of 2016.

Today (Dec. 14) brewers in North Carolina, among them Appalachian Mountain Brewery, French Broad Brewery, Highland Brewing Company, Innovation Brewing, New Belgium Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, were awarded the Solar Champion Award by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) for their decision to use solar power for at least part of their operations. 

Yesterday (Dec. 10) The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) introduced its Sixth Annual 2015 Solar Scorecard. The annual report ranks solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers on the amount of toxic materials in their solar panels as well as their sustainability and social justice practices. 

BlueWave Capital signed partnered with Morgan Stanley subsidiary, MS Solar Solutions Corp., to co-invest in and co-own a community solar portfolio of more than 25 megawatts in Massachusetts. The $100 million investment from MS Solar Solutions shows that investors are increasingly looking to community solar projects as a new opportunity. 

Even as the debate over whether or not to extend tax incentives for solar power in the U.S. the country’s solar industry is preparing for its biggest quarter—ever. The third-quarter of 2015 is big, too, with the U.S. installing 1,361 megawatts of new solar photovoltaics across the country. But the fourth quarter could see more than 3,000 megawatts of new solar power coming online. 

It seems at least once a year someone tries to claim that renewable energy is receiving more subsidies than clean energy like wind and solar power. These generally seem to be narrow approaches that don’t account for everything. On the other hand organizations like Climate Change International and the Climate Action Network, which just introduced new analysis that shows that leading countries are spending 40 times more subsidizing fossil fuels than they are on clean energy. 

The UN COP21 climate talks are the most comprehensive thus far and are showing that countries actually are preparing to and are taking action on climate change. The solar industry is posed to be part of the answer and as is increasingly working together to do so. Yesterday (Dec. 7) at the conference the industry announced the Global Solar Council (GSC) in an attempt to share best practices and bring the solar power industry together at an international level. 

Yesterday (Dec. 3) Alphabet, formerly Google, announced that it plans to add 842 more megawatts of renewable energy in the form of wind and solar power across the world. The company said it now has 2 gigawatts of contracts for renewable energy across the world and it will use the energy to power all of its operations with renewable energy by 2025. 

Every month the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes data about energy production and use in the U.S. Until now it had not included information about distributed and rooftop solar power. That changed in December as EIA noted the increased role that small-scale solar installations like rooftop solar makes up roughly a third of all solar power in the U.S.