Yesterday (June 11) the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) introduced its SEIA Residential Consumer Guide to Solar Power. The new guide joins a host of other tools out there to help homeowners and everyone else, go solar—now that more options like community solar are starting to open up. SolarReviews’ sister site Solar-Estimate, for instance, offers a unique, leading solar estimator tool developed with support from the Department of Energy that helps homeowners understand what size system they will need as well as cost and other factors. 

The city of Cologne, Minn., voted last Monday to source all of the electricity to power its municipal buildings from a community solar array. The city will source its power from a SunShare solar garden that’s being developed through Xcel Energy’s Solar*Rewards Community program. 

Today (June 10) Amazon announced that it will support the construction of an 80 megawatt solar farm in Accomak County, Va., the largest for the state and one of the largest solar farms in the eastern U.S. The announcement comes as Amazon has faced increased pressure from Greenpeace, customers and advocates asking the online sales giant to explain its plans to green its energy source as other tech companies like Google, Facebook and Apple have been doing. 

Residential Market Drives Solar Industry in First Quarter

Sometimes the word tendril seems to have dark overtones, but Tendril is taking a sunny disposition on community solar power. The company unveiled the Tendril Community Solar Solution, a new platform to help utilities speed development of community solar projects and make them personal for their customers. The company unveiled the new service at the Edison Electric Institute’s Annual Convention today, June 8. 

Over the next five years Ikea will invest 600 million euros (about $667 million) in wind and solar energy by 2020. It’s foundation will invest another 400 million euros (about $444 million) in efforts to support communities at risk of being impacted by climate change with renewable energy. 

Vivint Solar quickly grew to the second largest residential solar installer in the U.S., behind SolarCity. Now it’s looking to expand its customer base further and has announced plans to move into the commercial and industrial side of solar financing and installing. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Department of Interior have approved the first three solar power farms on federal lands in Nevada under the BLM’s streamlined Solar Energy Zones permitting process. The new solar projects will generate 440 megawatts of solar power when they are completed and online. 

Thank lightning. A power line to California’s Borrego Springs was damaged by lightning last month. Normally they’d have to shut down power to 2,800 customers in the area the impacted area for about 10 hours to make the fix, but Borrego Springs has a solar-powered microgrid, complete with battery backup. So when the lights could of been out for a day, the food spoiling in the fridge and the homes and businesses shut down—they were instead fully powered by the local microgrid, which local power provider San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) said is likely a first. 

A new report out from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) finds that the U.S. could install 5,000 megawatts—the equivalent of about 5 to 10 large power plants—on municipal property across the country. What’s more, the report contends it can be accomplished with little to no up-front cash.