Yesterday (Jan. 29) the DOE offered a number of innovative projects with a total of $59 million. The funds are intended to help reduce the cost of solar and speed new technologies to market.

This year the battle on the gridiron will be decided by two teams that have gone solar on their their respective stadiums. This spurred the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) to attempt to dub it the “Solar Super Bowl” though neither Seattle or Foxborough, Mass. are known for their sunny days. Together the Patriots and Seahawks, have a combined solar capacity of 1,800 kilowatts (kW) at Gillette Stadium and CenturyLink Field.

Florida’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) announced a plan earlier this week to invest a lot of money—$400 million—in solar power. Unfortunately it’s all focussed on utility-scale solar power and not on residential solar. The Sunshine State’s regulators and utilities have had an acrimonious relationship with residential solar in the state even as utilities like FPL are moving forward with large solar projects. 

Yesterday (Jan. 26) President Barak Obama met with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Dehli. There they discussed, among other things, clean energy and Modi’s ambitious goals to grow the country’s solar electric capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022. That’s an extremely ambitious goal considering that the nation currently has about 3.3 gigawatts of solar energy installed. 

Last week Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) announced its plan to triple the amount of rooftop solar in its service area on Maui, Oahu and the Big Island. At the same time however, it proposed gutting net-metering—one of the most popular incentive programs to support the expansion of rooftop solar power across the country. 

Yesterday (Jan. 21) the U.S. International Trade Commission today upheld the tariffs it imposed on Chinese and Taiwanese solar panels for unfair Chinese trade practices. The tariffs are seen as hurting the U.S. solar industry by some, while others see it as a good thing for the solar industry. 

A new report out from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) “Selling Into the Sun” shows that solar arrays add value to homes. The new report takes on a serious question for homeowners interested in solar power—is solar power worth it? The answer: Yes. Ultimately the report found that an average 3.6 kilowatt solar array adds about $15,000 or $4 dollars per watt in value.

Renewable energy, including wind, solar, hydropower and biopower grew to 13 percent of all electric generation in the U.S. in 2013. That’s according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book, which was released yesterday (Jan. 20). The datebook looks at how all forms of renewable energy are being brought online. 

Today (Jan. 20) the Solar Impulse team unveiled their plans for circumnavigating the globe on a 35,000 kilometer (21,748 mile) trip, a journey which they will begin at the end of March when they take off from Abu Dhabi. As the first solar-powered plane to fly around the globe, the team will follow in the footsteps of aviators like Charles Lindbergh and Emilia Earhart. Like them, Solar Impulse will be flying much slower than today’s contemporary prop planes and jets. 

Yesterday (Jan. 15) NRG Energy, Inc. introduced its long-term growth plan. The plan, unveiled at the company’s 2015 investor meeting, which was themed “Win Today, Win Tomorrow and Win the Future,” took a strong stance on solar power. The power company, which owns some of the largest solar and wind power plants in the U.S. Some of the solar plants are among the largest plants in the world, like the 290 megawatt Agua Caliente Solar Project, but the company also is interested in distributed solar.