NRG Energy is taking solar to the people, their backpacks and gadget covers with the purchase of Goal Zero, which offers personal solar products and batteries. NRG is one of the most aggressive energy companies to support solar and has launched and acquired numerous companies to own and install solar power from some of the largest power plants in the world to homes and now to personal devices. Terms of the purchase, slated for completion in third quarter, were not disclosed. 

Today (Aug. 12) the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Administrator Adam Sieminski announced that renewable electric generation including wind, solar and biomass, has outpaced the amount of generation coming from hydropower in the U.S. At the same time a new report from Black and Veatch finds that going forward not all the large, old power plants, like coal plants, need to be replaced—largely because of solar power and distributed generation. Both are good harbingers for clean energy like solar power.  

As the Volkswagen family of automobiles enters their new hybrid and electric vehicles to the U.S. they’ve already started partnering with companies to offer a more sustainable driving experience, like home solar power and carbon sequestration. 

Rumors are swirling that Vivint Solar, the second largest residential solar installer in theU.S., has filed for an IPO (initial public offering) that could happen as soon as fall 2014. The company has bandied about the idea since at least 2013. 

Last night (July 31) Massachusetts’ House didn’t pass HB 4185, which would instate sweeping reforms in the state’s solar program. The legislation fell short of Gov. Duval Patrick’s hopes of overhauling the state’s solar program—at least for now. However it did up the cap on net-metering in the state from 3 percent to 4 percent for non-public projects and 5 percent for public projects. 

The University of Michigan won the solar-powered vehicle. The team bested eight teams in the eight-day, 1,700 mile race from Austin to Minneapolis in their three-wheeled Quantum vehicle—it was the university’s fifth consecutive win in the biennial race.

Every great once in a while a bad apple pops up, even in the world of solar power where competition among installers and developers helps keep people honest. That’s the case yesterday when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced fraud charges against MSGI Technology Solutions and its CEO J. Jeremy Barbera.

It’s no secret that APS Energy, Arizona’s largest utility has battled with solar installers in the state over net-metering policies. But now the utility is proposing to install solar on 3,000 homes across the state. 

Inverters are sort of the nerve-center of a solar power array, they convert the DC solar power produced by the solar panels into the AC solar power used well, just about everywhere. But inverters are still big and clunky and while costs have come down they haven’t come down like the costs of solar panels have. That’s why Google and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) introduced the $1 million Little Box Challenge in May to build a better, smaller inverter—one that’s about a tenth of the size of current inverters. 

Clean Edge and Ceres introduced a first of its kind report looking at how much clean energy utilities are buying and which have bought the most clean energy like solar power and taken the most steps towards energy efficiency. The overall leaders in sales of clean energy were NV Energy (21.1 percent), Xcel Energy (18.1 percent) and PG&E (16.9 percent).