One of the benefits of solar farms is the land they’re on can still be used for other things if designed properly. Case in point, Cornell University partnered with Cypress Creek Renewables to study how planting wildflowers at solar farms can help establish bee colonies and fight their decline. 

Over recent years solar power providers and installers have offered an increasing variety of ways to finance solar installations, with each having its time in the spotlight. Now solar loans are becoming the financing mechanism of choice for homeowners, rather than solar leases or power-purchase agreements (PPAs). 

Today (July 10) Duke Energy announced it’s rolling out its plan to offer $62 million in solar incentives to customers in North Carolina and starting on its plan to install 680 megawatts (MWs) of solar power over the next five years. The incentives are expected to double the amount of utility customers with solar power in the state and will help cement North Carolina, which is currently second for overall capacity, as a solar power leader in the nation. 

As the US celebrated its independence last week a fair amount of news came out about whether or not it will become independent from the effects of climate change through more renewable energy and lower emissions. Sadly it won’t, but people are taking action, they want more solar power and Rhode Island is suing oil companies over climate change. 

The littlest state in the nation just took made a big statement about climate change and companies that have helped accelerate it. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin is suing big oil companies, among them ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell for knowingly contributing to climate change as its impacts to the Ocean State continue to multiply. It’s the first state to challenge oil companies over climate change.

Fully 63 percent of US adults support state mandates for solar power on new homes and 58 percent of adults in the US are interested in adding solar power to their homes, according to recent Morning Consult polls. The polls reached 2201 adults across the US and come after California became the first state in the nation to enact such a mandate in May.

The Trump Administration’s actions to dismantle President Obama’s climate and clean energy policies mean the US will fall well short of its emissions reductions goals under the Paris Climate Agreement, the latest “Taking Stock” report from Rhodium Group. Trump, controversially, became the only world leader to announce that the US would withdraw from the Paris Agreement in June 2017.

REC Silicon, a Washington state-based polysilicon manufacturer said it’s forced to layoff roughly 100 employees, nearly 40 percent of its workforce, as a direct result of the ongoing trade dispute between China and the US. As a result of the dispute and the company’s inability to export its solar-grade polysilicon to the Chinese market, it’s reducing its production to 25 percent of its potential capacity. 

Nearly 40 US major sports venues have gone solar. It’s not surprising considering that PV is getting more efficient than ever and more manufacturing is coming to the US with a newly unveiled plan from LG Electronics to begin assembling solar panels in Alabama. 

Solar panel production is coming to Alabama thanks to LG Electronics’ plans unveiled this week. The Korean company will install two production lines at its existing facilities in Huntsville, AL, where it will produce about 500 megawatts of solar panels annually beginning in 2019.