Following President Trump’s (R) solar tariffs on imported solar panels earlier this week the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the $3 million American Made Solar Prize to help bring solar panel manufacturing back to the US. The prize is intended to new innovations in US PV manufacturing and processes. 

Last week Shell purchased a nearly 44 percent stake in solar developer Silicon Ranch, becoming the second big oil company in a month to make an investment in the US solar market. The two purchases, made ahead of President Trump’s decision on solar tariffs show that fossil fuel companies are increasingly seeing solar power as a solid investment opportunity instead of just competition.

Yesterday, Jan. 22, after the stock markets closed President Donald Trump’s (R) US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that the administration will impose 30 percent tariffs on imported solar cells, which is likely to cost 23,000 solar power jobs. After all the attempts that the Trump administration has made to impede the growth of renewable energy, its first real strike against them are the tariffs, much to the frustration of the renewable energy industry. 

Thanks to rooftop solar power pushing renewable energy over the halfway mark, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data shows renewable energy was more than half of all new energy added to the US grid in 2017. Petco Park, home to the San Diego Padres will help that trend continue in 2018 as its roof is going solar in time for opening day. 

It’s already shaping up to be a stellar season for San Diego’s Padres, at least in terms of solar power. Ahead of opening day the team’s home, Petco Park, will have a 337-kilowatt solar array, the largest in Major League Baseball, saving the stadium $4.1 million in energy costs over 25 years.

The US solar industry is in a place where it shouldn’t be, waiting for a ruling from President Trump (R) to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of US workers because two foreign-owned solar companies went bankrupt and asked for relief via tariffs on imported solar panels and cells. If imposed—particularly at the levels China-owned Suniva and Germany’s SolarWorld AG requested—the tariffs could basically double the cost of most solar panels in the US.

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol had a busy Tuesday. In testimony at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and a presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) he told leaders that renewable energy will be the lowest cost form of energy and already is in some countries.

Last year 49 percent of the 25 gigawatts of new utility-scale energy generation that came online in 2017 was from renewable sources and another 3.5 gigawatts came from small-scale solar power like rooftops, according to the latest estimates from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Together that puts renewables past the halfway point of new energy generation, continuing a trend that began in 2014 and had roots in 2012. 

With 2018 getting underway renewable energy is already making strong progress with lower costs. At the same time coal and nuclear power won’t receive subsidies sought by the fossil fuel industry and the Trump Administration. Meanwhile Tesla’s Solar Roof looks like its innovative roof tiles are finally ready to start coming to customers’ homes. 

Xcel Energy’s latest round of bids for energy projects in Colorado has resulted in record-low median cost wind and solar projects with energy storage. The median price for the 59 solar plus energy storage bids came in at $36 per megawatt hour, $9 less per megawatt hour than the $45 per MWh seen in Tucson, AZ in May 2017. Wind and energy storage came in at even lower costs, $21 per MWh, also a record.