Solar-powered microgrids are still relatively new in the US but are being built and tested by increasingly larger companies. Case-in-point, Schneider Electric partnered with REC Solar and its parent, Duke Energy to build a microgrid to power Schneider Electric Boston One Campus, the company’s North American headquarters in Andover, MA.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, has helped shepherd new, renewable energy technologies go from the stuff of science fiction to growing, thriving businesses. It’s work has helped make wind and solar power some of the least expensive options for generating electricity around the world. As it celebrates its 40th birthday in 2017, it promises to continue disrupting the market with new solar and other technologies.

A couple of years ago First Solar and SunPower partnered to create 8point3 Energy Partners, A YieldCo aimed at owning solar projects that others can invest in and expect long-term returns from. The YieldCo reported its first quarter 2017 earnings today but now First Solar has announced that it may seek to exit the joint venture to focus on other strategies. 

Today (April 5) Southern Co.’s Southern Power announced that one of Texas’ biggest solar farms—if not currently the largest—is now operational. The 120 megawatt (MW) East Pecos Solar Facility is now providing power to Austin Energy and its customers, just over a year after construction started on the project.

HCS Renewable Energy, LLC, an Austin company that’s developed solar projects in the southeast, is joining the South Carolina Solar Business Alliance (SBA) to help grow solar and create jobs in the Palmetto State. While solar has been taking off around South Carolina in its northern sibling, Georgia and Florida, the Palmetto has an opportunity to start catching up, under leadership of the SBA.

With 303 megawatts (MWs) of solar photovoltaic (PV) power serving its residents and businesses, San Diego edged out Los Angeles as the top solar city in Environment America’s Shining Cities 2017 report. Los Angeles, with 267 MWs of solar serving residents and businesses, was previously first, but fell to second. Overall, the report observed that the top 20 cities in the US for solar power now have nearly as much PV serving their needs as the whole country had in 2010!

The Big Apple now has more than 9,700 solar power projects, producing 101.2 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 15,000 homes in New York City. That’s largely thanks coordinated efforts from the government, the local utility—Con Edison, Sustainable CUNY (at the City University of New York) and others working together to support clean energy in the city. 

Last week President Donald Trump (R) proved he was thinking of a different era as he took moves to strike down President Barack Obama’s (D) Clean Power Plan, as he had promised during his campaign. Even as Trump took drastic measures, it seems the world may be passing him by. Budweiser’s parent company announced plans to go 100 precent renewable, the solar industry introduced new tools showing the undeniable positive economic impact solar has and renewable energy development continued to surge in the US and world, resulting in lower electric costs. 

Despite President Donald Trump’s (R) actions to reduce or end President Barak Obama’s Clean Power Plan, even the Republican-led Senate is recognizing the importance of clean energy and energy efficiency. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed two important pieces of the energy efficiency legislation. 

To help low-income communities across the US better access the benefits of solar power and energy storage the Clean Energy group issued seven grants from its Resilient Power Leadership Initiative this week. The grants will help the recipients, community-based nonprofits and affordable housing developers, build their organizational capacity to add in solar and energy storage.