In the year since introducing $1 a watt rebates for solar power in South Carolina, nearly 2,000 of Duke Energy’s customers and businesses in the state have chosen to go solar, totaling nearly $12 million in rebates. Now, as the utility nears its cap for the program it’s introducing new solar incentive plans for the state, including shared or community solar.

As 2016 comes to a close the solar industry is pushing the zenith further and further. For instance, installations for solar are coming in at prices lower than any other energy source, including wind power. This comes as records show the US will install record amounts of solar power in 2016.

The Springbok 2 Solar Farm, which promises electricity at rates lower than fossil fuels can deliver in California, was commissioned this week. In fact, the 155-megawatt solar farm, under a 30-year power purchase agreement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), at roughly $35 to $38 per megawatt hour is offering some of the lowest prices seen for solar power generation in the US. 

The River, a mall in California’s Coachella Valley, took advantage of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to install a 667-kilowatt solar carport and a water pumping and control system energy efficiency project. Together they will offset 95 percent of its common area electric use saving its tenants over $200,000 annually. The center partnered with K2 Clean Energy Capital to find $2.4 million in funding for the projects, which will break ground in early 2017.

It might not seem to make sense but Florida’s biggest utility Florida Power & Light (FPL) bought the 250-megawatt coal-fired Cedar Bay Generating Plant in Jacksonville, FL last year. On Dec. 31 it’s retiring the dinosaur. At the same time, roughly 224 megawatts of solar farms are coming online in the next few days or weeks. The result, $70 million in savings for FPL’s customers and presenting nearly 1 million tons of carbon emissions annually.

Low-income residents and their housing providers in New York City now have a new opportunity to go solar thanks to Affordable Solar New York. The nonprofit will focus on reducing low-income residents’ energy bills with rooftop and distributed solar options. Solar had been harder to access for these tenants for numerous reasons, including lack of financing options due to lower credit scores, the up-front costs of solar and the complex financing arrangements needed, particularly to install solar power on multi-residential dwellings.

New York City’s housing co-ops and apartments now have a new option to install solar power on their rooftops with no up-front costs for their owners and inhabitants thanks to a new solar loan offered through a partnership between Zero Carbon Corporation and the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC). The new option largely uses tax credits and savings to repay the loan.

By the end of 2016, 77 more gigawatts of solar power will be operational, topping a decade of continual growth for the industry. Even more, 79 gigawatts, is expected to come online across the world in 2017. That’s all according to the latest IHS Markit quarterly PV Demand Market Tracker, which looks at the solar market in nearly 50 countries.

Yesterday (Dec. 19) Maine’s Public Utilities Commission said it needs more time to make a decision on net metering in the state. The commission is trying to decide whether to expand that state’s net-metering program or let it end now that it reached roughly 1 percent of the electric grid’s capacity in the state. As such the decision won’t be made until next year. 

The unsubsidized costs of utility-scale solar and wind power are now cheaper than the costs of natural gas power in the US, according to Lazard’s recently released Annual Levelized Cost of Energy and Levelized Cost of Storage Analyses. The annual report, now in its 10th year, found that as the cost of utility-scale solar fell 11 percent in the past year it’s levelized cost of energy (LCOE) fell as low as $46 per megawatt hour to $56 per MWh, making it less expensive than fossil fuel-based electric generation.