The national advocacy organization, Environment America, just introduced a new report aim to push back against those forces that are trying to fight solar power. The new report, Blocking the Sun and the campaign “Stand Up for Solar” will fight against the “deep-pocketed anti-clean energy ideologues and fossil interests.”

Duke Energy has proposed creating a small, 10-kilowatt solar microgrid with a 95-kilowatt hour storage system in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The microgrid would allow Duke Energy to eliminate a 3.5-mile overhead power line to a remote communications tower in the park, allowing it to return 13-acres to its natural state. 

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved an extension to Public Service Electric and Gas’s (PSE&G) Solar 4 All program, a unique program that’s installing solar power on rooftops, utility poles and brownfields like former landfills. Under the extension, the utility will invest up to $80 million to build 33 more megawatts of solar power on brownfields over the next three years.

The Sunshine State is starting to live up to its name—or at least taking advantage of its moniker’s resource. Under a new rate approval, Florida utility Florida Power & Light (FPL) will install 1.2 gigawatts of solar power over the next four years. 

Germany-based Energy Watch Group is again calling the findings of an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, its World Energy Outlook (WEO), into question. The organization challenges that the report is under-representing the true potential of solar PV and wind power plants and calls for more investments in oil and gas even as it champions renewable energy. 

The year isn’t over yet but already it’s time to start putting the year in perspective and, with 76 gigawatts of new solar installed, it looks like this will be the penultimate year for solar power. That’s according to Mercom’s Global Solar Forecast November 2016. The consulting firm estimated that the solar capacity installed in 2016 will be 48 percent higher than the 51.2 gigawatts of worldwide solar installed in 2015 and more than the 70 gigawatts it anticipated will be installed in 2017.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, is a hotbed for emerging renewable energy technologies, a place where advances are made and technologies are tested. But now it’s installing commercial solar panels as part of Sandia National Laboratory’s PV-Lifetime project in a test field to show the public how the panels perform over time.

Now that Thanksgiving—followed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday—has passed, it’s officially the holiday season, a season for family thanks, and giving. Today (Nov. 29) is Giving Tuesday, a chance to support nonprofits and charities across the country and world, including those in solar power and renewables. 

This month former South Carolina Congressman J. Gresham Barrett (R) announced the creation of the Palmetto Conservative Solar Coalition (PCSC), a new organization aimed at promoting energy independence in the state using free market principles and solar energy. Among other things, the organization is supporting net-metering and residential solar leasing. 

Last week a number of new indicators showed that President-Elect Donald Trump is now less likely to gut the renewables industries as evidence shows that they are thriving and even providing jobs for coal workers. Even Republican leaders are supporting solar with new legislation. In other news, Tesla is now powering an island with solar and batteries, showing the potential of microgrids to operate without fossil fuel.