The home turf of the Capitol soccer team, DC United, just got brighter with the announcement that Audi Field will install 884 kilowatts of solar in Washington, DC. The system will be installed on the stadium’s canopy and will provide nearly 33 percent of its energy use. The installation, along with other energy efficiency measures, is expected to save the team an estimated $125,000 annually in utility bills.

Southern California is celebrating the commissioning of 16.4 megawatts of rooftop solar at the Westmont Solar Energy Project near the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. Covering 2 million square feet of warehouse roof space, the project is expected to generate $76 million in revenue over a 20-year lease agreement through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) feed-in tariff program, which allows building owners to sell excess electricity their rooftop solar arrays generate back to LADWP.

The 150 megawatt Aurora Solar Park, a chain of 16 small-scale solar farms strategically placed throughout Minnesota, are the latest in a string of new installations making the state an explosive solar market to watch in 2017. The Aurora Solar Park is the largest solar project in the state and likely the region and is expected to generate 210 million kilowatt-hours annually, powering over 17,000 homes in the state.

The University of California (UC), Merced is about to generate 50 percent of its energy  with solar power from a new 5-megawatt solar installation on campus as well as an existing solar array. The project is key to the university’s Triple Zero Commitment under which it plans to power its buildings with 100 percent renewable energy, create zero greenhouse emissions and eliminate landfill waste campus-wide by 2020.

Eleven native villages in and near Kotzebue—26-miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska—will grow fresh vegetables in a 26-foot hydroponic trailer all year, thanks to the sun and an innovative solar-powered heating system. The Next Generation Energy off-grid Sun Bandit will power the trailer and the food it produces, allowing the villages to produce their own food in an environemetally freindly manner.

An offgrid commercial facility on Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands is installing a hybrid microgrid to help reduce its energy costs and emissions while ensuring it has aceess to reliable power. The microgrid will combine solar power from six 33 kilowatt photovoltaic arrays, a 300 kilowatt-hour battery storage system and three existing 135 kilowatt diesel generators.

Maine’s pro-solar bill, Legislative Document (LD) 1504, passed a preliminary round of voting with unanimous support in the state’s Senate and 90 to 54 in the House. If signed into law, the bill would extend current net-metering until 2021 and increase the cap on the amoung of customers who can participate in a community solar project from 10 to 200. The bill now faces committee negotiations and overall approval. If passed by the legislature, it will need to garner two-thirds of the legislature’s support to override Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) expected veto.

Georgia is getting 200 megawatts of utility-scale solar, enough to power 35,000 homes annually, at four locations throughout the southeastern part of the state. That's thanks to a partnership between Green Power Electric Membership Corporations (EMC) and Silicon Ranch Corp. Green Power will purchase the solar energy from Silicon Ranch, which will own, operate and maintain the facilities. The solar plants are expected to come online by 2020.

Florida’s residential and commercial rooftop solar market is open for business, thanks to Gov. Rick Scott (R) signing Senate Bill 90 (SB 90) into law. The bill implements Amendment 4, which exempts rooftop solar arrays on homes and businesses from personal property tax, making it easier to go solar. With the new legislation guiding the way, more solar companies starting to open shop throughout the state.

Cogenra Solar has installed a 227 kilowatt a hybrid rooftop array at the Solar Zone in the University of Arizona Tech Park. The hybrid system will provide the 70,547 square-foot Building 9070 on the UA Tech Park’s campus with its electricity demands while being evaluated for overall efficiency and potential scalability in the market place.