The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) surveyed 25 of the active community solar projects for a new report to discover how to make them more successful. It found that currently only one-third of the projects are fully subscribed. A quarter of them were less than 50 percent subscribed. The new report, “Community Solar Program Design Models,” is intended to help community solar farms gain the customers they need to be successful. 

Today (Dec. 1) the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) published its fourth annual Solar Means Business report. The report looks at solar installations across businesses throughout the U.S. At this point at least 907 new megawatts of solar power are powering businesses from Walmarts to Apple data centers to General Motors. Moreover since starting to publish the report four years ago the use of solar energy at U.S. businesses has leaped 183 percent among the U.S.’s top companies. The new report showed that solar at commercial sites across the U.S. grew by 59 percent over last year alone.

Today (Nov. 30) the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) got underway. President Barak Obama (D) was one of the early speakers at the conference, promoting national and international actions to reduce climate change. An early result of the conference, beyond promises from nations like the U.S. and China, is a new global clean tech fund initiative, Mission Innovation.

Perhaps inspired by Solar Impulse ToyLabs is holding a Kickstarter campaign to create the Volta Flyer, a do-it-yourself kit to help children learn about aeronautics and solar power. The plane is the newest science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) toy created by by the startup educational toy company. 

That’s what researchers from Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley are suggesting—as have others in the past. In new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the researchers said that in an all-electric U.S. wind, water and solar power can provide all of the U.S.’s energy needs inexpensively when excess energy is stored in the ground and water. 

In 2013 Google proposed a new way to purchase renewable energy for large energy users. Apparently Duke Energy was listening. Yesterday (Nov. 24) the companies announced Google will be the first customer in its Green Source Rider program. Under which Google will pay for the power from a new 61 megawatt solar farm that won’t impact Duke Energy’s other customers.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) office hasn’t officially confirmed it yet but yesterday news broke that the Governor plans to direct the New York Public Service Commission to codify requirements that half of the electricity produced in the state by 2030 must come from renewable sources. It’s a move that’s already being supported by renewable energy advocates like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In 2014 developing nations invested $126 billion in clean energy—outpacing the investments by the wealthiest nations. That’s according to a new report from Climatescope, an internationally supported index that looks at clean energy development in 55 developing nations.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) introduced a new report yesterday (Nov. 19) showing that renewable energy is economically viable in most of the U.S. based on the rapid decline in technology costs. The new report Estimating Renewable Energy Economic Potential in the United States: Methodology and Initial Results looks at the potential of solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and other forms of renewable energy to provide the U.S.’s electric needs.

Earlier this month the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) published its annual report Renewable Energy in the 50 States: Western Region. The publication looks at the state energy policies and programs, investment, and market in the western U.S.—where most solar and wind development has occurred. The report discusses what’s driving renewable energy deployment including the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and net metering rules, among other things.