Utilities are pushing for taxes and fees on residential solar, according to utility trade-group Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI’s) attorney. Solar advocacy group The Alliance For Solar Choice (TASC) observed EEI Attorney Edward Comer’s comments at a solar workshop with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) last week. It shouldn’t be a surprise since utilities are in the practice of billing customers, not crediting or paying them for energy but this a is a public admission of the practice and how they justify it. 

A total of 50 residents and businesses in Rutland, Vt., bought into a new, 150 kilowatt, community solar garden developed by NRG Residential Solar Solutions for Green Mountain Power, the local utility. The project is among early examples of community solar gardens, which are popping up in more states across the U.S. It’s also one of the first examples of allowing the community solar garden owners the ability to buy into the garden at no up-front cost. 

North American Power subsidiary North American Solar partnered with Clean Power Finance (CPF) to add a residential solar financing option for its customers. North American Power has more than 320,000 electric and gas customers across the U.S. making it one of the top 15 retail electric service providers. Through this partnership it will offer its customers financing through the CPF Market.

Banks are more ready than ever to invest in solar, according to Obama. “We’ve got banks like Connecticut’s Green Bank and private banks like Goldman Sachs ready to invest billions of dollars in renewable energy,” he said. “The Treasury Department and IRS are making it easier for renewable energy companies to operate and attract investment.” 

“Today more than 300 organizations from homebuilders to affordable housing owners to companies like Home Depot and Apple announced that they are going to expand the use of solar energy, thereby creating more jobs and cutting carbon pollution,” President Barack Obama said. 

In perhaps his strongest wording to support and promote solar power, clean energy and energy efficiency since announcing the recovery act and his first State of the Union address President Barack Obama (D) announced today (May 9) new steps toward moving the nation forward on clean energy and reducing pollution. Obama made his comments at an energy-efficient solar-powered Walmart store in Mountain View, Calif.

Yesterday (May 7) BMW unveiled its newest piece of sustainable equipment, a sleek, carbon-fiber and bamboo, glass-on-glass solar canopy charger for its new i3 and i8 line of electric vehicles. The device joins a growing number of solar canopies designed to charge up EVs and plug-in hybrids, like BMW’s i8. The solar canopy was unveiled in Los Angeles at the media launch of the i8. 

Colorado’s largest utility and solar advocates including the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) have reached an agreement to ensure that Colorado homeowners and businesses can go solar with a little bit of help from Xcel Energy. That’s thanks to the company’s Solar*Rewards program, which gives residents and businesses solar incentives for generating their own electricity.

Today (May 6) the U.S. Global Change Research Program released its third National Climate Assessment (NCA) report. The report is the most dire and comprehensive report in the U.S. showing that climate change is already happening, largely because of our consumption of fossil fuels, and we aren’t doing enough to stop it. 

When people talk about solar photovoltaics, they’re usually talking about silicon PV, which has dominated the solar industry for decades, but there are a number of competing technologies out there that are trying to give traditional crystalline silicon-based PV a run for its money and one of the most promising is perovskite crystal technologies. Such technologies are becoming more competitive with silicon PV in terms of efficiency and manufacturing costs.