Ah, the net-metering battle goes on. Utilities, particularly investor-owned utilities are continuing to fight net-metering laws in states. Thankfully rooftop solar advocates are standing up to their utilities to ensure that homeowners are able to go solar easily and receive the benefits of their system, which includes feeding solar energy back to the grid, and being compensated for it.

Today (April 4) Sungevity announced a $70 million round of new equity financing. While bigger pots of money to support companies’ expansion in the retail solar market, the new pot of cash for the company comes shortly after it partnered with Sunrun to expand services. And this round of financing is also notable because of Sungevity’s ability to attract funding funding from E.ON an investor-owned utility with a global impact and GE Ventures. 

This morning the National Solar Schools Consortium launched at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference in Boston. The goal of the newly formed organization is to put solar on roof of every school from kindergarten to high school. That would be almost 140,000 schools if you look at how many schools the National Center for Education Statistics states there are in the U.S.

The near-ubiquitous cloud is changing how we do all sorts of things as people and companies transition from hosting information on their own computers and into the vast data centers across the U.S. and world. And these data centers—even the most efficient of them—are power hungry. That’s had GreenPeace worried and deservedly so, after all many of these data centers are located where energy and land are cheap, which can mean a really, really dirty cloud, fueled by coal power. But some of the world’s leading tech companies are taking a decidedly green approach to powering their data centers according GreenPeace’s April 1 report “Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet.” 

Today (April 2) Florida Light & Power (FPL) announced a plan to offer customers a chance to join in a pilot community solar program. Under the pilot FPL could install up to 2.4 megawatts of solar power if the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) approves the pilot program, allowing hundreds—maybe more than a thousand people in the to enjoy the benefits of solar—even if they can’t put it on their homes or businesses. 

Last week the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) took action to give California homeowners with solar arrays and those who install solar under the current net-energy metering (NEM) program assurances that the net-metering contract they sign will be good for 20 years under state policy. The decision, in the largest residential solar market in the U.S. will provide homeowners and the solar industry there more stability in terms of what to expect form their utilities and how much it solar will cost and how soon it will pay off.  

Fully 79 percent of U.S. residents now support solar energy, according to the latest consumer Energy and Environment Consumer Survey from Navigant Research. The survey found that of 10 clean energy choices or concepts solar was the most popular, by far more popular than nuclear technologies, which were seen as favorable by only 32 percent of respondents. In fact, only 6 percent of respondents saw solar as an unfavorable technology. 

This past week NRG Energy, one of the most forward looking energy companies, made two big announcements. First it announced yesterday (March 28) that it purchased Roof Diagnostics Solar, a residential solar installer, then today it announced that it now has 1.2 gigawatts of solar power producing energy in the U.S.—that’s enough solar energy to power about 1 million homes, the company said. 

Today Mark Zuckerberg announced on—where else, Facebook—that his company is indeed looking to spread the Internet via drones, laser beams and other space-aged stuff. 

PetersenDean a roofing company that expanded into solar a number of years ago is reaching its 30 year anniversary this year—and its planning big things. Starting in May the company will start rolling out five new offices, most in new states for the company as it plans to double business.