It’s one of those mixed bags. Colorado’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, which does business in the state as Public Service Company of Colorado has filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to extend its Solar*Rewards program, which is good. But at the same time it would gut its support of rooftop solar by reducing the amount it pays for net-metered photovoltaic (PV) systems to next to nothing, significantly reducing the incentive it provides for people to go solar in the state. 

SunPower released positive second quarter 2013 results on July 31, and continued to look forward to the future and the multiple markets the solar company will serve. As part of that, SunPower also announced that it will launch a new residential solar loan program to allow homeowners to get a SunPower solar array with a loan rather than a power-purchase agreement or other third-party ownership agreement. 

Some have charged that solar power isn’t feasible because it takes up too much land. That’s not really true, finds a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The new report, "Land-use Requirements for Solar Power Plants in the United States," while lacking an exciting name, has some exciting results. 

While the majority of the solar devices on market today are conventional solar panels that are installed on rooftops or in field to produce power, there’s a ton of research and effort going into other types of photovoltaic (PV) devices. One of the most exciting areas is basically invisible photovoltaics. These are devices that you can see through, yet are still able to provide power for lighting, charging smartphones, laptops, or other purposes. For instance, imagine if your smartphone could charge up purely through leaving it in your window, or your window could power the lamp it sits next to after dark. That’s the promise of see-through solar. 

After imposing preliminary duties on Chinese photovoltaic (PV) imports for unsavory trade practices, the European Union Trade Commission largely caved, instating a price undertaking agreement rather than an outright duty. This outcome was likely due to heavy pressure and potential retaliation from China, which had threatened to impose duties on European wine and polysilicon imports. 

The distributed generation industry, which includes systems below 1 megawatt in size—like solar installed on rooftops and commercial buildings—will grow to an annual $112 billion market by 2018. The growth, according to a new report “Distributed Solar Energy Generation” from Navigant Research, will come from feed-in tariffs (FiTs) and the commoditization of photovoltaic (PV) modules. 

Insurance giant Assurant is putting its weight behind Connecticut’s new $60 million residential solar lease program, CT Solar Lease II, offered through the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA). The company is bundling its insurance and warranty management program with the solar lease offering for residential solar projects and solar thermal (hot water) heaters for homes that go solar through CEFIA. The partnership reveals another opportunity for investing in solar. 

Given that Arizona has some of the best solar resources in the world, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the state has the most solar power per capita. That’s according to a new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center. However, some of the other states that round out the top 12, like Delaware and Vermont, might be a bit more of a surprise. 

The Rocky Mountain Institute introduced a new report on July 22 that discusses the values that distributed photovoltaics (DPV) provide to utilities and consumers. The report “A Review of Solar PV Benefit and Cost Studies” analyzed 15 other reports from 2005 to 2013 that looked at the costs and benefits associated with DPV, and ultimately concluded that more investigation needs to be done to understand the real value of DPV.

Peru may be best known for Machu Picchu and other Incan and Aztec treasures, but the nation is looking to its future with new plans to use solar to provide electricity for about 2 million of it poorest residents by the end of 2016. Considering that Peru is the third largest county in South America and has a population of 24 million that’s bringing solar power to roughly 10 percent of its population.