Last week the nation’s largest co-operative of organic farmers went renewable. Meanwhile California and Virginia both expanded their renewable energy programs with new laws. 

In California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) final law-signing days he signed into law a bill that will move the state to 100 percent clean energy and other laws to help with the transition. That includes SB 700, which will support the installation of 3 gigawatts of energy storage and $800 million in incentives by 2026. 

Organic Valley, a co-op of organic farmers in the midwest is supporting 31 megawatts of community solar projects in Wisconsin. Joining them is Dr. Bronner’s, which will source energy from another project in Minnesota. Both efforts are coming through a collaboration between Organic Valley and OneEnergy Renewables.

Virginia will support 500 megawatts of rooftop solar, install 3 gigawatts of new solar in the next four years and 2 GWs of offshore wind in the next decade under a bill passed into law this year. Now Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has rolled out a strategy for enacting the state’s new energy policy for the next decade, focusing on renewables, energy storage and electric Vehicles. 

As the leaves drop and summer cools into fall, support for solar power has never been stronger. Last week a new sevey shows that support for solar power in the US is at all time highs, with 76 percent of voters in favor of solar. States and utilities are showing support, too. Massachusetts finalized its SMART solar incentive program, while Ohio’s AEP proposed 400 MWs of solar in that state. 

With just over 182 megawatts of solar power installed across the state Ohio hasn’t been the biggest market for solar power, but that might be set to change. Last week, Ohio’s American Electric Power (AEP) proposed two solar projects, totaling 400 megawatts (MWs) that will more than triple the amount of solar in the state if approved. 

Finally! Massachusetts is moving forward with its new solar incentive package, the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program. The government passed SMART into action in August 2017 but final implementation was stalled until the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued its final order, which it did Sept. 26.

Once again clean solar power is replacing coal. This time in Massachusetts where the Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E) and ENGIE North America have just completed a 3 megawatt community solar farm and 6 megawatt hour energy storage system at the former Mt. Tom Power Station site in Holyoke, a former coal and oil-fired facility.

Support for solar power has never been stronger in the US, as a new study finds that 76 percent of voters and 87 percent of opinion leaders want utilities to add more solar power to their electric generation. The new poll conducted by the Global Strategy Group for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found support for both large-scale and distributed solar power and that solar power was the preferred energy source among respondents. 

Last week two organizations announced that they are making major buys in renewables. Meanwhile the solar industry has continued to become more inclusive as it pushes for more diversity in the workforce.