It seems that just about every year in Colorado, Xcel Energy’s Public Service Company of Colorado’s Solar*Rewards program is too popular for its own good. The incentive program for small-sized solar installations in its service area is once again fully subscribed. In an attempt to make sure that more of Xcel’s residential and small business customers can access incentives through the program for the rest of the year and into early 2014, Xcel, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) announced on April 30 that they are collaborating to propose a temporary increase in program capacity.

Under new partnerships announced today (April 30) with SunPower and ClearEdge Power, the communications giant Verizon will spend over $100 million to add in more than 10 megawatts of solar photovoltaics (PVs) and fuel cells to its energy mix by the end of this year. The clean energy installed at 19 locations across the U.S. is part of Verizon’s goal to add more resiliency and green energy into its operations in a cost-effective manner. 

A recent Navigant Research report anticipates that the world will add 220 new gigawatts of distributed solar photovoltaics by 2018 as solar comes into parity with other energy sources, creating $540.3 billion in revenue in the process. That’s a significant jump in the amount of solar that is currently installed throughout world, which the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said reached 100 gigawatts at the end of 2012. 

SunPower, MidAmerican Renewables and Southern California Edison held a ground-breaking ceremony this past Friday (April 26) for the Antelope Valley Solar Projects in California. Together they comprise 579 megawatts, representing the world’s largest photovoltaic plant permitted and under construction. 

The company sometimes called itty bitty machines, IBM, which revolutionized the personal computer, is bringing its technological knowhow to solar through a new partnership with Airlight Energy, ETH Zurich and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB. The group recently won a three-year, $2.4 million grant from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation to develop low-cost high-concentration photovoltaic thermal (HCPVT) systems.

On April 25, Mosaic launched its biggest public solar investment opportunity yet. It opened up a nearly $700,000 round of financing to Californians to support its 487 kilowatt project at the Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, NJ. The convention center hosts such events as WWE, the Harlem Globetrotters and Roller Derby events and has seen more than 1 million visitors since opening in 2002. 

A lot of companies are cashing in on Earth Day this week and Walmart, like it or not, is no exception. Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, is making progress on its pledge to become powered 100 percent by renewable energy by the end of the decade. Earlier this week Walmart released its global responsibility report following on the announcement last week that the company would increase its procurement or production of renewable energy to 7 billion kilowatt hours annually by 2020, while reducing its energy needs by 20 percent per square foot compared to its 2010 levels.

Just two days after Earth Day, environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace unveiled its sixth Cool IT Leaderboard. The leaderboard evaluates companies based on their efforts to reduce climate change both within their own power and by using their influence to advocate for clean energy like solar, wind and more. This year Cicso tied Google for first place with both companies scoring 58 out of 100 points in the leaderboard’s scoring criteria. 

Google delivers search results fast, which is why it should be no surprise that late last week when Google introduced a new white paper on establishing renewable energy tariffs for large businesses, it also announced plans to expand its Lenoir, NC, datacenter, where it is working with Duke Energy to put the first such tariff in place. 

SunEdison, one of the companies that sparked the third-party ownership revolution with businesses—allowing them to install solar with little to no up-front costs—announced on April 23 that it partnered with Foxconn Technology to produce photovoltaics (PV) in Juarez, Mexico. Under the partnership, SunEdison’s sister subsidiary, MEMC Singapore (both are subsidiaries of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.) is contracting with Foxconn subsidiary Fox Energy to manufacture up to 350 megawatts of SunEdison’s Silvantis PV modules.