Last week Nevada’s Governor signed into law, a new bill that will allow it to become powered by 100% renewable energy by 2050. But renewables aren’t just powering states, they’re soon going to be powering telecommunications and the drones that carry them. 

Today (April 25) HAPSMobile introduced HAWK30, a solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to provide telecommunications abilities from the stratosphere, 65,000 feet above ground. At the same time HAPSMobile announced it is investing $125 million in Alphabet’s Loon and that they formed a strategic partnership to use high altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS).

The future of cell phones and the Internet might be unmanned. As such, cell phone carriers, Internet providers, Google, Facebook and others are looking at how to deploy the connected world from the air. Alta Devices has just introduced one thing that can help get the idea off the ground—ultralight solar panels and cells designed for high-altitude usage. 

Nevada became one of a growing number of states that has recently upped its commitment to renewable energy and reducing the use of fossil fuels, drawing praise from renewable energy advocates. On Earth Day (April 22) Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed Senate Bill 358 into law which will move the state to 50% renewable energy by 2030 and to 100% by 2050. 

It was a week for solar research last week as a host of new reports showed solar’s potential is growing across the world. It’s also growing domestically, even in the US southeast and another report showed that solar power also increases the value of homes across the US.

Utilities, companies and states in the Southeast from Florida to North Carolina are quickly adding in more solar power and using it to help reduce customers’ electric rates, retiring coal and natural gas power plants. But other states and utilities are lagging, according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s (SACE’s) latest Solar in the Southeast report.

On average solar powered homes sell for 4.1% more than those without solar power a new Zillow analysis shows. That adds more than $9,000 in value to the median home price across the US.

After a four and a half year study, the Energy Watch Group and LUT University have outlined a plan that would limit climate change to 1.5°C while transitioning the world to 100% renewable energy by 2050 cost-effectively. The study found that in the scenario solar would account for 69% of the world’s energy generation and wind power would account for 18%. 

Last week was a good week for solar as the Cleveland Indians became the latest professional team to go solar. Meanwhile the latest Shining Cities report came out showing that cities continue to add record amounts of solar and a broad energy coalition is pushing for that to grow as they supported expansion of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC).

In its 6th annual Shining Cities report, Environment America found that solar continues to grow strong in cities across the US as 23 cities across the country now rank as solar stars—cities with 50 watts per person or more. The top cities for solar were Los Angeles and Honolulu. The first for overall solar power capacity, the latter for solar watts installed per person.