It was another busy week of interesting contradictions for the solar industry. Utilities are adding record numbers of solar power—Hawaii’s biggest utility wants to go 100 percent renewable, and is making significant progress—while Southern California Edison (SCE) installed a whopping 1.6 gigawatts of solar last year. Meanwhile Suniva, which recently filed for bankruptcy, made a move that could impact the entire US solar industry when it filed for an import tariff petition that could make solar more costly in the US.

Thanks to a $400,000 grant from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) students throughout central and northern California will build 100 more We Share Solar Solar Suitcases for We Share Solar. 

An Austin, Texas, based company, 7X Energy, is introducing its new SolarBlocks option allowing companies to purchase solar electricity without the lengthy requirements of most power-purchase agreements. The new option, a block-and-index option, offers companies a clean-energy purchasing product in independent system operator (ISO) markets that the company said balances flexibility and stability. 

Understanding the amount of sunlight that strikes an area or region is imperative to siting and financing solar power projects. Now Vaisala, an environmental and industrial measurement company, said it has released the results of the largest solar dataset validation study undertaken to date.

Yesterday (April 26) Suniva, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, filed a Section 201 petition with the US International Trade Commission that would impose tariff of up to 78 cents per watt on imported photovoltaic solar panels and cells under the “escape clause.” The move could double the cost of PV modules in the US and was quickly criticized by the solar industry. 

Rooftop solar and distributed generation policies and regulations are in flux across the nation. That’s according toThe 50 States of Solar, a quarterly publication from the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC). The first quarter of 2017 edition found that states are taking a wide range of actions on distributed generation, some good, some bad.

There are a number of factors that make it more difficult for businesses to go solar, including leased buildings and multi-business buildings. It’s also harder for smaller businesses to go solar, according to new research from the University of California, Riverside.

Charlottesville, VA, recently achieved designation as a SolSmart Bronze community by reducing the soft costs of solar power. The achievement recognizes communities that make it faster, easier and cheaper for homeowners and businesses in the community to go solar.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE), Washington state’s biggest investor-owned utility launched Green Direct, a green tariff that allows companies, cities and towns to buy renewable energy under long-term service agreements. The approach is being called pioneering by organizations because it allows customers to buy both the energy and renewable energy certificates from a renewable energy project.

Last week marked the annual celebration of Earth Day, with companies like Apple and Walmart announcing new initiatives to reduce their impact on the world. Meanwhile a Kentucky coal company’s plans to install the state’s first huge solar farm on top of a former strip mine gained a lot of attention and Vermont was named the nation’s greenest state in a new ranking.