February 2017

OK, so we still don’t have our first woman U.S. president. It bums me out, but I am hopeful that long-overdue, historic day is in the country’s near future. What we do have now, though, is the first woman president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Welcome, Abby! Abigail “Abby” Ross Hopper [...]

The way customers are using and getting energy is changing rapidly, and Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) is responding to those changes in a way that balances the interests of all of its customers – including those with rooftop solar panels. After the Salt Lake City-based energy company unveiled a proposal to change its net energy [...]

The past several years of residential PV installation have been characterized by a marked shift in the dominant technology used for optimizing solar arrays. String inverters ruled the roost for years, offering simplicity and fast installations but providing limited performance control. Micro-inverters, initially a niche offering, became a ubiquitous approach for residential projects and ushered [...]

With the growing interest in renewable energy generation, the use of small-scale, localized power generation based on solar (photovoltaic and solar thermal) resources is playing an increasing role in electricity production. The same is true of other renewable energy sources (RES), such as wind, biomass and tidal. As electric systems around the world shift toward [...]

In 2009, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved Public Service Electric and Gas Co.’s (PSE&G) request for a large-scale solar program that the utility dubbed “Solar 4 All.” As its name suggests, the program is a grid-connected universal solar initiative that feeds directly into the power grid and is accessible to all [...]

As a residential solar professional, sitting across the kitchen table can be a hallowed arena where you battle with homeowners over the benefits of rooftop solar for their homes. Of course, the battle is likely not with the actual homeowners but rather with their resistance to change or their doubts about the incredible upsides of [...]

Clean Energy In 2016: Investments Dropped, Solar Set Install Record Although global investment in clean energy declined in 2016, a record 70 GW of solar capacity was added worldwide last year, which is up from 56 GW in 2015, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The report says new clean [...]

Nevada PUC Changes Tune On Rooftop Solar On Dec. 22, 2016, exactly one year since the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) ruled to eliminate retail net energy metering (NEM) in the state, the commission voted unanimously to restore retail NEM in northern Nevada. Led by a new chairman, the recently reshuffled commission unanimously made [...]

State-Funded Solar Project Helps Ithaca College Go Greener Ithaca College, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Greenwood Energy, and Borrego Solar Systems have announced the completion of a state-backed solar project that will benefit the college. Borrego Solar co-developed, designed and built the 2.9 MW array, while Greenwood Energy will own [...]

GMP Offers Chance To Go Off-Grid Here’s something you don’t see every day – a utility that wants to help people break away from the grid. Vermont-based Green Mountain Power (GMP) says it is providing customers with the opportunity to go off-grid with a new package of products and services to increase energy independence and [...]