There are now more people employed by the solar power industry than there are in the oil and gas industry or the coal industry. By the end of 2015, there were 208,000 workers employed by the solar power industry in the United States. The oil and gas industry employed 185,000 and the coal industry employed […]
Solar Plus Storage Considered For California Rental Units
A new report concludes that adding solar plus storage solutions to affordable multi-family housing in California can result in considerable energy bill savings. The Center for Sustainable Energy, the Clean Energy Group, and the California Housing Partnership all teamed up to produce the “Closing The California Clean Energy Divide.” The report focused on how affordable […]
New Study Shows Net Metering Benefits All Customers
A new analysis from the Brookings Institution shows that net metering benefits both solar customers and non-solar customers alike. Net metering – the policy that allows homeowners with solar panel systems to sell their excess electricity back to their utilities – has recently been a contentious issue in a small number of states, most notably […]
Health And Environmental Benefits Of Solar Power Measured
In a recent study done by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar power could provide $400 billion in public health and environmental benefits throughout the United States by 2050. If anything, the $400 billion figure is conservative in terms of the potential to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution. […]
Large Solar Companies Prevent Progress In Maine
Those quite familiar with this blog are well aware of the fact that I’m not a fan of the large solar leasing companies. The following story is yet another reason to dislike these businesses. Just this past April, a bill was defeated in Maine that would have allowed for the continued expansion of solar power […]
Vermont Utility Is First To Offer Energy Storage
Vermont’s Green Mountain Power (GMP) utility has become the first to offer its customers an energy storage solution, namely Tesla’s Powerwall. While installations have begun now in May of 2016, GMP originally made the initial arrangements to purchase 500 Powerwalls from Tesla in December of 2015. More units are expected to be ordered due to […]
Minnesota To Be Home Of New Large Solar Install
Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA) has announced the start of construction on their 150 Megawatt solar PV plant, Aurora, in Minnesota. It will be the company’s largest distributed solar plant in North America. Enel Green Power is an Italian, multinational renewable energy corporation. It’s a division of Enel – a conventional electric utility based […]
$25 Million To Be Invested In Grid Integration Of Solar
The Department of Energy has announced that $25 million be invested in helping solar power be more easily integrated with the nation’s electric grid. This is yet another part of the DOE’s SunShot Initiative which seeks to lower the cost of solar power to help enable it’s mainstream adoption. ENERGISE is the name given to […]
Orange Button To Decrease Solar Financing Costs
Orange Button, a program launched by the U.S. Department of Energy this past April, seeks to standardize the way that solar data is collected and exchanged. The program is just one of many under the umbrella of the D.O.E’s SunShot Initiative, launched in 2011. This particular one is key in reducing costs associated with developing […]
The Price Of Solar And Purchase Timing
Much has been written on this site regarding the cost of solar power and future pricing expectations. The point of this particular post will be to take yet another look at the price of solar in light of a reasonable expectation of what the solar landscape will look like in the coming years. In addition […]