Solar Energy

California Becomes First State Requiring All New Homes Be Built With Solar

May 10, 2018 Rob Nikolewski, Sandiegouniontribune.com Create! California, Legislation, Solar Energy

Environmental groups hailed the decision, pointing to estimates that energy use in buildings account for about one-fourth of greenhouse gas emissions in California. The state’s four investor-owned utilities — including San Diego Gas & Electric — also came out in favor of the measure. A representative for the Utilities Codes and Standards statewide team said the rule is “a cost effective way to help customers reduce energy use, lower greenhouse gas emissions and represent(s) a significant milestone in the continued effort to achieve California’s long-term energy and climate goals.” Under Senate Bill 350, passed in 2015, the state must double statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by 2030. California also calls for at least 50 percent of state’s electricity to come from clean-energy sources by 2030. The updated code, which includes an option to promote solar paired with battery storage systems, figures to give the solar industry a big boost.

Utilities Kill Solar Bill Despite Majority Support In SC House

April 14, 2018 Sammy Fretwell, Thestate.com Educate! Legislation, Solar Energy, South Carolina, Utilities

Under pressure from the state's major utilities, the S.C. House killed a solar bill Tuesday that was intended to protect thousands of jobs and save customers money on their monthly power bills. The bill's defeat, a stunning reversal from a House vote last week, brought withering criticism from many lawmakers, who said the House caved in to opposition by Duke Energy and SCE&G, derailing the legislation. Utilities have expressed concern about how competition from solar could affect them. State Rep. James Smith, the bill's chief sponsor, also blamed Republican Gov. Henry McMaster. Smith, a Democratic candidate for governor and potential opponent to McMaster in November's general election, said the Republican urged some lawmakers not to vote for the bill — a point McMaster's office hotly disputed.

Solar Foundation Presents Solar Jobs Maps, Local Data

April 3, 2018 John Weaver, Pv-magazine-usa.com Create! Solar Energy, Workers Rights and Jobs

The U.S. lost just under 10,000 solar jobs in 2017 versus 2016. And while it is difficult to say exactly what caused each job loss, analysts state that a majority came as a result of the “hangover” following the boom in installations in 2016 in advance of the expected drop-down of the U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC). However, the Section 201 tariffs and in particular the uncertainty in the Section 201 process have also been factors. And despite predictions of U.S. job growth by Suniva and SolarWorld, the U.S. has seen announcements of less than 500 new jobs in solar cell and module manufacturing. The report showed that California lost more than 13,000 total solar power jobs – a total greater than the decline in the entire nation. In fact, if the jobs lost in California, Massachusetts and Nevada were excluded, the United States would have seen a net increase of 8,600 jobs.

US Solar Installers Report Increased Optimism—Except In California

March 1, 2018 By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Greentechmedia.com Educate! California, Solar Energy

EnergySage said its annual survey indicates “solar installers have much to look forward to in 2018 and beyond.” Even as U.S. solar faced a tumultuous year, installer confidence "improved significantly" over 2016, according to a survey conducted by EnergySage and the installer certification organization the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. "From speaking with our installers across the country, we believe there are several reasons for continued optimism,” said Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage’s CEO and founder, in a statement. “Given that prices remain competitive and the solar tariff is expected to have only a limited short-term impact, solar installers have much to look forward to in 2018 and beyond." EnergySage collected the data on December 14, 2017 and January 13, 2018.

In Nigeria, A Template For Solar-Powered Minigrids Emerges

February 22, 2018 Chris Warren, Greentechmedia.com Create! Nigeria, Solar Energy

How a unique partnership, innovative financing and stubborn persistence created a model for localized solar and batteries. On a humid November day in the small Nigerian village of Gbamu Gbamu (pronounced bomb-ou bomb-ou), Akinola Oduola clambers down a wooden ladder propped against a minaret that overlooks a tight cluster of adobe, wood and concrete homes. “This is my work,” Oduola says by way of introduction, gesturing toward the mosque that is taking shape nearby. This is not hyperbole. Oduola has spent the past three years single-handedly willing this mosque into existence. Hard work is important for those who call Gbamu Gbamu home. When he’s not building his mosque, Oduola is a welder and motorcycle repairman -- an in-demand profession in a town where the bulk of the population travels to and from Gbamu Gbamu along a deeply rutted 10-kilometer dirt road.

Three Canadian Solar Panel Companies Sue U.S. Over Tariffs

February 13, 2018 The Canadian Press, Thestar.com Resist! Canada, NAFTA, Solar Energy

The companies state that the International Trade Commission made no recommendation of tariffs on Canadian solar cells, and that the imposition of them goes against rules in NAFTA. Three Canadian solar panel manufacturers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the 30 per cent tariff it set on solar cell imports last month. Ontario-based Silfab Solar Inc., Heliene Inc., and Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., along with U.S.-based distributor Canadian Solar (USA) Inc., filed the challenge at the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday. The lawsuit claims that an investigation last year by the International Trade Commission found Canadian products don’t significantly hurt U.S. manufacturers and don’t account for much of the overall imports of solar cells to the country.

Congress Extends Tax Breaks for Clean Energy — and Carbon Capture

February 11, 2018 Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News Create! Carbon Capture, Clean Energy, Solar Energy

Some of the tax breaks, like one that restores a tax credit for home geothermal heating and cooling, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars to install, should make a significant difference to individuals trying to lower their carbon footprints. The credit is 30 percent if the system is installed between 2017 and 2019, then drops to 26 percent in 2020 and 22 percent through 2021. Others, like the carbon capture and sequestration provision, offer complicated and uncertain benefits to costly technologies that might or might not pay off—and that are hotly debated in environmental circles. Senators with widely divergent views of climate policy, including Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, favored it. Bob Perciasepe, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), praised the tax cuts for promoting low-carbon sources of energy, which he called "critically necessary to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050."

Cities Could Create Massive Virtual Power Plants With Distributed Solar

February 6, 2018 By Fred Lambert, Electrek.co Create! Cities, New Economy, Power Plants, Solar Energy

It will function much like Tesla’s giant Powerpack system, which charges when demand and electricity rates are low and discharges when demand and prices are high. We reported last month the single battery system managed to make around $1 million in just a few days. The new project is going to be financed through power sales and it is being assisted by the government with a $2 million grant and $30 million loan from the Renewable Technology Fund. The government says that they already started installations for a trial in 1,100 Housing Trust properties, which is for lower-income households. Tesla plans to ramp up its deployment in the next few years and have all 50,000 systems installed by 2022.

Tax Bill To Preserve Critical Credits For Wind, Solar & Electric Vehicles

December 19, 2017 Georgina Gustin Educate! Clean Energy, New Economy, Solar Energy, Tax Reform, Taxes, Wind

The booming renewable energy industry is breathing a wary sigh of relief as Congress prepares to vote this week on a sweeping tax bill that preserves critical tax credits for wind energy, solar power and electric vehicles. As lawmakers were working over the past week to resolve issues between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the clean energy industry kept a keen eye out for details of the legislation, including provisions in the House bill that would have weakened or eliminated the tax credits for renewables. By rejecting that approach, Republicans sent a message that they won't back attempts to kneecap ongoing growth in renewables, despite pressure from the oil and gas industry to scale back incentives for clean energy.

Tax Bill Impact: What Happens To Renewable Energy?

December 6, 2017 Georgina Gustin, insideclimatenews.org Educate! New Economy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Taxes

By Georgina Gustin for Inside Climate News - The Senate voted early Saturday to approve a major overhaul of the U.S. tax code that critics say would decimate clean energy investments while continuing to hand out tax breaks to the oil and gas industries. The sweeping tax system overhaul bill—which represents the biggest corporate tax cut in the country's history and would reach into many areas of American lives—also contains language that would open the door for oil and gas companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. While the Senate proposal preserves tax credits that have spurred huge growth in the wind and solar industries, it contains an obscure provision that could undercut investment in renewables. Larger challenges for clean energy lie in the House of Representatives' tax proposal, which passed in mid-November. That version takes a whack at a bundle of clean energy tax credits that were extended in 2015 in exchange for lifting a decades-old ban on crude oil exports. Now, as the two chambers begin work on reconciling their versions of the bill, the clean energy industry is bracing for a fight. Here's what the two tax bills, as currently written, would do. The Senate bill contains a provision that has raised alarm across the clean energy industry: The Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT) provision would subject tax credits given to companies with operations overseas to a new, 100 percent tax. That provision, according to a letter sent to the Senate by clean energy groups this week, would send investors fleeing and put $12 billion in clean-energy investments at risk. It says the impact would be "devastating."

5,500 U.S. Schools Use Solar Power; Growing As Costs Fall

November 30, 2017 Lyndsey Gilpin, insideclimatenews.org Create! New Economy, Schools, Solar Energy

By Lyndsey Gilpin for Inside Climate News - In a field behind an elementary school in rural Middlesex County, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay, an ambitious plan has been taking shape: Schools Superintendent Peter Gretz and other local administrators are preparing to power their school district with solar energy. By next August, Virginia-based solar developer Sun Tribe Solar expects to have an array of solar panels in place in that field that can generate enough electricity to power the county's elementary school and middle school—at a price well below their current electricity costs—while offering students, teachers and the community a way to learn about clean energy. "We felt it was important work for our kids, and we wanted them to see the community leading in a way that was responsible and sustainable, as well as fiscally responsible and efficient," Gretz said. The number of schools powered by solar is growing quickly. About 5 percent of all K-12 U.S. schools are now powered by the sun, and their solar capacity has almost doubled in the last three years, according to a new study by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), The Solar Foundation, and Generation 180, a clean energy nonprofit. The nearly 5,500 schools using solar power today have a total of 910 megawatts of solar capacity, enough to power 190,000 homes, according to the study. The biggest reason for the surge is the economic benefits of solar energy. Drastic declines in price have made it financially viable for schools. Both public and private schools are reducing their electricity bills with solar, leaving them more money to spend on educational programs, according to the research.

100% Renewable Is Feasible And More Cost-Effective Now

November 11, 2017 Staff, www.energywatchgroup.org Create! Jobs, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind

By Staff for Energy Watch Group. A global transition to 100% renewable electricity is not a long-term vision, but already a tangible reality, a new groundbreaking study by the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the Energy Watch Group (EWG) shows. The study was presented on November 8, 2017 during the Global Renewable Energy Solutions Showcase event (GRESS) on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP23 in Bonn. The results of the study are revealing: A global electricity system fully based on renewable energy is feasible at every hour throughout the year and is more cost effective than the existing system, which is largely based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. A transition to 100% renewables would bring greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector down to zero and drastically reduce total losses in power generation. It would create 36 million jobs by 2050, 17 million more than today. ”There is no reason to invest one more Dollar in fossil or nuclear power production”, EWG President Hans-Josef Fell said. “Renewable energy provides cost-effective power supply.

Myths About Rooftop Solar Are Outshining The Reality

November 1, 2017 Jessica Herrera, hcn.org Educate! Fossil Fuels, New Economy, Profit, Solar Energy

By Jessica Herrera for High Country News - It’s undeniable that renewable energy is booming, changing the way we get our power and shifting us away from fossil fuels that damage the environment. Yet in my home town of Tucson, which gets nearly 300 sunny days every year, a lot of plentiful Arizona sunshine is going to waste. And it isn’t just happening in the Copper State. Across the West and throughout the U.S., in the face of this rapidly changing energy market, investor-owned utilities and some energy co-ops are impeding the transition. They’re trying to protect their profits and coal-fired power-plant investments at the expense of the wellbeing of people and the planet. These power companies support lobbying groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and Edison Electric Institute, which spout myths about renewable energy. In Florida, a Koch brothers-funded consultant encouraged the use of “political jiu-jitsu” to mislead the public and policy makers about solar. Perhaps one of the most misleading claims is that solar energy customers don’t pay their fair share for grid services and that everyone else pays the price. This “cost shift” claim has been repeated over and over again.

California City Transforms Into ‘The Solar Capital Of The Universe’

October 27, 2017 Jeremy Deaton, www.thinkprogress.org Create! California, Cities, Electoral Politics, Solar Energy

By Jeremy Deaton for Think Progress - Parris isn’t just looking to attract installation jobs. He also wants to bring manufacturing jobs to Lancaster. Accordingly, he encouraged BYD to open two factories in Lancaster that will produce electric buses and large-scale batteries. The Antelope Valley Transit Authority, which manages public transit in and around Lancaster, is purchasing dozens of electric buses to replace its aging fleet of diesel buses. Lancaster is also replacing its street lights with LED bulbs produced by BYD. Next, Parris wants to require new homes to meet LEED energy efficiency standards, come with battery systems that can supply up to four days of power, and include systems that recycle wastewater from showers, sinks and washing machines to flush toilets and water plants. Even compared to other sunny California cities, Lancaster is exceptional, outstripping Los Angeles, San Diego and others in its deployment of clean energy. Asked why other California cities aren’t more bullish on renewables, Bozigian said they don’t have Mayor Parris or his “fantastically innovative” staff. “If other cities, or this state, had leaders like Mayor Parris and the Lancaster City Council, they would all be doing it,” said Bozigian. “You need to have guts, and you need to be decisive. You need to know what’s right, get the information you need, make a decision and do it.”

Solar Power Is Fastest-Growing Source Of New Energy

October 6, 2017 Adam Vaughan, www.theguardian.com Educate! Clean Energy, New Economy, Solar Energy

By Adam Vaughan for The Guardian - Solar power was the fastest-growing source of new energy worldwide last year, outstripping the growth in all other forms of power generation for the first time and leading experts to hail a “new era”. Renewable energy accounted for two-thirds of new power added to the world’s grids in 2016, the International Energy Agency said, but the group found solar was the technology that shone brightest. New solar capacity even overtook the net growth in coal, previously the biggest new source of power generation. The shift was driven by falling prices and government policies, particularly in China, which accounted for almost half the solar panels installed. The Paris-based IEA predicted that solar would dominate future growth, with global capacity in five years’ time expected to be greater than the current combined total power capacity of India and Japan. Dr Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said: “What we are witnessing is the birth of a new era in solar photovoltaics [PV]. We expect that solar PV capacity growth will be higher than any other renewable technology up to 2022.” The authority, which is funded by 28 member governments, admitted it had previously underestimated the speed at which green energy was growing.

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