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Solar Electric
GUEST JUICE: Smart Solar Reform is within California’s Grasp
by V. John White and Ed Smeloff New appointments by the Governor to the California Public Utilities Commission create an...
Virtual Power Plants Gain Ground
Virtual power plants are beginning to help meet peak power demand in California and across the globe at an affordable...
DOE Strives to Lower Costs of PV Panel Recycling; CA Law may be a Model
The U.S. Department of Energy released a plan on Friday that aims to increase the recycling of photovoltaic panels heading...
SMUD Signs Utility-Scale Solar-Storage Deal
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District has signed a long-term contract for 200 megawatts of solar power paired with a 100...
Ninth Circuit Says Some Rate Hikes on Solar Owners May Be Illegal
A stunning ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in an Arizona case indicates utilities may face limits on...
New CPUC Chief Faces Barrage of Anger Over Solar Rooftop Pay Changes
Alice Reynolds’ first meeting as the new president of the California Public Utilities Commission was dominated by three hours of...
Storage Surges, but Will Rooftop PV Payment Changes Affect its Pairing with Solar?
Well before California signed international agreements to slash climate-harmful emissions from the energy and building sectors at last month’s COP-26...
Distributed Batteries Reach 700+ MW, But Much More Needed
Battery systems installed at California homes and businesses now total 721 megawatts, with roughly 70% percent of them, about 42,000...
Subsidies Spurred Small Solar Growth, Focus Shifts to Home Energy Storage
Hundreds of articles have addressed the controversy over how much residential solar rooftop owners should receive for the excess power...
Solar Groups Propose Customer-Owned Solar-plus-Storage Microgrids to Regulators
An innovative proposal from Vote Solar and other solar advocates would demonstrate that customer-sited solar and storage can provide reliability...
11.5 GW of clean energy assures reliability, CCAs add more renewables
To attain 11.5 GW of clean electricity by mid-decade, no additional fossil fuel plants will be needed to ensure grid...
Outgoing Vote Solar Chief Highlights Work to Make Rooftop Solar Mainstream
Browning, with microphone, and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar for the last...
SMUD on the Verge of Net Metering Breakthrough
The Sacramento Municipal Utilities District is expected to approve Sept. 16 a novel solution for crediting customer-owned solar, which solar...
Rooftop Solar Costs vs. Benefits Remain in Dispute
The longstanding question over rooftop solar systems’ costs versus its benefits remained unanswered at the conclusion of testimony given during...
CPUC Updates Distributed Resources Plan to Capitalize on Broad Benefits
California’s groundbreaking 2016 Distributed Energy Resources Action Plan will be updated to better align rising levels of clean local renewables...
Newsom Autographs Bills to Promote EV Charging and Extend Bill Credits for Offsite PV
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law legislation requiring publicly owned power utilities to detail how they will finance efforts to...
PG&E undergrounding plan, Local solar+storage, CAISO transmission
Pacific Gas & Electric is going to underground a whopping 10,000 miles of power lines in risky fire territory. It...
Studies: Distributed Energy and Efficiency Drive Down Clean Grid Costs
Going gang busters on clean, distributed energy will go a long way towards lowering utility bills as California works towards...
NREL Software Tool Expedites Clogged Solar Queues, Increases Revenue
The rooftop solar industry announced a major step forward in its longstanding effort to bring down project installation costs with...