The Missouri General Assembly adjourned without passing House Bill 340, which was an onerous new tax on solar energy users that would have devastated one of the state’s fastest growing industries. This was one of the more under-the-radar but most watched pieces of solar legislation in the Midwest. HB 340 passedRead More

The state legislature of Minnesota passed a bill that sought to make state utilities exempt from regulation by the Public Utilities Commission. The purpose here was to get them out of the current net metering rates and be able to impose fees that would harm the residential solar industry inRead More

Indiana is the latest state considering a change to its net metering rules at the behest of the utilities. Senate Bill 309 is vague on its timeline, but at its heart is the goal of reducing the payback of residential PV systems. What are the proposed changes? Under the currentRead More

Solar installation soft costs are real drivers of project economics, so the more streamlined permitting process become, the better outcome for prospective solar customers. Down in Georgia, Don Moreland, chair of the Georgia Solar Energy Association (GA Solar), says the City of Atlanta is doing its part by adopting a new,Read More

Discussions on further large reductions in solar installation prices start with soft costs. Knowing this, the Energy Department is pumping $21.4 million in funding for 17 new projects to help reduce these soft costs, such as installation, permitting and connecting to the grid. “Soft costs have been a pervasive barrier to widespreadRead More

All states seem to have a problem with net metering except the one that has the biggest and best solar industry going — California. This commitment continues after the California Public Utilities Commission approved a resolution to deny all legal challenges to recently adopted net metering rules for solar customers.Read More

Lower solar PV system costs are the driving force in much of the industry today, and strides on that front are the reason solar is in the growth position it is in today. But despite across the board price decreases, there is a disparity in pricing in different areas of the country,Read More

As Americans count down to Election Day, more than three-quarters (78 percent) believe the winner of the presidential race should prioritize the faster adoption of renewable energy, according to the seventh annual Sense & Sustainability Study released by G&S Business Communications (G&S). The G&S Sense & Sustainability Study was conductedRead More

The ups and downs of Maine’s solar industry continue after its Public Utilities Commission issued a proposed rule that would make several changes to Chapter 313 concerning net metering. Under the Commission’s current rule, generation from a customer’s generating facility may be used as a kWh credit (currently energy plus transmissionRead More

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) now recommends a suite of new policy and program actions to support the deployment of hundreds of megawatts of advanced energy storage in the state over the next decade, according to a new study it just released on the matter. Find that here. That goalRead More