Illinois Awards More Than 200 Megawatts of Community Solar, But Developers Left Hungry

The Illinois Power Agency ran a much anticipated solar lottery this week and awarded renewable energy credits to community solar projects across the state, a major step in constructing a fledgling state market. Hundreds of new solar facilities will soon be built across Illinois, and potentially thousands of customers will have a new avenue to…

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Which State Leads In Corporate Renewable Offtake Deals? Hint: It’s Not California

When Amazon announces it is making a return to the corporate renewables market, as it did this month, it comes as little surprise. Technology and data firms such as Amazon, Facebook and Google are at the forefront of renewable energy procurement across the globe. Amazon, for instance said it will be buying power from three…

Tandem PV Secures a Rare Fund Raise for Perovskite Solar

Silicon Valley-based Tandem PV closed a $2.4 million seed round in February to commercialize an exotic new solar technology. The startup is developing perovskite solar materials, which it will layer on top of conventional silicon cells to make a module that converts more of the sun’s energy into electricity. Perovskites hold the potential for cheap,…

Making Sense of Shell’s New Energies Business: Smart Home Offerings Now on the Menu

Global energy giants have been on a distributed energy acquisition spree over the last few years. With the formation of its New Energies unit in 2016, Shell is leading the oil & gas majors in investment and vision. Shell New Energies plans to invest $2 billion dollars in renewables, microgrids, batteries, electric vehicle charging, and…

Number of US Cities with Over 50 Megawatts of Solar Tripled in Last Five Years

Solar capacity is gaining in urban areas across the U.S., according to a report released this week by Environment America Research & Policy Center and climate research organization the Frontier Group.  The number of U.S. cities with more than 50 megawatts of solar installed jumped from eight in 2013 to 23 in 2018. During that…

IRENA: Renewables Plus Electrification Can Bear Brunt of Decarbonization Efforts

Three-quarters of global emissions-reduction goals could be achieved through renewables and electrification alone, according to a new report from the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The study, released this week at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue in Germany, predicts that with a scale-up of renewables it might be possible for electricity to cover…

Kevin de León Wants Cleantech to Focus More on Equity and Access

Kevin de León, author of California's landmark clean energy legislation, wants cleantech entrepreneurs to take a closer look at the underserved communities their industry often ignores. The former president pro tem of the California Senate, who lost to Senator Dianne Feinstein in the November election, is delving into the cleantech startup world as a strategic advisor…

Q&A: Leading Players and Strategies in US Commercial Solar

The U.S. non-residential market segment saw 2.1 gigawatts of PV installed in 2018, down 8 percent from its record-breaking 2017. In a new report, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables senior solar analyst Michelle Davis describes how the non-residential segment* is becoming more diverse and nuanced, requiring both flexibility and efficiency from installers, developers, asset owners…

How to Value a Solar Development Pipeline, Part 4

This year will break records. More gigawatts of solar will be installed than any year before. In January, we learned that customer demand has reached unprecedented levels. And that is just one part of the story. Behind the scenes, financiers and investors are fueling growth by lowering the cost of capital, entering the development cycle…

Energetic Unveils ‘Game Changing’ Insurance Policy for Commercial Solar Market

Energetic Insurance has finalized its anticipated credit insurance policy for commercial solar projects, designed to protect developers against potential payment default from businesses signing on to commercial or industrial projects. According to Energetic, over 90 percent of U.S. companies don’t have a public credit rating, which equates to a perception of risk from financiers. The…