North America

Three different retail electricity providers in the United States have announced new programs to provide customers the option to buy 100% renewably sourced electricity, with one of the three even coming at no additional cost.

Two reports have described how the world’s largest renewable energy market is moving towards maturity. According to the Brookings Institution, the Chinese clean energy market could become more open to Western investors and tech. A report by Fitch claims projects are moving back to inland provinces from coastal regions.

Cypress Creek Renewables and Cubico Sustainable Investments have commissioned the Palmetto Plains PV installation, South Carolina’s largest solar project in operation.

Solar is to leapfrog wind to become the undisputed top renewable energy source for US corporates greening their supply through 2030, according to Wood Mackenzie and US wind body AWEA.

A new report by Wood Mackenzie and the American Wind Energy Association shows solar taking the favor of corporate renewable purchasers in 2021 and holding that crown to infinity and beyond.

Traditional solar cookers concentrate sunlight on mirrored surfaces and convert it into heat. But this summer, Sunspot unveiled Sunspot Solar Electric Cooking, a new cooker based on PV technology. The system relies on two PV modules, a lead-carbon battery, an inverter, and an induction cooktop.

US asset manager Ares Management Corporation announced on Monday that it has “made an investment” in US utility-scale solar investor Heelstone Energy.

Walmart has linked a string of store fires in recent years to Tesla’s alleged mismanagement of solar panel installation and maintenance, taking Elon Musk’s outfit to court.

US residential solar installer Sunnova reported a growing dealer network, more customers, new solar products and a larger geographical footprint in its first earnings release since going public.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has signed off on Executive Order 38, a motion that will create an Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy within the state, with the office tasked with achieving the goal of ensuring all electricity consumed within the State of Wisconsin is 100% carbon-free by 2050.

Existing solar power policies in North Carolina will go under review as part of the state’s draft Clean Energy Plan. Published last week, it includes the retirement of 4GW of coal and the proposal of measures to drive renewable energy more broadly as well as boosting EV adoption in the US state.

Lightsource BP is days away from launching construction works for a utility-scale solar pipeline it will deploy for a US university, set to go live next year.

In the early years of the 21st century, distributed generation systems in Latin America were mainly installed off-grid in remote rural areas, writes Maria Chea, solar analyst at IHS Markit. As the El Niño phenomenon and high oil prices continued to exacerbate high electricity prices and power shortages, governments began to turn their attention to distributed generation, including PV systems, to assuage strains on their national grid networks.

Two subscribers who signed up to a 20% discounted shares subscription in mid June ended up yesterday paying almost the same percentage as a premium on the trading price of the stock.

Elon Musk is trying just about everything to reimagine the solar business. But will this one work?