USA

New solar farms in Sherburne County may soon have to do more than just produce energy from the sun.

Lightsource BP will build and operate a 240MW solar facility that will sell energy to Midwestern utility Xcel Energy to power operations at a historic Colorado steel mill for 20 years.

Farmers who want to sell electricity to utilities generally lease land to power companies to build the panels.

Honda has just inked two virtual power plant agreements that will cover more than 60% of its electricity usage in North America.

Solar developer CalCom Energy has put forward a new US$100 million fund to help build solar and energy storage projects to benefit farming communities in California.

A nonprofit organization is forming a solar co-op to help those interested in purchasing solar panels.

In the coming years, homes that are built in Montgomery County, Maryland, may need to have solar panels installed on their rooftops

Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of software company Atlassian Corp, announced on the sidelines of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York he will help fund the ambitious 10 GW, AU$20 billion, Sun Cable Project in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The International Renewable Energy Association says the integration of hydrogen into the energy transition will not happen overnight and electrolysis costs will not be halved until the 2040s. That hydrogen and related products could revolutionize the world energy landscape, however, is not in doubt.

Researchers in the U.S. claim to have developed a manufacturing process based on the use of a latex balloon that could lead to the production of more efficient curved electronic devices, including hemispherical solar cells.

The project the company is developing in Juárez will sell energy to the Mexican department store chain El Puerto de Liverpool through a 15-year PPA for the second contract of the type IEnova has secured with the group.

Athens-based policy group The Green Tank labelled Greece’s decision “historic” while Europe Beyond Coal, an alliance of civil society groups working to make Europe coal free by 2030 said Hungary should target a more ambitious 2025 phase-out.

As 2019 enters its final quarter, the solar industry continues to face headwinds, even as the markets for solar deployment in Europe, the United States, and Australia remain strong. Paula Mints of SPV Market Research takes us through what to expect up until 2021.

Los Angeles’ municipal utility has tripled the size of its rooftop solar feed-in programme (FiT), growing it from 150MW to 450MW.

Intersect Power has gone live with news the company has 1.7 GWdc ready for construction in Texas and California, including a project which holds a hedge and no power purchase agreement.