Solar power

The solar roof industry is such a new – yet burgeoning – industry that it’s not really included in local, state, or federal policy. Updating incentives, policies, and regulations could help expand the adoption of solar roofs. With the Biden administration’s strong focus on carbon reduction, the solar investment tax credit (ITC) seems to be safe through 2024. But as it’s written today, integrated solar roofing does not fully qualify. 

The ITC was meant to encourage greater adoption of solar and reduce the cost and access to consumers. Electrek spoke with Keally DeWitt, vice president, marketing & public policy at GAF Energy, about why updating the ITC to include new technologies will spur innovation and speed the US transition to 100% clean energy.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• After running into glitches last week, ISS astronauts successfully installed Roll-Out Solar Arrays yesterday.
• IKEA and The Rockefeller Foundation start a $1 billion fund for small-scale clean energy.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Technical delays kept ISS astronauts from fully installing a new pair of solar arrays.
• Enevate says its next-gen battery tech provides lower carbon footprint during EV manufacturing.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) yesterday demolished its last coal-fired plant, the Indiantown Cogeneration Plant in Martin County, east of the Everglades. And right before the plant imploded, FPL CEO Eric Silagy announced that the utility will build a solar center near the site.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• US special interest groups and utilities are working to stall the growth of rooftop solar.
• Why Penn State University won the US Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GM and Wabtec will work together to develop and commercialize electric locomotives.
• The US consumed a record amount of clean energy in 2020, reports the EIA.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Clean energy made up nearly 100% of all new Q1 electric capacity, but problems are looming.
• The largest utility in Kansas will make its first solar investments and says it will reach net zero by 2045.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Vertical Aerospace has pre-orders for around 1,000 of its electric VA-X4 vertical takeoff aircraft.
• Most Americans support expanding solar and wind energy, but there’s a significant partisan split.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

First Solar, the largest US-owned solar panel manufacturer, today announced that it’s opening a third manufacturing plant in Ohio in the first half of 2023.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions breaks ground on its largest solar project to date, in Texas.
• Fast charging is needed in all types of communities to speed up the EV transition, finds a new study.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

An uncrewed SpaceX Dragon CRS-22 cargo ship launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 3 and arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) two days later. It was carrying, among many other things, two new solar arrays that will power the ISS.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• US president Joe Biden’s electric vehicles plan includes boosting battery recycling in the US.
• Germany is upping its wind and solar 2030 targets, according to a draft law seen by Reuters.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• ExxonMobil and Chevron suffer shareholder rebellions over a lack of strategy for emissions reduction.
• Here’s the latest US Electric Power Monthly report, and what renewables are projected to do.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Climate czar John Kerry said emissions cuts will come from future tech, but a new study says we’ve already got what we need.
• The Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition has kicked off – check it out.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Kirk Edelman, chief commercial officer at New York City-headquartered solar development, construction, and asset management company Safari Energy, told Electrek about the three technologies that the solar industry needs to adopt in order to revolutionize processes and infrastructure.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The US Pacific Coast is approved for commercial-scale offshore clean energy projects for the first time.
• New US wind and solar scheduled for connection to the grid has reached record levels.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Wisconsin approves Alliant Energy’s Onion River solar farm, which will be one of the state’s largest.
• Southwest Florida launches a 74.5-megawatt community solar farm.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Singapore-based Maxeon Solar Technologies has announced that it will commercially release its Maxeon Air solar panels this summer. The company says the Air solar panels are frameless, thin, lightweight, and conformable, with efficiency and performance the same as standard solar panels.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GE will provide 87 Haliade-X 14 MW for the third and final phase of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.
• Rhode Island gets more than 100 megawatts of solar as it works toward 100% clean electricity by 2030.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The International Energy Agency’s new report details the global transition to clean energy by 2050.
• The Bahamas installs a hurricane-resistant solar hybrid microgrid on Highbourne Cay.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Roof-integrated solar company GAF Energy announced today that it will move all of its manufacturing from Asia to a facility in Silicon Valley. It’s a reversal of the solar industry trend of manufacturing solar panels in Asia due to lower labor costs.