Category: Domestic

March 9, 2023

U.S. solar installations fell 16% in 2022 compared to the year prior, a drop caused largely by trade disputes and enforcement of new human rights protections that throttled supply chains. Even so, the U.S. added 20.2 GW of new capacity, […]

March 1, 2023

Heating and cooling homes carries a hefty economic and environmental price tag. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has reported more than half of all home energy in the United States is used for heating and cooling, and it also represents […]

February 22, 2023

Developers plan to add 54.5 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the US power grid in 2023, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will be solar power (54%), followed by […]

December 15, 2022

Since being dubbed the “Dirtiest City in America” by Walter Cronkite in 1969, the City of Chattanooga has worked to reverse the negative environmental impacts of local industry. As part of this work, the city joined the Better Buildings Challenge […]

October 24, 2022

SunPower came by at the end of September and added 21 panels to my south-facing roof. This is only possible since SunPower understands the previous installation and knows what steps to take to upgrade the system. You can upgrade your […]

June 22, 2022

In a case that could impact thousands of planned developments across North Carolina, the state Supreme Court on Friday sided against a Raleigh homeowners association and in favor of one of its residents — allowing him to keep rooftop solar […]

May 10, 2022

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has restarted its work on the controversial overhaul to the state’s solar energy-focused net energy metering policy. Work on the so-called “NEM 3.0” policy was paused indefinitely by the CPUC in February after receiving […]

April 19, 2022

A hybrid solar-plus-storage microgrid will replace some of the power generated by diesel in a remote community above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. The microgrid features a 225kW solar array and a 250 kW/384 kWh lithium-ion battery system that serve […]

March 3, 2022

Falling PV prices and expanded financing options have contributed to a rise in rooftop solar deployment among lower-income households in the US in recent years, a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has revealed. Although incomes of […]

February 22, 2022

Washington state utility Avista has launched a request for proposals (RFP) for 196MW of winter capacity and 190MW of summer capacity by 2030, with the request also considering storage and demand-side response resources as the utility works to meet the […]

February 17, 2022

Smart grids have been with us for over a decade. But for many power industry stakeholders, they’re associated almost exclusively with smart meters. Remote meter reading is certainly a compelling use case, and one which justified many initial deployments, especially […]

February 4, 2022

Parts of Texas have suffered localized, distribution-level power outages as an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plummeting across the state, but its heavily scrutinized grid is largely prepared to weather the storm, state entities said. Frigid temperatures stemming from a large […]

January 12, 2022

New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that […]

December 2, 2021

There is a common misperception that “green energy” appeals mostly to liberals. However, at least some of the facts don’t support that view. A case in point can be found in the rooftop solar sector. “It’s not Republican or Democratic. […]

November 30, 2021

Duke Energy and solar industry stakeholders have reached an agreement on net metering policy in North Carolina that will help expand distributed solar generation and benefit utility customers, the parties announced Tuesday. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the primary lobbying […]

November 18, 2021

NET Power, developer of the novel Allam-Fetvedt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycle, says its 50-MWth test facility in La Porte, Texas, delivered power to the grid overnight on Nov. 16. The achievement marks a major milestone for the potentially […]

November 8, 2021

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Black, Brown and Indigenous communities have been disproportionately at risk of hospitalization and death. Recent research suggests high utility bills and utility shutoffs played a role in that impact — while companies were receiving federal funds […]

November 5, 2021

The City of Ithaca, New York has voted to electrify its entire building stock — the first large-scale, city-wide decarbonization effort in the U.S. Ithaca’s Common Council gave approval to Mayor Svante L. Myrick to negotiate a contract with BlocPower, […]

October 29, 2021

When it comes to residential energy consumption, people are constantly striving for ways to reduce their monthly bills and energy usage and wastage. By looking at the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) annual energy outlook, we can see the top […]

October 7, 2021

There are four types of electric car plugs in North America. Each plug is compatible with different electric vehicles as well as capable of providing a certain amount of power. Just like how the iPhone has one plug and Android […]