Hot spots (pun intended) for solar development head up our solar stories today. U.S. solar footprint news highlights solar progressive states now experiencing battles to curtail solar development. Yesterday we saw headlines pointing to contention in Arizona, today its North Carolina. Out of Florida headlines call attention to the sunshine state’s solar potential and the roadblocks being thrown in the way of massive deployment there. On the technology side, Google is lighting a fire under the inverter market with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to collapse the size of a solar inverter. $1 million is the contest prize with the juicier win being a potential alignment with Google’s “Bottom up Grid” project and/or an investment by the internet giant who is carving out a huge piece of the clean energy industry pie. With the recent acquisition of Solectria Renewables by Japanese machinery maker, Yaskawa Electric Corp., Google’s race for innovation puts even more pressure on an already hotly contested inverter market.
–Glenna Wiseman in for Yann Brandt
News
- Greentech Media: Google’s $1M Challenge: A Laptop-Sized Solar Inverter
- Florida Today: Power providers ask Florida regulators to scale back energy-efficiency deals
- CleanTechnica: Another Indian State Joins Solar Power Race With 1,000 MW PV Project
- PV Tech: Warning of ‘dangerous’ public backlash against solar in Japan
Opinion
- CleanTechnica: Are Utilities About To Kill Solar Energy’s Future In North Carolina?
- Greentech Media: Beyond the Rooftop: Commercial Net Metering in California
- Renewable Energy World: Solar Energy ‘Lighting Up’ Professional Sports
- RunonSun: Teaching the Duck to Fly
- Chaolysti: A New Threat Looms Against Distributed Rooftop Solar
Education
- SolarNovus: Energy Storage Market Rises to $50 Billion
- WLRN: Why Doesn’t The Sunshine State Use More Solar Energy?
Have a great day!