By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent On the campaign trail in 2016, then-candidate Donald J. Trump spent a lot of time trying to win the votes of coal miners by lying to them. He frequently told them he would end the mythical “War on Coal” and somehow magically bring back coal jobs. Well, here it is in 2018, and now-President Donald J. Trump is still talking about saving coal jobs, even as coal miners watch their coworkers lose jobs to automation and, yes, a reduced need for coal. A lie, no matter how often it is repeated, is still a lie. … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Most experts agree that electrification of transportation is one of the keys to decarbonizing the grid. And for those who can afford to do so, that means purchasing an electric vehicle and installing a charging station at their home. But what about those who aren’t able to make that investment or don’t have access to it easily, like low-income communities and some communities of color? Well, the California Air Resources Board is partnering with clean-energy pioneer GRID Alternatives to try to solve that problem. The clean transportation project, dubbed the One-Stop-Shop Pilot, is expected to … Read More →

The Energy Show: By Barry Cinnamon Great solar policy is just as important as great solar technology. Obviously we need the technologies for these products — but we also need the policies so that solar products can be cost-effectively installed. And I’m not just talking about incentives…policies related to net metering, interconnection and permitting are just as important. Getting good solar policy requires effective political lobbying. I hate to let you down, but these great energy policies did not magically spring from the brains of inspired politicians When I look back at the successes our industry has had over the … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, long an outspoken champion of solar and other renewable energies, took one look at the Environmental Protection Agency’s new plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and screamed, “Get my Press Spokesman on the phone right now!” And just like that, Cuomo announced that New York had joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of 17 nations and Washington D.C. that are committed to eliminating coal from their electricity-generation and putting a moratorium on new coal plants that don’t have carbon-capture technology on them. New York is the first U.S. … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Two separate pieces today by Bloomberg New Energy Finance illustrate the ever-increasing gap between how utilities in Europe and the United States view distributed generation. In Europe, research suggests that utilities have come to the realization that distributed generation like solar and wind are becoming what electricity consumers want and, if they expect to thrive into the future, are what utilities will have to provide. In the United States, on the other hand, utilities continue to invest in centralized distribution and can’t figure out why those investments aren’t allowing them to make the money they … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent Community solar is a hot topic right now in the industry. It’s potential to expand solar’s reach to non-traditional solar customers – renters and people whose homes are not suited to individual solar arrays – is enormous, and as more states become solar friendly, community solar is one of the most frequent focuses of policymakers as they try to navigate a new solar world (see Illinois, for example). And according to a new report from Ellen Emma Foehringer Merchant of Greentech Media, the way of doing business for community solar providers is finally changing to … Read More →

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent The law of unintended consequences keeps traipsing through the solar industry. As broader tariffs begin to kick in on products ranging from solar modules to electronics equipment, the real-world consequences are beginning to interfere with product launches like Huawei’s launch of a low-cost residential solar inverter. Huawei had been predicting its inverter would knock $100 to $200 off the typical price of a residential inverter, allowing it to compete with more well-known inverter companies. Instead, a 25% tariff on Chinese electronic equipment is going to completely wipe out that advantage and is already interfering in … Read More →