Where’s the capital for the next solar revolution(s) going to come from?  Maybe you.  Ryan Levinson of SunFunder and Billy Parish of Mosaic shared their thoughts with us on a recent webinar, and here’s the recording. » Read the rest of this entry «

Vote Solar seeks a candidate to help pioneer solutions to the next challenges facing sustainable solar market expansion: grid integration of variable resources, and market design for distributed generation (DG).  This high-level position entails both thought leadership in designing solutions, and effective campaign management in getting those solutions implemented (via regulatory and legislative venues, leveraging grassroots and media assets).

Position description and application instructions here (pdf).

This week the Minnesota legislature passed a substantial solar energy bill that will result in the development of more than 450 megawatts of solar by 2020. Solar advocates are awaiting Governor Dayton’s signature which, given his support for solar, is expected shortly.
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With the year nearly half done, here’s the solar scoreboard–updates from things we’ve been working on, and a selection of other notable solar victories. » Read the rest of this entry «

It seems that soap operas did not, in fact, go away after the 80s.  Because the ongoing saga of efforts to establish Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs play like an energy wonk’s version of ‘As the World Turns’.

We’re writing with an update, and a request to take action to help clean energy solutions in America. » Read the rest of this entry «

The first solar projects from California’s Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM) are now on-line. This is some of the world’s lowest-cost solar, now up and running.

Image credit SolarWorld, via Earthtechling.com

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We have some exciting news to share.

GroupEnergy, an organization that facilitates group solar purchases, is joining us as a non-profit project of Vote Solar.

We believe this will advance Vote Solar’s mission of bringing solar energy into the mainstream in a couple important ways. It gives us a new way to tackle the challenge of solar soft costs head on, effectively lowering customer acquisition costs and reducing complexity. It will also strengthen our grassroots advocacy on other key policy issues by making engaged solar supporters out of non-traditional constituencies. » Read the rest of this entry «

Solar jobs are local jobs, and this morning our friends at The Solar Foundation released a fun new tool for showing just what that means all across
the country. The State Solar Jobs Map provides solar job census data for each of the fifty states.

According to the census, our nation’s top ten solar job creators are:

1. California - 43,700 jobs
2. Arizona - 9,800 jobs
3. New Jersey - 5,700 jobs
4. Massachusetts - 4,500 jobs
5. Pennsylvania – 4,000 jobs
6. Colorado - 3,600 jobs
7. New York – 3,300 jobs
8. Texas - 3,200 jobs
9. Michigan - 3,000 jobs
10. Ohio - 2,900 jobs » Read the rest of this entry «

We did it! Thanks to an outpouring of public support from people like YOU, the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) decided NOT to dismantle net metering today!

This marks the 2^nd time the Commission Chair has pulled the vote due to lack of Commissioner support for changing Louisiana net metering, the simple policy that clears the way for customers to save on their electricity bills by going solar. Vote Solar highlighted the details of the vote on Monday in our blog.

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Louisiana’s Public Service Commission (PSC) will vote this Wednesday, April 17^th on whether to preserve or dismantle net metering in the state.  The vote will answer the central question in the net metering docket (LPSC Docket number: R-31417) – how valuable is the solar energy produced from net-metered solar systems?

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