California

Dismissed by many in the solar industry as an overly-complex, outdated technology, concentrated solar power (CSP) is set for a comeback thanks to a scaled-down, modular approach.

California’s highest court granted review to a lawsuit challenging a “regressive” rooftop solar policy called NEM 3.0.

With the calendar year almost complete, pv magazine USA shares four Stateside trends it saw in residential solar this year.

Solar Insure tells pv magazine USA that the financial stability of rooftop solar companies in California is now in question. Despite this, a state appeals court recently reaffirmed a number of anti-solar decisions.

California should put front-of-the-meter distributed solar on an equal footing with transmission-connected utility-scale solar and behind-the-meter solar, say several US advocacy groups.

The perovskite solar race is heating up, with a cue of manufacturers forming to test products at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) PV commercialization facilities, and academics on both sides of The Pond announcing new advances in recent months.

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved Net Energy Metering 3.0 and has slashed payments to send rooftop solar electricity to the grid. New rooftop solar projects are now considered uneconomical without attached batteries.

Following a disappointing COP27 climate change summit in November, solar industry veteran Philip Wolfe reviews the contribution utility-scale PV is starting to make to emissions reduction.

The state has updated its Build Energy Efficiency Standards to include requirements for solar plus storage on all commercial and multifamily homes, while also requiring that all new residential construction – which already requires solar – to be energy storage ready.

The Indian-based PV module maker supplied mono PERC solar PV modules for a 250 MW project stage for a large Californian project, the 2.7GW Westlands Solar Park, located south of Fresno in California.