Leading CdTe thin-film producer First Solar said it had secured a total of 121MW of community solar projects in the US with around 41MW (DC) under construction by EPC firm M+W Energy.
Last week, Minnesota utilities regulators ruled to take a value of solar approach for determining how community solar customers will be paid – making Minnesota the first state in the country to do so.
A guide to help US consumers make decisions on community solar has been released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the trade organisation Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA).
Community solar in the US could be a market worth as much as US$2.5 billion in revenues by 2020, but accommodating it will require a rethink of utility business models, a new report by Navigant Research claims.
The chief of California’s bulk transmission system operator has slammed net metering as a “subsidy” of wealthy households by poorer ones, claiming it represents an “economic justice issue”.
Bluewave, a Boston-based developer of solar projects, claimed that it has “secured US$100 million” for community solar from a subsidiary of multinational investment house Morgan Stanley.
