Editors’ Blog

In the latest round of The People versus California's Utilities, solar plaintiffs scored a resounding victory last week with a unanimous vote from the state's energy regulators.

No one loves the sun as much as the president of the United States and his energy secretary. Dr Steven Chu took up President Barack Obama's appointment as US Secretary of Energy in 2009 and has since either re-stated existing federal commitments to solar or made fresh commitments to the technology.

The US military is not where you'd expect to find America's greatest climate warriors wanting to save the planet. But it's where you will find the country's staunchest allies when it comes to support for renewable energy - because it saves lives. US Department of Defense is the highest consumer of energy in the world with a thirst for 300,000 barrels of oil a day. But reducing the DoD's carbon boot print from the barracks to the battlefield has become mission critical.

Venture capital investors love to use baseball as a metaphor for their wins and losses. The technique to score a home run puts the hitter at risk of being caught out or missing the ball: swinging for the fences is an all-or-nothing strategy.

Net metering is becoming an increasingly divisive issue in the US, with a dividing line as distinct as night and day. Solar companies and their customers count their sunshine dollars earned or saved – utilities count their revenue losses.

The PV industry has historically trusted global PV installation figures released by PV inverter market leader, SMA Solar Technologies due to the fact it had a direct route to a major part of the sector. This was often supported by market research figures or at least an alternative measure to compare different figures produced due to the difficult task in accurately reporting annual global installation levels. Not surprisingly, when SMA claimed its own market share figure for inverter sales the figure was rarely questioned.

Enlightening opinions from US energy commissioners on what they really think about renewables and the electricity industry's incumbents can only be said out loud once they've left their post: a reversal of poacher turned gamekeeper.

As California's "dumb" grid gets smart over the next decade, a clever convergence between technology and PV systems is also required. Otherwise, attempts to harmonize the state's 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard are at risk of turning into a cacophony for policymakers, utilities and technologists.

Despite the phenomenal success of California's Renewable Portfolio Standard in creating a market for utility-scale solar, many in the industry are forecasting the end of the transmission line for large central stations stranded out in the desert.