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Growing 43% year over year in 2016, the US solar industry is taking off at a pace no one could have foreseen. Naysayers may cite the industry’s slow start, hampered by high upfront costs and initial niche appeal as reasons why solar still will not experience a consumer boom. But panellists at the opening session of the 13th annual Solar Power International convention made it clear just how solar energy could exceed expectations and is poised for not only growth, but mainstream acceptance.

The solar industry must grow up and revamp its approach to lobbying, a panel of US solar and utility experts have said.

Over the past 12 months, the US solar business has been on a rollercoaster ride, with the high-profile bankruptcy of SunEdison and the merger of SolarCity and Tesla stealing the headlines. Danielle Ola talks to the experts about some of the key trends shaping the world of solar finance and investment in the US.

Summer wildfires across the West Coast of the US have significantly impacted the output of solar PV projects in the region with smoke cover reducing irradiance levels, according to environmental and industrial measurement firm Vaisala.

Ohio-based racking and mounting equipment installer Solar FlexRack has installed its TDP turnkey tracker solution in Nebraska’s largest solar PV plant.

Solar ranks lowest in terms of projected Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) for electricity generating technologies in 2030, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 2016 Annual Technology Baseline (ATB).

Behind-the-meter storage is forecast to become a larger segment than grid-scale storage by 2021, and could pose a potential threat to utilities, according to Bloomberg Energy Finance (BNEF) senior analyst Logan Goldie-Scot.

This week's Movers & Shakers features expansion into new markets, renewable asset management and new executive appointments.

The solar yieldco business model was “flawed from the beginning”, says a US bank executive, who downplays sentiment that it was the SunEdison yieldco disaster that tarnished the model for good.

Lazard, the financial advisory that advised SolarCity on its US$2.6 billion all-stock sale to Tesla, made an error in its analysis resulting in the solar installer being undervalued by US$400 million, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).