The California Assembly passed legislation to encourage the installation of solar power infrastructure along California’s highways.

California highway solar power bill makes it to governor’s desk

The California Assembly, by a 79-0 vote on September 13, passed legislation to encourage the installation of solar power infrastructure along California’s highways. Environment California sponsored SB 49, which was authored by Sen. Josh Becker. The bill also passed a concurrence vote in the state Senate on Thursday evening and is on its way to the governor’s desk for him to sign into law.

“California needs to supercharge its deployment of solar panels and battery storage, and this bill takes advantage of some of the best places to do just that,” said Laura Deehan, Environment California’s state director. “We must think creatively to quickly utilize available spaces to build solar panels. Using the land along highways will help us speed toward a future powered by 100% clean energy in California.”

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Source: Solar Power World

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The California Legislature wrapped up its session last week and dozens of climate bills now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature — or veto.

Here are the major climate bills that made it through California’s Legislature this year

The California Legislature wrapped up its session last week and dozens of climate bills now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature — or veto. They range from corporate accountability to clean energy, transportation, water and more.

“The ball is definitely being advanced and I think, given the budget situation, we could have seen things be a lot worse than they turned out to be this year,” said Julia Stein, a climate policy researcher at UCLA.

This summer, lawmakers cut $6 billion in climate initiatives.

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Source: LAist

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The IRA's Solar for All program aims to provide distributed solar energy to disadvantaged, low-income and tribal communities in the US.

Bringing renewable energy to rural communities in California

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In rural communities in California, access to renewable energy options such as solar and wind power is often limited. While larger cities are focusing on large-scale renewable energy projects, rural areas have few opportunities and resources to develop their own clean energy solutions. This makes them dependent on energy sources based on fossil fuels, whose reliability and safety are questionable.

However, there is hope on the horizon. The Inflation Reduction Act offers rural communities the opportunity to access financing for renewable energy projects through the Solar for All program. This program, administered by the EPA, aims to provide distributed solar energy to disadvantaged, low-income and tribal communities in the United States. With a budget of $7 billion, Solar for All focuses on community and rooftop solar projects that benefit local residents.

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Source: Nation World

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California's 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco will hear a legal challenge to the state’s recently adopted rooftop solar rules.

Appeals court will hear challenge to California’s new rooftop solar rules

California’s 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco will hear a legal challenge to the state’s recently adopted rooftop solar rules.

Three groups challenged the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) decision to slash the value of electricity generated from solar panels and install $15 monthly fees for residents who add solar panels to their rooftops.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group, and the Protect Our Communities Foundation challenged the CPUC’s adoption of the new rules.

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Source: kpbs

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If all warehouses and superstores went solar, they could produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 27 million households.

The solar potential of warehouses and superstores explained

Solar energy in America is growing. In 2021, America produced enough solar energy to power 15 million homes – 15 times as much as we produced in 2012.

But given that solar could power our country many times over, we are still just barely scratching the surface of our solar potential. The sooner we tap that potential the better it will be for our health and our environment.

One of the best place to put the large scale solar that we’ll need is on existing rooftops. In the video below, I explain the rooftop solar potential of big box stores and warehouses.

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Source: Environment America

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ISES explains how much solar PV energy could be harvested from freed-up agricultural land in densely-populated countries with declining populations.

Declining populations free up agricultural land for large amounts of solar in densely populated countries

The global population is expected to increase from 8 billion people today to 9.7 billion by mid-century. Strong growth is particularly evident in Africa, which will add a billion people.

However, in many countries, population is stable or even falling. There are nine countries with populations larger than 20 million people that are expected to have lower populations in 2050 than today: China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Ukraine and Poland. The combined population of these countries is expected to fall by 10%, from 2 billion people today to 1.8 billion people in 2050.

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Source: PV Magazine

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China’s Trina Solar, one of the world’s largest solar panel makers, has announced it will build a 5GW solar panel factory in Texas.

Chinese solar giant Trina is opening a 5 GW factory in Texas

China’s Trina Solar, one of the world’s largest solar panel makers, has announced it will build a 5 gigawatt (GW) solar panel factory in Texas.

The factory will be in Wilmer, southeast of Dallas. The $200 million facility will be more than 1 million square feet in size and will create 1,500 local jobs. Trina Solar says it will source polysilicon, a key raw material in the solar supply chain, from the US and Europe. The factory will come online in 2024.

Trina Solar’s Texas factory will produce the company’s Vertex modules that incorporate 210mm silicon wafers that allow over 600W power output and up to 21.4% module efficiency.

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Source: electrek

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Private investment in clean energy projects surged after President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law last year.

Biden’s climate law is reshaping private investment in the United States

Private investment in clean energy projects like solar panels, hydrogen power and electric vehicles surged after President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law last year, a development that shows how tax incentives and federal subsidies have helped reshape some consumer and corporate spending in the United States.

New data being released on Wednesday suggest the climate law and other parts of Mr. Biden’s economic agenda have helped speed the development of automotive supply chains in the American Southwest, buttressing traditional auto manufacturing centers in the industrial Midwest and the Southeast. The 2022 law, which passed with only Democratic support, aided factory investment in conservative bastions like Tennessee and the swing states of Michigan and Nevada. The law also helped underwrite a spending spree on electric cars and home solar panels in California, Arizona and Florida.

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Source: New York Times

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IKEA announced that it’s adding solar car parks, more solar on store rooftops, and battery energy storage systems to seven of its US stores.

IKEA is kicking off a solar car park push in the US

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IKEA today announced that it’s adding solar car parks, more solar on store rooftops, and battery energy storage systems to seven of its US stores.

IKEA has been installing solar at its US stores for more than a decade. Its Paramus, New Jersey, store is the first of seven units included in this new solar push, and it appears to have functioned as a pilot, as IKEA today said that its solar installation was completed in July of this year. Paramus (pictured above) boasts IKEA’s first-ever long-span carpark system that maximizes the number of solar panels and covers the entire parking deck roof.

The remaining six units that are in the project are in Brooklyn; Covina, CA; New Haven, CT; Stoughton, MA; Tempe, AZ, and the IKEA fulfillment facility in Tejon, CA.

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Source: electrek

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Major corporations from oil and gas companies to retail giants would have to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions under legislation passed Monday by California lawmakers.

California legislators approve America’s most expansive greenhouse gas emissions disclosure rules for big business

Major corporations from oil and gas companies to retail giants would have to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that come from activities like employee business travel under legislation passed Monday by California lawmakers, the most sweeping mandate of its kind in the nation.

The legislation would require thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually to report their direct and indirect emissions. The goal is to increase transparency and nudge companies to evaluate how they can cut their emissions.

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Source: FORTUNE

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