Solar Growth

Solar Industry: California Makes Historic Decision to Incorporate Solar On All New Homes

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by Lauren Dansey

Source:  Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)

Wednesday, May 09 2018

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) welcomed California’s approval of a new policy that will require virtually all new homes in the state to incorporate solar panels starting in 2020. The California Energy Commission voted today to adopt the policy as part of the state’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards after working with SEIA, its member solar companies, and other stakeholders for more than two years to develop the technical requirements.

Following is a statement from Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO:

“This is an undeniably historic decision for the state and the U.S. California has long been our nation’s biggest solar champion, and its mass adoption of solar has generated huge economic and environmental benefits, including bringing tens of billions of dollars of investment into the state. Now, California is taking bold leadership again, recognizing that solar should be as commonplace as the front door that welcomes you home.

“SEIA appreciates the Commission’s efforts to help California take steps toward meeting its Zero Net Energy goals by integrating renewable energy with energy efficiency. The combination of rooftop solar and the option to add energy storage systems as an efficiency compliance credit provides builders with an attractive, cost-effective option to fully electrify homes.

“Other states may not be ready for this step yet, but this is a precedent-setting policy — one that will bring enormous benefits and cost savings to consumers. It is my hope and belief that when other states, many of which are developing rapidly growing solar markets of their own, see the benefits of this policy, they will develop similarly aggressive policies.”

About California:

California is the nation’s leading solar market, with more than 21 gigawatts of solar installed — five times more than any other state and nearly 40 percent of the total solar installed in the U.S. The solar industry has created $43 billion of investment in California’s economy and employs more than 86,000 Californians, a number that will grow under this new policy.

The Army, Navy and Air Force Go Solar

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by Altra Web Team

(Go Green Solar Solutions is proud to have helped the military reach its renewable energy goals.  GGSS installed 2 solar carports at the Los Angeles Air Force Base that provide 360kW of power, and provide shade for over 200 cars.

From the battlefield to stateside bases, the U.S. military has proven that solar is reliable.

The Army, Navy and Air Force are using more than 130 megawatts of solar for everything from powering remote special operations to air conditioning and lighting for U.S. base residences. And the forces intend to keep building toward 3 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2025 as part of a much bigger Department of Defense (DOD) commitment.

While detractors were declaring solar too intermittent to be reliable at home, U.S. Marines were successfully relying on it at battlefield sites in the Khyber Pass, according to Enlisting the Sun: Powering the U.S. Military with Solar Energy, a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released just in time for Armed Forces Day on May 18.

The DOD’s annual $20 billion energy budget makes it the biggest single energy consumer in the world.

USC 2911 of DOD’s title 10 Energy Performance Goals, as updated in 2009, requires 25 percent of total military facility energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2025.

Driven by that target, the Navy has installed more than 58 megawatts at or near bases in Washington, D.C. and twelve states. It has plans to exceed the basic plan by obtaining 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. Its plans call for 57 percent of its new renewables to be from photovoltaic (PV) solar through 2017.

The Air Force, the military’s biggest energy consumer, has built 38 megawatts of solar capacity operating in 24 states. It will procure 1 gigawatt of renewables by 2016. The plan is for PV to be more than 70 percent of all new Air Force renewable capacity through 2017.

The Army has installed over 36 megawatts of solar installed at bases in sixteen states on its way to procuring 1 gigawatt of renewable capacity. Solar will account for one-third of the Army’s planned renewable capacity additions through 2017.

 

Source:  greentechmedia.com