Our 2013 Utility Solar Champion Award goes to … drumroll please … The Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO).

Here’s why. The Hawaiian solar market is taking off. Just skyrocketing. Check this article out:

“In 2012, a total of 16,715 PV permits were issued [in Oahu], a figure more than 170 percent of the (more…)

Interconnection standards are the legal rules and procedures for “plugging” a renewable energy system into the power grid. With oversight from their regulators, utilities have traditionally determined which systems may connect to the grid and how arduous that process is. As you can imagine, interconnection standards that are unclear, full of (more…)

Today the Vote Solar Initiative (Vote Solar) and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc. (IREC) released our official 2012 findings for Freeing the Grid, a policy report that grades all 50 states on two key programs: net metering and interconnection procedures. Together, these policies empower American energy consumers to use rooftop solar and (more…)

There are plenty of not-so-sunny renewable policy news headlines these days. Congress failed to pass comprehensive energy legislation this year – and as of yesterday, things don’t even look good for a piecemeal extension of the critical Treasury Grant Program before it expires this month. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite gridlock higher up, state (more…)