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16 hours ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
Chad Ward said there’s nothing he wants more than to be able to come home every night to his family and eat dinner with them. “Simply talk about their day,” the ironworker of 21 years said. Ward, a member of the Iron Workers Local 7 union said he’s spent much of his career being forced to take jobs out of state due to the lack of opportunities in Maine. He said he’s missed a lot of his three kids growing up, the oldest of which is 16.
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1 day ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
Ford’s 650 MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with DTE Energy, broke ground in Michigan with the procurement’s first project start of construction in Branch County, Mich. The 100 MW Cold Creek Solar Park is the first of several DTE solar projects that Ford will procure from.
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1 day ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
SunPower is rising again through a rebranded Complete Solaria, which will take its name along with the assets it acquired from the bankrupt-company last year. SunPower includes another legacy from both companies’ past: the once-retired solar veteran T.J. Rodgers, who bankrolled and helped grow both companies in their early years. Rodgers, who founded Cypress Semiconductor, first became involved with SunPower in 2001 after running into a friend at a coffee shop.
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2 days ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a bill to require local cities to adopt instant permitting for residential solar installations. The bill, which only applies to local governments with populations of 5,000 or more, cuts down on inspections by only requiring one inspection for projects that were submitted through the permitting act, unless, of course, the first inspection failed. Notably, they would also be required to provide an option for a remote inspection via recorded video or photo.
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3 days ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
North Carolina-based renewables developer Strata Clean Energy secured a 20-year tolling agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electric utility, for its 150 MW, 600 MWh Justice Energy Storage project located near Skyline Regional Park in Phoenix, Arizona.
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3 days ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
Oklahoma legislators are discussing a bill to require new solar, wind and battery energy storage projects to apply for a permit through the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, a regulatory agency for the state, and notify neighbors before beginning the project’s development process. “With these new facilities coming to the state, there have been very limited guidelines around wind and zero regarding either solar or battery backup storage systems,” said Rep.
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3 days ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
A bill seeking for compatibility between Oklahoma’s agricultural industry and solar development is in the Senate after it passed the state’s House of Representatives. The Oklahoma Agrivoltaics Act, or HB 2157, aims to enhance the state’s electrical generation capacity while supporting agricultural productivity through the development of renewable energy projects. The bill passed the House of Representatives with 73 voting in favor and 20 voting against it.
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6 days ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
Illinois’ market has a great reputation among solar companies because of all its incentives, but an “absolute nightmare to work in,” found a report by the Environment Illinois Research & Education Center and the Illinois PIRG Education Fund. In the United States, 22% of all projects that apply for permits get cancelled, the report said, most commonly due to permitting delays. In Illinois, it’s 31%.
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1 week ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
UL Solutions, a global safety science organization, announced it updated its testing methods for battery energy storage systems to include new test methods for non-lithium-ion battery chemistries, such as sodium-ion. UL 9540A provides a standardized test method to determine a battery technology’s susceptibility to thermal runaway, a chemical reaction that causes a battery to rapidly increase in temperature and pressure.
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1 week ago | 
pv-magazine-usa.com | Rachel Metea
As an engineering, construction, manufacturing and clean energy company, Faith Technologies Inc. (FTI) developed the solar installation on its Kansas facility’s roof in-house. FTI built the 2.16 MW project by having its team — including apprentices from its apprenticeship program work in two crews: one on the roof building the arrays and the other inside the facility building the skids for its inverters and distribution equipment.
