The latest approval came yesterday as Federal regulators approved the 250-megawatt (MW) Genesis Solar Energy Project to be built on desert land in southeastern California a mere 25 miles of where the Blythe project will be built.

December 31st will signify something much more important than popping champagne bottles and dropping the New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square. It spells the end of the line for two important federal government incentives that have helped solar energy systems pop up from coast to coast.

In the past two weeks those opposed to Prop. 23 have tapped into deep pockets, including those of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and award-winning film director James Cameron, to raise nearly $12 million to fight the proposition backed mainly by Tesero Corp. and Valero Energy Corp.

As the mid-term election approaches, the race in Arizona for the state’s 8th Congressional District seat is proving to be a microcosm of how pivotal a role clean energy will play in shaping the nation’s political landscape.

The White House will be getting a little bit greener very soon, as the Obama Administration will install a small photovoltaic (PV) solar energy system atop the White House that will heat water and supply a small amount of electricity for the First Family.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania legislatures and schoold boards are so serious about schools implementing solar energy that they are trying to put it into law.

The plan is called the Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM). It would would work much in the same way a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) system works, with the difference being that rates of the tariff would be set by an open bidding process. This would help in two ways: It would drive down high consumer rates and bring in returns for solar developers that are still within reason.

Solar Industry professionals are becoming increasingly worried that Florida, nicknamed the “Sunshine State” for its abundance of warm weather, is missing out on all the fun in the sun.

The next week on Capitol Hill will be one of extreme importance for climate legislation, as Republicans and Democrats are set to tussle over a renewable energy mandate being included in the national energy bill that will be voted on in the Senate within the next seven days.

There is no getting around it. Leadership from China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), is imperative if any sort of successful international agreement is to come out of the Copenhagen climate change negotiations.