Earlier this month, Ron Kamen, president of the New York Solar Energy Industries Associaton (NYSEIA), spoke about the group’s future goals at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo. Here are some of the main projects the group will be working on in 2011 and beyond:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has recently approved a pilot program that means huge savings for each individual property owner that installs a solar energy system and for the state as a whole. It’s called the Reverse Auction Mechanism (RAM) — a way to keep a single renewable energy developer from gaining a monopoly over renewable energy throughout the entire state.

The TGP allows cash grants to be used instead of tax credits for renewable energy projects. The MITC frees up tax credits to be used for renewable energy manufacturing investments.

Germany may cut solar subsidies by up to 17% according to the German Economy Minister’s remarks at a conference in Berlin.

With ambitious initiatives such as its Solar Stimulus Program and a target of installing 250 megawatts’ worth of solar-generating capacity in the state by 2017, Massachusetts has shown itself to be a vanguard in the U.S. push for solar, and the latest news to emerge from the Commonwealth further bolsters this reputation: having tapped out [...]

The European Commission released on Wednesday its plan to reduce carbon dioxide levels by directing €50 billion to clean energy research and development over the next ten years, with €16 billion ($23.5 billion) of that money reserved for solar photovoltaic power. The Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan may be the latest step in the European [...]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released preliminary smart grid interoperability standards last week. Setting standards is important in smart grid implementation, as it will provide the platform for technologies to seamlessly communicate.

I’ve you’ve spent any appreciable amount time on our website, you likely know that many state governments sponsor incentive programs to help offset the high costs associated with installing a solar PV system. There are cash rebates. There are renewable energy credits (RECs). There are exemptions for property tax, and sales and use tax. There [...]

It’s evident Florida lawmakers and regulators are taking steps to ensure that the Sunshine State lives up to its nickname. As reported by the Miami Herald, the Public Service Commission (PSC) will increase the rate paid to owners of renewable-energy systems. At issue is net metering, the process by which excess electricity from such systems—called [...]

For this week and next week, the news services will focus on the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively. From now until Election Day, observers can expect to see discussion of climate change policies and technologies attached firmly to discussion of the relative merits of Barack Obama and John McCain’s energy proposals. In one of the [...]