Solar advocates in the nation’s capital and Virginia claim Mid-Atlantic utilities are squandering the promise of shared solar programs designed to benefit low-income customers.
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More DMV News
Dominion Asks to Halt Ratepayer Charge for Carbon Market
Virginia Mercury
Dominion Energy is asking state regulators to stop charging customers on their monthly bills for the utility’s participation in a carbon market in anticipation of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plans to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Major Grid Dilemma: Treat Fossil Fuels Like Renewables?
E&E News
Last year, the nation’s largest grid operator scaled back the use of a controversial grid rule that wind and solar developers claimed unfairly favored fossil fuels. Now, clean energy advocates have their sights set on another issue they say may give coal, natural gas and nuclear generators a leg up with PJM Interconnection.
Get Your Virginia Interconnection Now, Solar Regulation Increasing in 2025
PV Magazine
The state’s Department of Environmental Quality has defined solar panels as impervious surfaces for the purpose of measuring stormwater, which will increase project cost requirements.
Summit Ridge Energy Completes 2.5-MW Community Solar Project in Maryland
Solar Power World
Summit Ridge Energy (SRE) and Cedar Ridge Community Church held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 30 to celebrate the completion of a 2.5 MW community solar project in Montgomery County, Maryland.
National and International News
Did California Actually Hit 97% Renewables in April? Yes and No
Canary Media
California’s grid hit a major milestone on April 3 when 97% of demand was served by renewable power at 3:39 p.m. In fact, if you add in hydropower, which was not counted, and nuclear, another source of zero-carbon power, there was enough clean energy to cover more than 100% of demand for three full hours that day.
Why EPA Might Make New Gas Plants Catch Carbon
E&E News
It has been seven years since EPA finalized a rule requiring new coal-fired power plants to capture and store a share of their carbon emissions. Despite litigation and a proposed repeal by the Trump administration, it is still in place. Now EPA is preparing to demand that newly built natural gas-fired generators do more to limit their own emissions.
To Equitably Confront Climate Change, Cities Need to Include Public Health Agencies in Planning Adaptations
Inside Climate News
Studies show health agencies often are sidelined from cities’ climate plans, despite being critical to making them fair. Barcelona shows how including them can make a difference.
Investigation Into Solar Tariffs Could Threaten US 2035 Clean Energy Goal, Says DOE’s Granholm
Utility Dive
The Department of Commerce’s investigation into potential solar tariff circumvention could threaten the United States’ decarbonization efforts. The investigation could take up to a year, potentially upending the supply chain of panels from those countries in the meantime.
US is Recycling Just 5% of its Plastic Waste, Studies Show
The Guardian
When most people toss a plastic bottle or cup into the recycling bin, they assume that means the plastic is recycled – but a new report lays bare how rarely that actually happens. According to the Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics report, about 85% of plastic ends up in landfills with 10% incinerated.