Minor memos

Minor memos

August 01, 2017 | By Keith Martin in Washington, DC

The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that the solar tariffs sought by US solar panel manufacturer Suniva would cost the United States 88,000 jobs . . . . A new ordinance in South Miami that takes effect September 18 will require all new homes to have solar panels on the roof. The ordinance requires 175 square feet of solar panels to be installed per 1,000 square feet of sunlit roof area. Home renovations will trigger the requirement if the existing structure is expanded by more than 75% or more than 75% of it is replaced. San Francisco began requiring all new commercial and residential structures of up to 10 stories to have solar panels on the roof at the start of this year . . . . Massachusetts set a target in June for utilities in the state to have installed a total of 200 megawatt hours of energy storage facilities by January 1, 2020. Storage advocates had been pushing for a target of 600 megawatt hours by 2025 based on a “State of the Charge” report that the state released in September last year. To put the Massachusetts target into perspective, California has a target of 1,350 megawatts of storage capacity. Oregon set a target of 5 MWhs per utility. New York is expected to set a storage target by the end of this year.