Following through on a move that was first hinted at in June, the Spanish government has put an end to the much-reviled “sun tax” which had imposed a levy on solar self-consumption. The change was approved by Spain’s Council of Ministers early this week, after being submitted by the country’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition, headed up by Teresa Ribera. The legislation was first introduced – by Royal decree – back in 2015, by then-Spanish minister of industry, energy and tourism minister Jose Manuel Soria.

All across the country, solar energy is providing real, tangible benefits to the American people. Everyone from families and businesses to churches and schools are investing in clean energy to take control of their own energy and lower their utility bills.

Spanish government agrees to scrap much-reviled tax on solar self-consumption, brings in new rules removing all costs and barriers to self-consumed power.

Solar energy-produced electricity is poised to grow exponentially as solar panels get cheaper to install, more efficient batteries are developed to store the sun's energy and investors pour more money into an increasingly reliable energy source. Energy produced by the sun is already providing electricity to about 30 percent of the United States, and investors have taken notice of the investment potential.

Within two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Richard Birt, a Las Vegas fire captain, flew to San Juan on what would be the first of many missions to try to get the island’s 96 fire stations up and running—not by fixing the problematical grid but by using solar power. With the encouragement of San Juan fire chief Alberto Cruz Albarrán, logistical help from San Juan firefighters, and donated equipment from the company Sunrun, within a day-and-a-half a team outfitted the flat roofs of the fire department in Barrio Obrero—one of the poorer neighborhoods in San Juan—with solar panels.

This year’s version of Berkeley Lab’s Tracking the Sun report saw residential installs fall 6% to $3.50 / W, small business fall 11% to $2.90 / W and large business fell 5% to $2.20 /W in 2017, with light changes in early 2018. However, these averages cover wide price variances in different markets.

Experts at a seminar yesterday said the country could generate 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy in 2050 if steps are taken to achieve the target, reports UNB. “Scarcity of land is no longer a problem for solar energy as technologies are improving and different forms of new systems like floating solar and rooftop solar are coming up with more efficiency,” said Munawar Moin, president of Solar Module Manufacturers’ Association of Bangladesh (SMMAB).

It is now official that solar power is recognized to be the cheapest source of energy power in countries with low income, providing companies and governments to let go of the coal and gas in exchange of renewable energy. Bloomberg New Energy Finance or BNEF provided a data that shows that in 2016, the average solar energy price in nearly 60 countries declined per megawatt to $1.65 million, with wind energy source at $1.66 million per megawatt.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has kicked off a new initiative geared at adding solar to multifamily housing. The Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) Program will be administered by a coalition of established clean energy and affordable housing organizations in the state with $100 million annually for the first 10 years, provided by CPUC.

California is following in Hawaii's footsteps by committing to 100 percent clean energy. Lawmakers in the state have passed a bill that will see it moving entirely to clean electricity sources by 2045, CBS reported Tuesday. The vote comes as a report revealed Monday that California could lose up to two-thirds of its beaches and water supply due to climate change. Public polling showed the majority of Californians (about 72 percent) are supportive of the bill, although some business groups and utilities aren't in favour, citing job concerns.

California's green policy is so successful it needs to slow down for a bit.

Analysts at Swiss investment bank UBS believe that by 2030, we could all be living without much of a carbon footprint — at least at home. The analysts believe that the cost of renewable energy will continue to dive heading into the next decade, and that by 2030, costs will be so low they will “effectively be free,” according to new research published this morning in the Financial Times (paywall).

Bloomberg NEF data indicate that the world has attained the landmark figure of 1TW of wind and solar generation capacity installed.

A solar-powered aircraft from the European aerospace giant Airbus has completed a maiden flight lasting 25 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes. The new Zephyr S HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite) took off from Arizona on July 11 and went on to complete "the longest duration flight ever made," Airbus Defence and Space said in an announcement Wednesday. An application has been made to confirm the flight as a new world record.

One of the first owners of a Tesla Solar Roof says he’s “amazed” by the product, revealing the surprising usage statistics behind the company’s blend-in tiles. Tri Huynh, a senior manager at Nvidia that made headlines in March when he first shared photos of his installation, gave a new interview on Saturday detailing his experiences.

Researchers have developed a new material that can be applied to windows to simultaneously block out the light and harness the power of the sun.

The island nation of Samoa is continuing its effort to convert from diesel-reliant powerplants to 100% renewable energy with the help of Tesla’s scalable Powerpack battery storage solution. Over the past year, the California-based electric car and energy company had been hard at work installing and launching two Tesla Powerpack sites in the country, both of which are designed to capture the abundance of renewable energy, otherwise lost without a means for storage, and offer grid stability to local utilities.

While the rest of the world argues over the legitimacy of climate change and the need to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Costa Rica continues to smash its own renewable energy records. In 2015, the Central American nation generated 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources for 299 days. And last year, the country ran for 271 days on clean energy.

There’s a new building block in town, and it generates its own clean energy. Researchers from Exeter University developed new glass blocks that are embedded with small solar cells. Not only do the blocks generate energy, but they also provide thermal insulation and allow natural light to enter buildings.

Fossil fuel proponents may claim that even renewables or “clean energy” have harmful impacts on the environment to justify continued drilling and mining — but that’s not the whole truth. Here’s the reality — all forms of energy production, and really any form of human development, can have impacts. But renewables like wind and solar are called clean for a reason. Their impacts are many times smaller than those of other energy sources. Scott Tinker’s recent commentary in The Hill arguing the environment damage renewable cause contains outdated and incorrect information about renewable energy.