Snohomish County PUD in Washington state plans to demonstrate new energy technologies, including energy storage coupled with a solar array, at its $9.5 million Microgrid and Clean Energy Technology Center on which ground was broken earlier this week near the Arlington Airport. Once in operation in 2020, it will be Snohomish’s first microgrid and third battery storage facility.

Rhode Island regulators recently signed off on a settlement allowing National Grid to raise residential rates by 3.5 percent while investing in a range of modernization and grid transformation initiatives to enable more clean energy benefits. The settlement allows National Grid to launch electric vehicle and energy storage programs, creates a performance incentive mechanism to encourage efficiency and establishes a stakeholder process around AMI.

Duke Energy Florida will increase its use of solar power and make improvements to the grid to enhance reliability, security and resilience in 2019. The company will invest in its Citrus Combined Cycle Natural Gas Plant and Hamilton Solar Power Plant. Duke Energy Florida broke ground on the Hamilton Solar Power Plant in Jasper, Fla., in July. The facility will generate 74.9 MWs of energy, which is enough to power more than 20,000 homes at peak production. It will be operational in December 2018.

EVs are cleaner than their gasoline-powered counterparts on a life-cycle basis, research shows. But they are not emissions-free. The total climate impact of operating an EV depends largely on the sources of electricity used to charge up the car's batteries. The U.S. electricity sector is steadily transitioning to lower-carbon energy resources. But what if the impact of dirty power plants could be reduced or eliminated immediately by fueling up EVs with renewable energy that's already available?

Facebook announced recently that it would commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent and powering global operations with 100-percent renewable energy by the end of 2020, continuing a trend of green corporate power purchases that has grown this year. Facebook has signed more than 3 GW of solar and wind contracts since its first wind power purchase in 2013, but much of the company's focus on clean energy has surfaced in the last year.

The California State Assembly passed a historic bill Tuesday to decarbonize is electricity system, putting clean energy advocates one procedural vote away from a major victory. The Senate already passed the bill last year, 25 to 13. The Assembly version now heads back to the Senate for final approval, before heading to Governor Jerry Brown's desk. The Senate has until the legislative session closes to hold the vote.