As electric bills keep climbing, the nonprofit Solar United Neighbors (SUN) is again pooling homeowners in Greater Pittsburgh so installers can bid on many roofs at once. Organizers say that group buying power lets installers offer rooftop systems at a 15 to 20 percent discount.

Each participant still signs their own contract sized to their home. The program is open to homeowners, business owners and nonprofits in Allegheny County and its five bordering counties, and this year people can choose to buy or lease and can add battery storage or an EV charger.

SUN plans information sessions throughout October and November. WESA notes that the federal tax credit for buying residential solar expired last year, while commercial credits remain available.

Beacon of Hope, a food pantry, thrift store and laundromat in Madison County, just finished a solar-plus-battery installation that can back up essentially the whole building, including its freezers and coolers.

Its batteries store an estimated 68 kilowatt hours, enough to keep the lights on for at least a day without sunlight. BPR reports it is the first of 26 microgrids planned for Western North Carolina.

The story is a reminder that panels alone usually shut off in an outage. It is the battery that turns solar into backup power.

Pennsylvania’s Solar for Schools program awarded the Allegheny Valley School District $300,000 toward a new solar energy system at Acmetonia Elementary School.

District leaders said rising electricity costs pushed them to act, and savings will be redirected into classrooms. The array will also be folded into the K–6 science curriculum.

It is one more example of Pennsylvania institutions locking in energy costs with on-site solar.

The Q3 2026 U.S. Solar Market Insight from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie, released September 10, reports 11.4 gigawatts of solar installed in the second quarter of 2026, up 45 percent year over year.

The report also notes that installed U.S. solar capacity is now enough to power more than 50 million homes.

The quarterly report tracks every state and is one of the industry’s most-watched benchmarks.

Under the new law, New Jersey residents will be able to install portable plug-in solar devices of up to 1,200 watts without an installation permit or utility approval.

Devices must meet the National Electrical Code, the state construction code and the UL 3700 standard for plug-in PV, while units of 400 watts or less are exempt from those listing requirements.

The law also limits landlords and homeowners associations from banning the devices, as long as residents follow reasonable rules on size and placement.

The advocacy group PennFuture accuses the legislature of “policy inertia” and lays out steps to speed up clean energy, including community solar so renters and others without a suitable roof can subscribe to local arrays.

Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards currently require roughly 18 percent of utility electricity to come from renewable sources. Neighboring New Jersey required double that share last year and targets 50 percent by 2030.

Some 60 percent of Pennsylvania’s electricity comes from natural gas. Supporters argue a more diverse mix would help steady prices.

Until now, some Massachusetts homeowners were hit with last-minute interconnection charges that could run past $10,000, like one Bellingham resident who faced a $12,000 bill.

The Department of Public Utilities approved a Common System Modification fee: a predictable $225 for solar and battery projects up to 25 kilowatts, with shared upgrade costs spread across the applicants who benefit. For Eversource and National Grid customers, it covers the first $10,000 in upgrade costs.

The change takes effect this fall and drew rare support from industry, advocates and state officials alike.

New rooftop installations in North Carolina dropped by about two-thirds between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, according to North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association estimates, after the 30 percent homeowner tax credit ended.

Yet the installers that remain say sales are rising again. One sales director told Canary Media his company “just had a record month.”

The reason: leasing and battery options are making home solar pencil out in new ways.

The new law keeps Connecticut’s solar programs running through 2035 and directs regulators to design successor programs with clear cost controls.

It also supports battery storage for grid reliability and moves toward more consistent residential solar and storage permitting so projects can move faster.

The governor’s office noted that federal incentives for rooftop panels expired last year, which makes state programs more important.

Senate Bill 349, now Act 44 of 2026, sets decommissioning and financial assurance requirements for solar generation projects, phased in over time.

Third-party engineers will review projects at five-year benchmarks to estimate their value and the cost to remove them.

The bill drew support from solar trade groups and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

PJM’s auction for the 2028/2029 delivery year secured 138,318 megawatts but landed 6,831 MW short of its reliability requirement.

The price cleared at the FERC-approved cap of $325 per megawatt-day, 2.5 percent below the prior auction’s cap. PJM serves more than 67 million people across 13 states and D.C.

Capacity costs flow into retail electric bills, which is part of why Mid-Atlantic rates have been rising.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s report finds the region, including North and South Carolina, on track to nearly double its solar capacity by 2030.

Florida remains the regional leader, but the report warns that the early end of federal tax credits is dimming future utility plans.

The report also points to strong rooftop solar growth in Florida.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved what it called the country’s largest expansion of a state-run community solar program, adding 3 gigawatts.

The board also awarded 355 megawatts of battery storage and opened a second solicitation for 645 MW more, putting the state on track for 1 GW, with a 2 GW goal by 2030. NJBPU expects the three storage projects to save more than $169 million over their operations.

Solar-plus-storage projects are eligible in the new storage round.