As summer sizzles solar gets into the thick of it with major new projects getting underway, a new effort to defend solar and renewables from allegations and a bigger than ever U.S. and international market making the headlines last week. Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces of news was the first project permitted for tribal lands.

The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians are the first native American tribe in the U.S. to get a project permitted on their tribal land. The 350 megawatt project is being developed by K Road Moapa Solar LLC in Clark County, Nev. The project had to get approval from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management. The project will create 400 jobs during construction, many of them Moapa Indians.

The Solar Electric Power Association discussed its “2011 Utility Solar Rankings”. The annual report, in it’s fifth iteration, showed some changing trends across the U.S. in terms of newly installed solar. California had been the largest and most notable market for solar throughout the country. But the East Coast is now encroaching on the Golden State. The report found that New Jersey and other northeast markets are becoming larger players in the industry. Solar is even making inroads into the heartlands. Utilities in Tennessee were, for the first time, among some of the top utilities named in the report. 

While all this is happening, solar still has its detractors, who claim its not affordable, that no one is investing in the technology etc. To fight back against such allegations, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) introduced a new Website, Energy Fact Check, that will react to such allegations with facts and reports from reputable organizations about and will serve as a resource for interested individuals and reporters, among others. 

Much has been made of the decline U.S.-based PV manufacturing. But last week two companies showed their faith in U.S. manufacturing. Stion is ramping up production at its CIGS (Copper indium gallium (di)selenide) thin-film facility in Hattiesburg, Miss. And it’s breaking records while doing so. The commercial line has now produced a module that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found tested at 14.8 percent aperture efficiency (13.4 percent module efficiency).

Meanwhile French company Soitec one a $25 million award from the SunShot Initiative’s SUNPATH program to build a new manfacturing facility in San Diego. The company will build its latest generation concentrating photovoltaic modules at the facility and they plan to start manufacturing the units by the end of this year. The project is expected to create 450 manufacturing positions. 

One of the coolest things about solar generators is they’re portability. Solamor Event Services, for instance has introduced its newest solar generator, which is actually a 30-kilowatt generating station with PV modules, wind turbines and a biodiesel generator. The system will help Solamor power Oregon’s What The Festival with purely renewable energy. The company will power the electronica event featuring bands like Beats Antique, Ghost Observatory, Bonobo, with a local microgrid powered by the WhisperWing, its predecessor and rented biodiesel generators. 

Patriot Solar Group introduced a take-it-with-you portable solar unit. It’s geared toward car-camping set, which people can drag behind a vehicle wherever they go. Then at camp they power up their favorite boom-boxes or other electronics without using a generator or turning their vehicle on for power.