A Sunny Future for Utility-Scale Solar
Utility-scale solar and distributed solar both have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse emissions, and both have made great strides in the past year. Utility-scale solar, the focus Continue Reading
Wind, Solar Companies Get Boost From Tax-Credit Extension
Solar and wind companies scored a major victory when U.S. lawmakers voted to extend lucrative federal subsidies for renewable energy late Tuesday night. The tax credits for new power projects Continue Reading
Big Oil, Make Way for Big Solar. The Winners and Losers in Paris
Saving the world isn’t going to be cheap. If you sell oil, coal or old-fashioned cars, that threatens disaster. For makers of stuff like solar panels, high-tech home insulation, and Continue Reading
Israel’s 300 Days of Sun No Help as Offshore Gas Eclipses Solar
Yosef Abramowitz, the developer of the Ketura solar field. After struggling to grow citrus trees on a stretch of parched desert, Israel’s Kibbutz Ketura instead devoted the land to harvesting the country’s most abundant resource: sunshine. Yet as the kibbutzniks seek to expand their solar installations, the government is proving almost as formidable an obstacle as the scorched soil ever was. “Israel has the technology and plenty of sunshine, but the government is completely ignoring the renewables industry,” said Yosef Abramowitz, a solar energy advocate who helped found Arava Power Co., the developer of the Ketura field. With more than 300 days of sunshine per year and a world-class tech sector, Israel should be a hotbed of solar, but it has lagged behind places such as cloudy Germany and the rainy Netherlands. That’s because in recent years, geologists have discovered huge gas fields just off Israel’s coast, making the […]
U.S. residential solar capacity booming
U.S. solar industry report finds more residential use and momentum spreading across more U.S. states. Photo by Craig Russell/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) — With development spreading, the U.S. residential solar power market set a record during the second quarter with new installations, an industry report said. A report from the Solar Energy Industries Association with support from green energy market adviser GTM Research finds second quarter residential solar capacity grew 70 percent year-on-year to 473 megawatts. The report finds that 10 states have installed more than 10 MW of solar power during the second quarter, up from the four reported during second quarter 2013. The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab published a survey in August of about 80 percent of all U.S. residential and non-residential photovoltaic systems installed through 2014 and found national median installed prices declined 9 percent year-on-year for residential systems, 10 percent for small-scale, non-residential systems, […]
Germany’s E.ON eyes U.S. solar market
German energy company E.ON said it aims to expand its development across the U.S. solar power sector. File photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI DUSSELDORF, Germany, Sept. 2 (UPI) — German energy company E.ON said it was working to expand its footprint in the U.S. utility sector through its activity in large-scale solar projects. The German company said it started construction on the 20-megawatt Maricopa West solar project in southern California. With 89,000 panels, the company said it’s the second such large-scale project built by E.ON in California. In May, the state became the first in the nation with more than 5 percent of its total annual utility-scale electricity generation coming from solar power. California’s full-year 2014 solar power generation of 9.9 million megawatt hours was more than all other states combined , according to data from the federal Energy Information Administration. The German company’s first California project, the 20-megawatt Alamo […]
Sun-Drenched Miners Look to the Skies to Cut Fuel Costs in Half
The DeGrussa copper and gold mine in Australia’s sun-scorched outback is getting a solar farm, the latest example of the industry embracing clean energy. The plant will replace about 5 million liters (1.3 million gallons) of diesel a year, a fifth of the mine’s energy needs. Energy generated by the system may eventually cost about half that of diesel-generated power, according to Sandfire Resources NL, the deposit’s owner. Miners including Rio Tinto Group are installing new solar plants from Chile to South Africa, betting they’ll deliver long-term savings even as tumbling oil prices cut power costs. The global solar-power market for mining companies may grow to about $2 billion a year by 2022 from about $42 million in 2013, according to Navigant Consulting Inc. “Solar-power providers are specifically targeting mines right now and it’s about replacing diesel,” Dexter Gauntlett, a senior research analyst at Navigant said by phone from […]
Next Texas Energy Boom: Solar
FORT STOCKTON, Texas—A new energy boom is taking shape in the oil fields of west Texas, but it’s not what you think. It’s solar. Solar power has gotten so cheap to produce—and so competitively priced in the electricity market—that it is taking hold even in a state that, unlike California, doesn’t offer incentives to utilities to buy or build sun-powered generation. Pecos County, about halfway between San Antonio and El Paso and on the southern edge of the prolific Permian Basin oil field, could soon host to several large solar-energy farms responsible for about $1 billion in investments, according to state tax records. On a recent day, contractors for OCI Solar Power LLC erected posts for a solar farm that will be the size of more than 900 football fields. First Solar Inc. FSLR -5.51 % was negotiating to lease an adjacent property, its second project in the county. […]
Solar-Power Fight Hits Home in Arizona
Arizona, the epicenter of a nationwide fight between solar companies and utilities, is introducing new rules for firms that offer solar panel leases, which consumers increasingly prefer to buying the rooftop systems outright. But some solar companies call such rules unnecessary, contending that there have been few complaints. Instead, they say, the regulations are a new effort by traditional utilities to try to stop the spread of residential solar in the state. Claims about consumer protection are camouflage for opposition to solar power among utilities and some government officials, said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity Corp. SCTY 2.64 % , which has sued the state and a Phoenix-area utility over measures the company says are meant to deter customers from adopting rooftop systems. These fights, and proposals from four other Arizona utilities to change their policies in ways that would hurt the solar industry, make Arizona “the most […]