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New dawn for U.S. solar power capacity

Analysis from Wood Mackenzie finds parallels between emerging solar power and the U.S. shale boom. UPI/Stephen Shaver HOUSTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) — Solar power progress in the United States is expected to advance to record levels as prices decline and technology improves, Wood Mackenzie finds. Energy consultant group Wood Mackenzie finds it’s getting cheaper to install solar power components. With this, new solar capacity has evolved from a niche renewable sector to something that’s pressuring conventional business models in the utility industry. "Just as shale extraction technologies reconfigured oil and gas markets, no other technology is closer to transforming power markets in a similar fashion than distributed and utility-scale solar," Prajit Ghosh, research director for American renewables research, said. The U.S. government is supporting solar development through its SunShot initiative, which aims to make the renewable technology competitive. The program aims to move solar power capacity from less than […]

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Wind and Solar Energy: Transforming the Grid with Clean Energy, Reliably, Every Day

Despite years of successful experience, dozens of studies, and increasing utility support for clean energy, urban myth holds that electricity from renewable energy is unreliable. Yet over 75,000 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar power have been integrated, reliably, into the nation’s electric grid to date. That’s enough electricity to supply 17.9 million homes. And, as a new NRDC fact sheet published today illustrates, the electric grid can handle much higher levels of zero-carbon wind and solar power, far more than what’s necessary to achieve the relatively modest carbon emission reductions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to limit pollution from existing power plants. But first, a little background on how our nation’s electric system works. Grid basics The nation’s high-power transmission system is made up of three largely separate grids: one on either side of the Continental Divide (roughly) and the third in Texas. The two largest […]

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The Musk Family Plan for Transforming the World’s Energy

Elon Musk, left, and Lyndon Rive at launch of SolarCity’s initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2012. Associated Press Elon Musk and his cousin, Lyndon Rive, have always been close. Their mothers are twins, and Messrs. Musk and Rive grew up together. "We’ve known each other for as long as we’ve been conscious," said Mr. Musk, speaking at a panel this week at a private conference in New York. There is an obvious, almost brotherly affection between the two men. Mr. Musk says Mr. Rive "is an awesome guy and really hardworking and driven, and you can trust him with anything." And when Mr. Rive recounts the drive to Burning Man in 2004 when Mr. Musk told him his next venture should be in solar power, Mr. Rive says that when Mr. Musk tells you what area to get into next, you get into it. Their […]

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Spontaneous Solar Combustion

The sprawling Ivanpah solar power station in the Mojave Desert probably never would have been built without environmental activists and the subsidies and mandates they created, so there’s more than a little irony that BrightSource Energy, Google and another clean-tech utility are now getting an education in the green opposition that bedevils other American businesses. Lobbies like the Sierra Club and Audubon Society are turning on solar farms for avian mass murder. Ivahpah’s solar thermal technology uses 300,000 giant computer-controlled mirrors spread over 3,500 acres to follow the sun and concentrate energy on water towers, where boiler turbines generate electricity. The problem with this $2.2 billion feat of engineering is that birds that fly into the 800 degrees Fahrenheit rays sometimes singe or catch fire in midair. Plant workers call them "streamers" after the trail of smoke that follows the carcasses to the ground after they ignite, according to […]

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More solar power slated for Virginia grid

| License Photo New rooftop installations in northern Virginia are part of a program aimed at installing 30 megawatts of solar power in the state, Dominion Virginia Power said. The utility company said it installed 3,000 solar panels on the roof of a distribution center in Sterling, Va., used by industrial real estate company Prologis, Inc. Once completed by October, the installation will generate around 800 kilowatts of power, enough to meet the annual energy demands of about 200 homes. It’s the first such installation in the area for Dominion and part of a broader effort to build 30 megawatts of rooftop solar installations for the utility company’s customers. "The partnership with Prologis will enable us to evaluate the benefits and study the impact of distributed solar generation on our electric grid," Ken Barker, vice president of customer solutions, said in a statement. The Virginia state assembly has recommended […]

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British solar plan to shift to rooftop installations

British Energy Minister Greg Barker said Friday the government wants to install solar panels on top of the more than 900 square miles of south-facing rooftops. "There is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations and we must seize the opportunity this offers to boost our economy as part of our long term economic plan," he said in a statement . Barker said the measure is part of the so-called Solar Strategy, touted as the first plan of its kind for the country’s renewable energy sector. He said the strategy envisions a shift away from large-scale solar farms to one that expands the market on top of the estimated 250,000 hectares of south-facing commercial rooftops in the country. The British government estimates there are about 2.7 gigawatts worth of solar capacity installed in the country. The Solar Strategy calls for as […]

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Solar Power More Economical Than Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear In Texas

Yeah but the seven or eight cent per is based on Today’s price for gas. Almost everyone agrees, it’s almost impossible to make money at today’s gas prices. A person can make the argument that NG prices will never go much higher (than $4.50) in which cases energy companies will simply stop drilling for gas. Or one can hope for shortages on account of low prices hoping low prices will cure low prices. Solar technology is leaping forward both on the manufacturing and efficiency angles. Even if PV price stabilizes, in 2014 dollars, in a few years either NG is No More or it’s futures price makes it better suited to make plastics and fertilizer than burning to power that wall to wall TV. Depending on region, wind, hydro, geothermal Owning too much stigma, nuclear power […]

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The $2.2 Billion Bird-Scorching Solar Project

A giant solar-power project officially opening this week in the California desert is the first of its kind, and may be among the last, in part because of growing evidence that the technology it uses is killing birds. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is scheduled to speak Thursday at an opening ceremony for the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station, which received a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee. The $2.2 billion solar farm, which spans over five square miles of federal land southwest of Las Vegas, includes three towers as tall as 40-story buildings. Nearly 350,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect sunlight onto boilers atop the towers, creating steam that drives power generators. The owners of the project— NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy Inc., the company that developed the "tower power" solar technology—call the plant a major feat of engineering that can light […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Storage Market Set To Explode

hawaii maui wind project hawaii maui wind project Energy storage is often heralded as the “holy grail” of the energy market. It seems that a number of researchers and companies have worked hard and long enough that this holy grail is ready to see the light. According to market research firm IHS, the energy storage market is set to “explode” to an annual installation size of 6 gigawatts (GW) in 2017 and over 40 GW by 2022 — from an initial base of only 0.34 GW installed in 2012 and 2013. The IHS report  pits the US as the largest market for grid-connected energy storage installations through 2017. It projects that the US will install 43% of the capacity additions from 2012–2017. Germany and Japan are projected to be other top markets, as any regular reader, long-time of CleanTechnica would surely assume. What will rule the day in the energy […]

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Initial agreement signed for mega solar project in India

A group of state-owned Indian companies have signed an initial agreement for setting up what the government says is the world’s largest solar power plant. The 4,000-megawatt plant in the northwestern state of Rajasthan would be spread across 19,000 acres. "The MOU signed today will have to get the approval of the Cabinet and then the project will move forward," Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said at the signing ceremony in New Delhi Wednesday, Press Trust of India reports. The consortium of six state-run companies includes Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, known as BHEL, and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. Construction for the first phase of 1,000 megawatts is expected to start in about three years. The plant will rely on crystalline silicon technology. The Hindu newspaper cited New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah as saying at the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple