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Connecticut Inaugurates Solar Program For Homeowners - SI Staff on Tuesday 19 August 2008
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell recently announced the state's Solar Lease Program, whereby the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) provides a combination of rebates and tax credits to lower the cost of leasing solar systems.
Solana Beach, CA (PRWEB) January 9, 2009 Owning a solar power system to offset or virtually eliminate your electricity bill is not a luxury for the rich any longer. Sequoia Solar is showing individuals, families, and businesses that they too can enjoy the benefits of solar power at a fraction of the cost of what they might expect. Solar power has come a long way in the past few decades with companies like Sequoia Solar leading the charge. With the recent pass of the Federal ITC (Investment Tax Credit), a solar power system can now be custom designed and installed for up to 50% total savings, comprised of a 30% Federal Tax Credit and a 20% rebate from the State of California. Despite the recent economic downturn, solar sales are thriving.
San Diego Solar Company Has Record Breaking Month
Rice farm plugs in one megawatt of solar power | Green Tech - CNET News.com
Far West Rice Mills in Nelson, Calif., on Wednesday dedicated a one megawatt solar array that will provide three-fourths of its electricity. The array is made up of 5,500 solar panels from Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics and was installed by Pacific Power Management. The one megawatt array at Far West Rice Mills
Nanosolar touts 1 gigawatt solar cell machine | Green Tech - CNET News.com
Upstart Nanosolar says that it has built the Ferrari of solar cell manufacturing: a one gigawatt machine that prints solar cells at 100 feet per minute. In the company blog , CEO Martin Roscheisen on Wednesday said that the one gigawatt machine is a first for the solar industry, orders of magnitude more "capital efficient" than existing production techniques. Nanosolar is one of several companies betting on CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) to lower the price of solar electricity. Compared to traditional silicon, CIGS cells don't require nearly as much material. Roscheisen said that the secret to Nanosolar technology is that cells are literally printed from a liquid. From his blog:
Solar Industry: Content / New & Noteworthy / AEP Ohio Issues RFP For Renewable Energy Resources
American Electric Power's AEP Ohio operating unit has issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking long-term purchases of up to 300 MW of renewable energy resources. According to the RFP, proposals must rely on commercially proven technologies for renewable energy, including solar photovoltaic or solar thermal. The generation must be interconnected to the PJM Interconnection and operational no later than Dec. 31, 2010. A pre-bid conference call for potential bidders will be conducted June 12, with proposals to be submitted by July 15. RFP information can be found at www.aepohio.com/go/rfp . SOURCE: American Electric Power
Images: Supersize solar power | CNET News.com
Parabolic troughs, one of which is shown here, have been around for 25 years, and the technology will be around for at least another 25. Parabolic troughs reflect sunlight to heat liquid carried through a tube above the troughs. That liquid is converted to steam, which drives a traditional electricity turbine. One solar thermal power plant developer filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s.
Harnessing sunlight on the cheap
MIT students work on a new kind of solar generator that employs low-cost materials. Here they mount the frame of the concentrator (which will be mounted with mirrors) on the base near Tang Hall on Memorial Drive. Photo / Donna Coveney For a project that could be on the very cutting edge of renewable energy, this one is actually decidedly low tech--and that's the point.Chilling molecules to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, the temperature at which they can be manipulated to store and transmit data in quantum computers, has proven to be a difficult challenge for scientists. At higher temperatures, molecules rocket around, bouncing into each other and exchanging energy. Any information a scientist attempted to store in such a chaotic system would quickly become gibberish. Now,… <p style="text-align:right;color:#A8A8A8"></p>
KurzweilAI.net
An MIT researcher has found a way to significantly improve the efficiently of an important type of silicon solar cells while keeping costs about the same. The technology is being commercialized by a startup in Lexington, MA, called 1366 Technologies , which today announced its first round of funding. Venture capitalists invested $12.4 million in the company. 1366 Technologies claims that it improves the efficiency–a measure of the electricity generated from a given amount of light–of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by 27 percent compared with conventional ones. The company’s efficiency and cost claims are based on results from small solar cells (about two centimeters across) made in the lab of Emanuel Sachs , a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, who is one of the company’s founders. 1366 Technologies is building a pilot-scale manufacturing plant that will make full-sized solar cells (about 15 centimeters across).
Technology Review: More-Powerful Solar Cells
Technology Review: Solar without the Panels
Investors and utilities intent on building solar power plants are increasingly turning to solar thermal power, a comparatively low-tech alternative to photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. This month, in the latest in a string of recent deals, Spanish solar-plant developer Abengoa Solar and Phoenix-based utility Arizona Public Service announced a 280-megawatt solar thermal project in Arizona. By contrast, the world’s largest installations of photovoltaics generate only 20 megawatts of power. In a solar thermal plant, mirrors concentrate sunlight onto some type of fluid that is used, in turn, to boil water for a steam turbine.
U.S. to share solar technology with Libya? - The Sandbox - Blog on EDN - 450000245
The U.S. and the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya today signed a bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement at the U.S. Department of State, with Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky signing on behalf of the U.S., and Ahmed S. Fituri, Secretary of Americas Affairs at the General People’s Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, signing on behalf of Libya. This is the first official bilateral agreement signed between the countries since they re-established relations in 2004. While these types of agreements are inked often with various countries in the world, this one also includes sharing technology on solar – one of the key areas that I watch.Inside Bay Area - Innovalight uses nanotechnology to improve solar cells
Conrad Burke, the CEO of Innovalight, walked into a room with a small solar cell in one hand and a bottle of black liquid in the other. He's betting that liquid will revolutionize the solar panel industry and help his company grab a big share of the booming green energy market. The liquid is silicon ink, a secret nanotechnology recipe it developed that the company says lets it make solar cells that are more efficient than current models, at a lower price. "We have embarked upon ... a new frontier of silicon," said Burke, who joined Innovalight as president and chief executive in 2005. Innovalight came out of stealth mode last week.By Allison Baker, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — As the last truck pulls away and the hardhats come off, 20 solar-powered houses built by university students and associates from around the world will open to the public Friday on the National Mall. The Department of Energy challenged students in the third biennial Solar Decathlon to build their own 800-square-foot homes that offer the style and comfort consumers want and the energy efficiency the world needs. Through Oct. 20, more than 100,000 people are expected to visit the houses that students from the USA, Canada, Germany and Spain have designed, constructed, transported and rebuilt for the competition. The teams were selected by experts from the DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Solar Decathlon is shining example of American ingenuity
Ausra’s core technology is the CLFR ( Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector ). Instead of the parabolic troughs or mirrors used in other solar thermal systems, this form of CSP ( Concentrating Solar Power ) uses flat reflectors moving on a single axis plus Fresnel lens to concentrate the solar thermal energy in collectors. Flat mirrors are much cheaper to produce than parabolic ones. Another advantage of CLFR is that it allows for a greater density of reflectors in the array. David Mills originally conceived of the approach in the early 1990s while at Sydney University.