NREL opens data to help planners and regulators understand implications of higher wind and solar generation August 31, 2016 – A new study from the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used high-performance computing capabilities and innovative visualization tools to model, in unprecedented detail, how the power grid of the eastern United States could operationally …

Flight to the future: Solar Impulse shows we can run the world without consuming the earth Embed from Getty Images By Ulrich Spiesshofer, President and CEO, ABB Solar Impulse has made history by completing the first flight around the world in a plane powered only by energy from the sun. Its achievement is a tremendous success for clean technologies and …

  For numerous good reasons, home solar power is becoming more popular all the time, but is it right for your home? With the expense of solar panels dropping, and the cost of other energy rising, solar power can be a wise investment for your home.  It can raise the appraised value of your property, as well as hold down …

SolarWorld to supply 17.5 megawatts of solar panels for Nevada desert project Project will be built from U.S.-made components   HILLSBORO, Ore., April 12, 2015 – SolarWorld, the largest U.S. crystalline silicon solar manufacturer for more than 40 years, is supplying 17.5 megawatts of its high-efficiency 72-cell solar panels for a project that the Valley Electric Association (VEA) is undertaking …

Ruling will facilitate more rooftop solar power in California SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to retain net energy metering, preserving a critical policy for the growth of rooftop solar power.  The decision requires new solar owners to enroll on time-of-use rates, a change that will encourage Californians to take up the next wave of smart …

KYOCERA TCL Solar Completes 8.5MW Solar Power Plant on Reclaimed Island on Japan’s Largest Lake Underutilized land repurposed with solar installation to provide equivalent power for roughly 2,900 average households Kyocera Corporation (President: Goro Yamaguchi; herein “Kyocera,”) and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation (President: Shunichi Asada; herein “Century Tokyo Leasing”) announced today that Kyocera TCL Solar LLC (herein “Kyocera TCL Solar”), …

Solar Power Solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies are a global trend in building a cleaner and brighter future. It is estimated that the entire human population of the earth uses almost 117.3 terawatt hours of energy in average per year. The sun is capable of producing more energy than what is being consumed by humans by a …

Martifer Solar has connected a new solar PV rooftop plant on rooftop in San Salvador, El Salvador, which represents the company’s commitment to grow the market in Central America The PV plant was developed Martifer Solar’s local partner, DESENI and was built for one of El Salvador’s leading distribution companies, DISZASA Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has completed …

By Travis Hoium A decade ago, the solar industry was almost nonexistent in the U.S. There was a large solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert that was completed in 1984; but between then and around 2008, there was almost no solar activity in the U.S. That all changed as costs quickly dropped for solar energy, and solar panel prices …

For many states struggling to reduce their carbon emissions, solar can be a real game-changer. With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set to announce new air quality standards for coal and natural gas-fired power plants on Monday, June 2, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today released a comprehensive report, “Cutting Carbon Emissions Under §111(d): The case for expanding solar …

By Mark Jaffe Workers with Bella Energy install solar in Boulder in 2011. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post) The plan to auction rights to federal land across the West for solar power plants got off to a rocky start Thursday when no bidders showed up for the first auction in Colorado. Uncertainties about the solar market and federal rules …

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin jointly announced today having achieved a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. Surpassing competition after only over three years of research, and entering the roadmap at world class level, a new …

Low-cost solar power could supply more than a third of all energy needs in the Western U.S., if the nation can hit its targets for reducing the cost of solar energy, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.   The UC Berkeley scientists used a detailed computer model they developed of the West’s electric …

A new assessment commissioned by the Clean Energy Ministerial’s Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative finds that deploying super-efficient air conditioners could significantly reduce energy use by 2020 in selected countries, avoiding the need for more than 100 medium-sized (500-megawatt) power plants. Conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Navigant Consulting, the Cooling the Planet: Opportunities for Deployment …

The solar industry has suffered recent blows as manufacturing plants have closed and capacity has been reduced. The European crisis and the trade war between China and EU have also added themselves to the changing market. Continually falling feed-in-tariffs (FITs) have also caused some conflict. Short-term market uncertainty has made some investors wary of solar, yet, long-term predictions for the …

For the first time First Solar became the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor in 2012, with more than 500 megawatts (MW) of projects completed – an increase of 50 percent over 2011, according to a new report from IMS Research, now part of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). The report also revealed that a major shift …

Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad, and Islam’s holiest city, has plans to become the first city in Saudi Arabia to run completely on solar power. The Saudi Arabian government has said that it will invest $109 billion to establish a strong solar industry across the nation. The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy program is the jewel in …

By Michael Gorton, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Principal Solar Despite the sluggish economy, the US solar industry has seen massive growth in the past two years, creating jobs across the country, driving innovation and attracting investors. In fact, solar installations reached 742MW in the second quarter, up 45 percent over the prior quarter, and a 116-percent increase over …

California’s big solar farms have surpassed a new milestone amid the late summer heat, reaching one gigawatt of electrical generation capacity, the state’s main grid operator said Tuesday. The state’s large-scale solar fields hit a new peak in production on Friday at nearly 1.1 gigawatts, or 1.1 billion watts, according to the California Independent System Operator. That peak output, which …

How to grow a solar energy garden By Elisa Wood Getting energy from the sun is a great idea. However, installing solar panels house-by-house is slow, costly and cumbersome, and downright inefficient if the goal is to bring solar to the masses. This problem troubled Paul Spencer after he built his own uber-efficient, custom solar home near Aspen, Colorado in …