Rise & Shine: February 23, 2009
The Rise & Shine is your daily source for all solar-industry news. Brought to you by Sweet Solar Home and the Experts at SunRun.
CALIFORNIA NEWS
A Solar-Buying Club Sets Sights on Los Angeles
Now 1 Block off the Grid is expanding its reach to SoCal. According to Llorens, the group is currently selecting its first installer and gathering participants, with the goal of getting its first L.A. home evaluation completed by the end of the month.
Virgance Gets Funding, Deal to Install Solar for Businesses
Virgance, a San Francisco startup with multiple business lines all focusing on social activism, has scored $750,000 in seed funding and is also unveiling a new deal that should help it install more solar panels on roofs around the Bay Area.
Winery’s Solar tracking System Makes for a Greener Tipple
Wine aficionados searching for a sustainable beverage need to look no further than J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines, that unveiled the wine industry’s largest solar tracking array this week.
Meltdown 101: Will the Sun Soon Power Our Homes
After 30 years of trying to squeeze electricity from sunlight, the solar energy industry is finally gaining some traction in its effort to compete with fossil fuels.
Solar Power Parking Meters to be Tested in SD
The city will replace some of its parking meters with a new, solar-powered model.
Solar Power? Healthy Local Industries? We Say Yes to Both but no to March 3 City Measures That Change Our Charter
While the ideas behind them have merit, the mechanism for accomplishing those two goals doesn’t.
Solar Perplexus: Charter Amendment B: Opinion L.A.
A summary of opinions on Measure B.
SunWize Builds 26kW Residential Thin Film System in California
SunWize Systems has completed a 24.6-kilowatt (kW) ground-mounted photovoltaic system at the David Page residence in Sky Valley, California.
Palmdale Airport Land May Become a Solar Farm
Proposal could give L.A. a major source of renewable energy, but would face obstacles.
NATIONAL NEWS
City Considers Solar
In keeping with its resolution to go green by 2020, Leon Valley recently explored the idea of powering its municipal buildings with solar energy.
Acquiring Land, Financing Tough for Solar Firms
Arizona’s race to become a solar industry mecca is facing hurdles exporting power outside the state.
Gainesville Grows Solar Power With Tariff Payment to Homes
Starting March 1, Gainesville Regional Utilities customers can get 32 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced over the next 20 years. The utility can add a maximum of 4 megawatts worth of solar installation per year.
10 Questions About Solar Revolution: Impress Your Friends
Here are some questions and answers about solar energy as a source of electricity.
Solar Energy Could be Big Business
With more than 300 days of sunshine a year, El Paso would seem to be a prime location for the solar industry if the Texas Legislature succeeds in attracting more investment in the state.
Bela Flor Teams Up with SolarCity to Offer Five years of Free Solar Power to New Home Lot Buyers
Bela Flor and SolarCity®, a national leader in solar power system design, financing, installation, monitoring and related services, are teaming up to offer five years of free electricity to buyers of the next ten Bela Flor custom home lots.
Solar Prices Drop, Deeper Discounts Expected
As many industry insiders have predicted, solar-equipment prices are indeed falling as supplies are growing faster than the demand in a bear economy.
Buy America in Stimulus (but Good Luck with That)
Most of the nation’s solar panels and wind turbines are imported, mainly from Europe and Asia.
Solar Installers See Shade as PV, Survey Shows
Most installers of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems (54 percent) believe no amount of shading is acceptable on residential and commercial rooftop solar installations, a new survey shows.
Colorado Inkjet Systems Manufacturer Enters Solar Market
Addressing the global need for efficient, economic renewable energy, imaging Technology international (iTi) Corporation today announced iTi Solar, an equipment manufacturing division established to advance the development of precision industrial inkjet systems that enable solar cell producers to improve production efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs.
UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
Knowledge Cust Power New Way to Monitor Energy Use
Lucid Design Group in Oakland announced a software dashboard that lets companies see immediately how much electricity is being consumed in their buildings.
Utility to Boost Net Metering Credit in Utah
Rocky Mountain Power will boost the billing credit for households and small businesses that generate some of their own power from solar panels and other means.
Cali Regulators Hail End of Startup Phase for Clean Energy Projects
California’s aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard program has finally started to put a dent in the state power grid, more than six years since its launch.
FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
SunRun Talks About Tough Times in Solar Financing
The problem isn’t with manufacturers, though; the world, it seems, it awash in solar panels. The choke-point is development and installation of solar facilities, where there’s not enough financing to pay for panels, even discount ones.
Florida Groups Support New US $114 Renewables Fund
Three renewable energy groups, the Florida Renewable Energy Association, Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy and the Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association last week announced their support for a clean energy fund to help solve the crisis in funding the state’s renewable energy programs.
Three Solar and Wind Companies That Still Look Good
Each has what might be considered a captive revenue stream that is helping protect it from the economic downturn.
MARKETS & MARKET RESEARCH
Solar Market: Dip in 2009, Rise in 2011
The global solar market will shrink this year and system costs will decline, priming the market for growth by 2011 when solar power reaches a major milestone in pricing, according to a report released Wednesday.
TECHNOLOGY
New Solar Cells You Can Bank On
The breakthrough, conceived by the CSIRO, has the potential to enable mass production of solar sheeting at a far lower cost than traditional silicon-based cells.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
SunPower to Build 2.2MW Solar Power Plant in Italy
SunPower has announced that it has signed an agreement with Sunshire to design and build a 2.2-megawatt solar electric power plant in Tolentino, Italy.
Green Light for NZs First Solar City Pilot
Developers of Nelson Solar City have announced the next stage of their project with the launch of a pilot scheme involving 25 homes and businesses.
Kyocera Breaks Ground on New Solar Module Plant in China
Kyocera announced the construction of a new solar module manufacturing plant in Tianjin City, China in order to expand production capacity.
Australia’s Largest Roof Top PV System Goes into Operation
SunPower Corporation has completed construction on a 305-kilowatt solar power system atop the roof of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Invest North Pty Ltd. is the owner of the project, which is the largest roof-mounted solar power system in Australia.
Spain Kicks Off New Solar Feed-in Tariffs
The government has created a register of projects that can receive the lucrative solar-electric rates for feeding electricity to the grid, a move that is a month behind schedule and has caused project delays.
Ericsson, Orange Sending Solar Powered Cell Coverage to Africa
Orange Guinea Conakry and Ericcson announced last week, a plan to send over 100 solar-powered radio base stations to countries including Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Reunion and Senegal. Over 1000 stations will be deployed by the end of the year.
Thin Film Silicon Mass Production Ahead of Schedule
Oerlikon Solar and Sun Well Solar, a subsidiary of CMC Magnetics, announced today that the ramp-up of the 40 MW amorphous thin film silicon production line has been completed one month ahead of schedule.
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Going GREEN! is so awsome, and so easy, and so affordable why are we all not doing this more. Come on people!