The demand for this material, also used to make the likes of telephones, wristwatches, and stereos, is clearly rising. About a third of the polysilicon currently produced goes to the solar industry. With the demand for solar higher than ever, it's no surprise that manufacturing companies are on the up and up, often selling out of their product before production is complete.
To keep up with the public's needs, there's an influx in the manufacturing sector, and experts foresee the
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del.icio.usIn an example that illustrates the number and complexity of the challenges facing solar power - and the larger movement towards clean and green energy and products - a lawsuit pitting two seemingly eco-conscious families against one another has been (tentatively) settled in Sunnyvale, CA. The dispute centers around a residential solar PV system and a strand of redwood trees that had grown tall enough to shade it. How you weigh the merits of localized, clean energy generation by solar PV
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What's one of the biggest obstacles to going solar? High upfront costs. However, power purchase agreements are rising in popularity, and they help put an end to that initial sticker shock. They work when a company such as Sun Run in Silicon Valley supplies, owns, and maintains your solar panels. In exchange, you will pay for the electricity the panels generate, usually at a lower cost than what the utilities charge. Utilities, though, are getting in on power purchase agreements, too,
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What does it take to effectively invest in clean energy? Investment analyst Richard Asplund attempts an answer in his report, "Profiting from Clean Energy: A Complete Guide to Trading Green in Solar, Wind, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Carbon Credit Industries, and More." The report identifies more than 150 clean energy stocks, with guidance on where to invest and when, as well as which stocks to avoid altogether. A portfolio of investment techniques are also discussed, from stocks, ETFs, and
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If you've ever gone on a road trip you know: highways line the country like a network of veins. Moreover, it can get hot on the road, hot enough to give you sunburn, even when you're sheltered in the safe interior of your car. Well, solar geeks are utilizing this information for the good of the world. By replacing tarmac with durable PV solar collectors, we could potentially transform our freeway system into the lifeblood of our country's electrical power. At least, that's the
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Amid all the attention on increasing solar cell diversity, there's now focus on increasing solar cell durability. One method is through a special coating, one that turns UV photons into visible light with longer wavelengths. This coating has two-fold benefits, increasing both efficiency and longevity. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles say the coating could add years to cells' lifespans. This boost is important to solar cells, which decrease in efficiency with
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Science Daily reported a new solar record today. It was set by Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES), whose solar dish achieved 31.25 percent efficiency for solar-to-grid conversion. This is just short of 2 percent higher than the 1984 record of 29.4 percent, but according to SES President, 2 percent higher is potentially enough to affordably commercialize this type of system.
In fact, SES has already signed two power purchase agreements with two major utility
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In fact, SES has already signed two power purchase agreements with two major utility
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Skylights are evolving, in ways intended to bring heat and light from the sun as far indoors as possible. One of the newest methods uses highly reflective mirrors that never stop moving in pursuit of the sun. This solar tracking skylight requires no external power. The mirrors hang from a shielded control box powered by a photocell. They are able to generate 4 times the indoor light levels and in the summer, reduce heat gain by 20 percent.
Solar tubular skylights function the same way, without
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Solar tubular skylights function the same way, without
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A public power group in Northern California is planning to polish up the clean/green creds of one of California's biggest renewable energy plants, The Geysers geothermal energy plant. The group will install a 1MW solar PV system that will provide power for the pumps used to replinish the water levels/pressure of the geothermal resource. It's a great example of closing the loop on clean energy production, one that we hope to see more of. Clean energy systems still require a lot of
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I can't but echo the sentiments of Merc reporter Vindu Goel: not bad for government work. A Berkeley, CA official has moved through the city council a proposal to finance residential and commercial solar energy and efficiency projects through low-interest municipal bonds, with the cost of the system paid back to the city through a tax assessment tied to the property. Brilliant in its simplicity, the idea overcomes one of the major hurdles of residential systems, which is homeowners'
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The Internets were originally funded by the government as a national defense project. The idea was to build a communications network that was resiliant to attack or disaster. With an an initial boost from the Pentagon, the Internets have of course become a self-sustaining infrastructure that no longer requires government funding. So why hasn't the US government looked at our nation's dependence on centralized power as a similar security risk? With a little initial boost, solar power
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The New York Times takes a cursory look at the state of interest in solar power, noting that solar power has captured the public imagination, but so far failed to capture much by way of significant technology advancements. The story itself, however, seems a bit lacking in imagination, at various points concluding that "there is limited encouragement to take up the challenge" and "[solar power] is not an arena where private energy companies are likely to make the
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Yes, they're expensive. But who imagined that solar PV panels would start to disappear en masse from roof-top installations? The gray market for PV panels can't be very large. Hot solar panels could readily be discovered were the owner to file for utility interconnect. Plus stolen panels are worthless without expensive and less portable inverters and/or battery systems . Yet, in Sonoma County, CA, a couple dozen solar panels were stolen from a new 1MW
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It's widely understood that Germany jumped to the front of the line in solar power deployments by using aggresive feed-in tariffs to promote solar investment. Rates paid for solar electricity are substantially higher than retail electricity rates - not surprisingly, German energy producers and consumers alike responded with unprecedented new investment in solar power systems. Now, in large part due to their success, Germany is reducing the feed-in rates paid for solar electricity. Euros
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I'm not sure if this is news... it's actually news about upcoming news... but the news-news is that SolarCity is launching a proprietary remote monitoring system for their solar PV installations. We've been wondering exactly what sort of competitive position Fat Spaniel etc. will stake out, especially as remote monitoring functionality potentially gets integrated directly into the inverter by more manufacturers. Here's an installer - albeit a fast growing one - who's
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Add Macy's to the quickly the growing list of retailers who are making a significant deployment of solar energy systems on some of their California stores. This list includes Whole Foods, Staples, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart, who are all pursuing solar energy service arrangements by which they purchase electricity from a solar generation system located on their roof but owned by someone else. In this case, SunPower/PowerLight will build 26 systems, sell 15 of them outright to Macy's, and
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Federal tax credits are an important tool in making solar PV systems economically viable. For a long time these tax credits have been on-again off-again, never with long term guarantee of their availability. The current congress hopes to do something about that - extending the tax credits to 2017 - but Forbes has a short article on the subject with a kicker that shouldn't be missed. Not to spoil the ending, but the irony is that Democrats own "pay as you go" rules, introduced
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Inverter manufacturer PV Powered announced a plug-in module for their inverter line that provides remote solar PV system monitoring. I've been wondering how long it would take for an inverter manufacturer to build in some of the remote monitoring features for which solar installers and customers are dependent upon third party vendors like Fat Spaniel. I must imagine that SunnyBoy, Xantrex, etc. won't be far behind in providing integrated remote monitoring for their products. Fat
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From the recent annoucement that Canada will play host to North America's largest solar PV installation (so far), to Canadian government studies about the potential PV, to the Canadian press, we keep hearing a lot of cheerleading for solar power from up north.
OK, so advanced technology development - CHECK - low cost manufacturing in China - CHECK - ok so that's everything we need for costs to drop 40% in a couple years? If solar power has actually achieved economic parity in
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OK, so advanced technology development - CHECK - low cost manufacturing in China - CHECK - ok so that's everything we need for costs to drop 40% in a couple years? If solar power has actually achieved economic parity in
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