Dan DiPasquo from San Francisco, CA
Member since April 18, 2007
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In 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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del.icio.usA 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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This CNN/Business 2.0 story about residential solar PV as a home improvement project is interesting not so much as news, but perhaps as entertainment. Maybe it's late, or maybe my brain is fried from two hours of alphabetical name calling at my sister's Temple commencement ceremony tonight; but in 400 words I found myself asking "huh?" no fewer than three times.
What's starting to be good for contractors is looking sweet for homeowners too. HUH?
In California and New
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What's starting to be good for contractors is looking sweet for homeowners too. HUH?
In California and New
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Everybody points to Germany as an example of how far solar energy can go given the proper incentives from goverment. Net-metering is like putting the key in the ignition, but feed-in tariffs really seem to put the petal to the metal. Of course, in Germany the rates for, er, fed-in electricity from solar energy systems are large multiples of retail costs for electricity. Eugene, OR has established feed-in tariffs, or something akin to it, purchasing electricity from customer with solar
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At some point the city of Bentonville, AR, population 30,000, became damn near the center of the world. Bentonville is home to Wal-Mart. Today, news out of Bentonville that everyone has been (well, we have) waiting for. Wal-Mart will move forward with their pilot of solar power systems at 22 of their stores in California and Hawaii.
While Wal-Mart has been hush hush about the details until now, the names on the short list are perhaps unsurprising. PowerLight, SunEdison, and BP Solar will
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While Wal-Mart has been hush hush about the details until now, the names on the short list are perhaps unsurprising. PowerLight, SunEdison, and BP Solar will
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The early promises of a solar energy revolution largely flamed out in the 80s when Ronald Reagan shelved the tax incentives for solar energy that were estabished by Jimmy Carter. In an op-ed from Colorado, Andrew Korfhage does some good ole fashioned cheerleading for solar energy, but with a point: call your elected representatives. Securing America's Energy Independence Act of 2007 (HR 550 and S 590) is sitting in front of the House and Senate, waiting to be adopted. It is critial to
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Wineries are great candidates for solar energy generation. Usually located in places that get plenty of sun, they have lots of open space and tend to concentrate their electricity usage during the fall harvest - which means that they can take advantage of time-of-use metering. Chateau Montelena Winery, famous as the California winery that fired "the shot heard 'round the world" - that is, their California Chardonnay that in 1976 beat out French wine for the first time - has taken
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If there's one thing that so-called Big Box Stores have in abundance, it's roof space. So it's fitting slash appropriate that more of these "big box" retailers are looking placing solar PV generation systems on their robust roofts. There was last week's Kohl's Department Stores accouncement with SunEdison. Wal-Mart is ever so secretly evaluating solar energy generation. Now Target has begun to roll solar PV onto several of its California stores. A store in
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SunEdison landed a big deal today, entering engaging Kohl's Department Stores to install solar PV systems on 64 stores out of Kohl's 80 stores in California. Already in chain deals with Whole Foods and Staples, SunEdison seems to be positioning themselves for potentially explosive growth.
Well, just as quickly as Nellis AFB lays claim to the largest solar installation in North America, the government of Ontario Canada announced plans to fund an installation nearly three times the size. Details are sketchy to me, but the system will be built by a Canadian division of Hayward, California based OptiSolar. Who is OptiSolar? Well, that's not entirely clear to me either. They are an OEM but the story aludes to them playing the DOM/PPA field. But they sure do appear to be good
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It's great to see news stories about a business flipping the switch on a new solar power installation. PepsiCo is apparantly so excited about solar power that they're putting out press releases not about a rooftop installation going on-line, but about plans to begin construction this summer on a 201kW system on a Phoenix facility. I suppose being "largest business-owned, photovoltaic (PV) power system in Arizona" is newsworthy - but considering the ongoing race, it probably
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While reading an editorial on the benefits of going solar, I was struck by something mentioned nearely incidentally at the end of the article. What struck me was the realization of just how much effort/work/coordination must be tackled in order for a new industry like solar power to become mainstream. The story mentions how Joe Solar Customer in Arizona is going to save money on electricity blah blah blah... and that his property tax bill has gone up because his solar PV system has
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Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, fires up a 9.9kW installation this weekend, which should produce the electricity needed to operate the stadium's scoreboard. The Rockies claim the first "utility scale" solar PV installation in the Major Leagues; but who's to say what's utility scale: the San Francisco Giants have had a 4.5kW system since 2005, and they're developing a 120kW installation at AT&T Park that is expected to be operational while the season is
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It's kinda fun to watch for the latest "biggest" solar PV installations. Everyone can claim their own specific title, but Fresno Intl Airport is, for now at least, claiming the title for Largest System Among Airports. They're getting a 2MW system by next March 2008 - what's taking so long? They'd better watch out that someone doesn't steal that title before Fresno is even done building.
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New Jersey and California seem to be leading the charge in solar power adoption. In New Jersey, PSE&G announced that they're going to put up $100MM over two years to help finance solar installations. From the sound of it, the focus is on new construction. Not mentioned, but assumed, is that this is part of their efforts to meet renewables requirements in their electricity mix. Also not mentioned is where $100MM will come from, whether it will be passed along to all of their
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Sure is a lot going on in the solar world right now. Seems to be everywhere that I am looking. Hopefully there's an opportunity for me to make something of myself.