The Blythe Solar Project in the Mojave Desert is in a legal battle over tortoises. What is slated to be the largest solar array in North America has been held up for months by the presence of four tortoises that happen to live somewhere on the six thousand acres chosen for the installation. Environmentalists have been having a field day with it, late night comedians are poking fun at it, and the solution to the problem was finally approved this week. They are moving the tortoises. It’s a good thing some of the best and brightest minds in renewable energy are working on that job. (more…)

The European Union has a target goal of twenty percent renewable energy by 2020. In a report released this week it appears that they will need investment in wind and solar projects to double in 2011 if they have a realistic shot at attaining that goal. In 2009, thirty five billion Euros were spent by governments and private investors to bring renewable energy to Europe. In 2010, that number went up a bit, but it needs to be seventy billion a year by the middle of the decade. (more…)

Here’s the plan. If we install four million 5 MW wind turbines, 1.7 billion 3 kW roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems, and around 90,000 300 MW solar power plants, the world will be completely fueled by renewable energy. Fossil fuels, coal, and nuclear would become a thing of the past. According to a study done at UC Berkeley, that’s exactly what it would take, and it’s economically and technologically possible. It’s also a permanent solution, the kind that will never need to be modified. (more…)

The debate continues and much of it is political rhetoric and posturing. Does the SREC system work? The numbers released for 2010 show a system that is still in its infancy that may or may not be the best way to handle the distribution of profits on electricity generated by residential and commercial solar panels. There are currently 7,700 solar generators in SREC states and only twenty of them produce more than one megawatt. Of those, only two are over ten megawatts, a 10MW facility in Illinois and a 12 MW plant in Ohio. By comparison, the Blythe Project in California, which is not an SREC state, will be producing 1.25 Gigawatts of power by the end of the year.

Some would say that’s comparing apples to oranges, but the complexities of the SREC system might be the greatest obstacle to its success. In order to cash in, generators of solar electricity need to hit a certain level of production before they’re eligible to do anything with their certificates. The State of New Jersey, where the SREC program originated, has a total solar capacity of 145 MW and a minimum SREC requirement of 260 MW for 2011. The requirements were put in place to encourage growth in the solar industry, but they are going up faster than solar installations are.

Why do states without SREC offer a better opportunity for solar development? Some of it is climate. The Mojave Desert is certainly one of the best venues for commercial solar installers to place PV panels. Another reason is the installation incentives offered by the state legislatures. The SREC program was put into effect in New Jersey when the state ran out of money to invest in renewable energy. Tax rebates were taking their toll and grants were out of the questions. SREC was the supposed solution.

In the UK, a system called FIT (feed-in tariffs) is being used as incentive for solar development. During the first six months of feed-in tariffs, over eleven thousand generators have registered for the tariff, marking the largest surge in solar photovoltaic installations to date. With 11,352 renewable systems now installed, it suggests that the scheme has been more successful than predicted, with enough output to power thirty five thousand homes. Feed-in tariffs work by offering fixed, premium rates for both the energy generated from renewable systems (which is then fed-back into the grid), and the energy used. So far, it’s proving to be more effective than the SREC system.

The country that seemed to be done with renewable energy, after a battle over a failed FIT program, managed to generate three percent of their electricity from solar systems in 2010. The preliminary report on 2010 says that solar energy produced 6.9 TWh last year from 4,000 MW of generating capacity, mostly solar photovoltaics. In addition to that, they also produced 43 TWh from wind turbines (16.4% of supply) and 38 TWh from hydro plants. Those are some pretty impressive numbers from a country that has been under fire for problems in their renewable energy program. (more…)

At the Treasure Valley Energy Summit held this past weekend in Ontario, industry insiders predicted eight thousand new US solar jobs in the near future. Of these, two hundred twenty five are expected to be in Oregon and five hundred in Nevada. California, Colorado, and Massachusetts are all expected to see significantly more. Also near the top of the list are New Jersey and Arizona, where unemployment rates and foreclosure numbers are some of the highest in the country. (more…)

If you think you have it bad, how would you feel about a $24,000 electric bill? That’s what New Hampshire’s Flying Goose Brew Pub and Grille was facing this year before they decided to switch to solar. Opting to spend now and save later, owner Tom Mills called a local commercial solar installer and placed an order for one hundred twenty six solar panels that will power his entire business. The move will save him significantly on his electric bills over the next few decades. (more…)

As the push for renewable energy reaches Main Street America, businesses from around the country are wondering about the financial and practical benefits. Is solar more affordable? Are there advantages to being self-sustaining or do you lose the security of being connected to an existing infrastructure? These are two of the most common questions that our customers ask us when they first investigate the possibility of installing commercial solar panels. What they basically want to know is whether or not it’s a sound business decision. You can judge for yourself. (more…)

Remember those communicators used by Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek? They looked an awful lot like the cell phones of today, don’t they? At least, they did up until a few years ago. Today’s “mobile devices” go beyond even what science fiction authors of the last half century imagined. So does the internet, weapons technology, and photovoltaic applications. Is it really possible to build roads that have a self-contained PV power supply? According to the research department at University of Rhode Island, it is. The technology is there and it’s affordable enough to make PV roadways practical. (more…)

End of the year industry reports showed that the United States wind market declined in 2010, with only five gigawatts of power installed nationwide, half of what was put in the ground last year. Meanwhile, the solar industry got a big boost in the form of a ban prohibiting the military from purchasing commercial solar panels from countries that don’t buy American. The WTO Government Procurement Agreement blocks the Department of Defense from buying solar panels from China, a country that has not signed the agreement, and the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels. (more…)