A report just released by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) indicates that the installed cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell throughout 2010 and continues to fall in the first half of 2011. According to Berkeley Labs, the average installed cost of residential and commercial […]
GM-backed Sunlogics Buys Solar Plants, Raises $6 Million
Sunlogics was relatively unknown until it lined up an investment from General Motors and a potentially lucrative deal to market solar powered electric car charging stations to Chevrolet dealers earlier this year. Now it has lined up more investors and bought the private Phoenix Solar Holdings, Sunlogics announced Tuesday…. Source: GM-backed Sunlogics Buys Solar Plants, […]
Saint-Gobain Solar Invests in New Plant, the Company's First in U.S.
VALLEY FORGE, Pa., Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Saint-Gobain announced today that construction work on Saint-Gobain Solar’s mirror line for solar thermal power stations has begun. Located in Goodyear, Ariz., (near Phoenix), the plant will be Saint-Gobain Solar’s first manufacturing facility in North America. The facility will supply primarily the domestic market and […]
Arizona schools going solar for savings
FLORENCE, AZ – Several Arizona schools are seeing the light when it comes to solar energy. Salt River Project is helping them soak up the sun and its financial benefits. Iberdrola Renewables ‘ first solar plant in the United States holds over 66,000 solar panels and sits on 144 acres of land in Florence, Arizona. […]
Water costly if Arizona goes solar
Although the vast majority of Arizona’s water resources go towards agriculture, the proliferation of solar energy power plants may change that. According to the Casa Grande Dispatch, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University has released a report titled “Watering the Sun Corridor: Managing Choices in Arizona’s Megapolitan Area” after a year […]
Solar-power plants booming in Gila Bend
It’s lunchtime in Gila Bend, but the 30 or so people lined up at Little Italy for pizza and subs aren’t the typical summer visitors passing through town on their way to San Diego or the beaches of Mexico. And with outside temps nearing 110 degrees, they aren’t the snowbirds that flock to the desert […]
Arizona utilities not the only ones getting high interest in incentives
Arizona’s major utilities, Arizona Public Service and Salt River Project, have been running out of incentives for solar like it’s a popular toy on Black Friday. There are lots of stories about early-adopting states like New Jersey having similar problems with their programs. Today, however, I heard what Florida Power and Light did. The utility is […]
US Solar Market Favors Project Developers Over Manufacturers
Developers are beating manufacturers in the U.S. solar power market. In August, two U.S. companies — Evergreen Solar Inc. and startup Spectrawatt Inc. — filed for bankruptcy protection. A third company, Germany- based Solon SE, announced it would shut down its Arizona solar-panel factory. The U.S. market for installing solar panels, however, has never been […]
First Solar dedicates Arizona site for next solar factory
Solar manufacturer First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), dedicated its new factory site in Mesa, Arizona, at a ceremony held on Friday. The Mesa factory is expected to begin producing modules by the third quarter of 2012 and will employ approximately 600 full-time associates. Tempe-based First Solar is investing just over $300 million in the four-line […]
Arizona solar markets potentially losing focus on residential and commercial solar projects
advocates are becoming increasingly concerned that commercial solar funding in Arizona will be cut or severely reduced. Specifically, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is focused on bringing in large utility scale projects while ignoring smaller commercial projects in the local area. The has set an aggressive goal of generating 15% of the stateâs electricity from renewable […]
