solar pv

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 Today’s article looks at the explosive growth of renewable energy, but also places it in the context of our overall energy demands.Rapid Rise in Biofuels Production — U.S. Takes the Lead The first graphic shows the rapid rise in global biofuel production that has occurred in the past decade — led by the United States. While it...[read more]

Wind energy has become the favourite whipping boy in the renewable energy world. However, solar energy has its critics as well. Wind energy opponents are usually current or prospective neighbours of turbine installations. Solar energy naysayers are typically actual or would-be economists.[read more]

The recent plummet of the natural gas spot price to a 28-month low has stirred discussion about implications for renewable energy—the majority electrical generating component in RMI’s vision of the 2050 U.S. energy economy. Since mid-2009, it has been increasingly clear that the amount of natural gas supplied via hydraulic...[read more]

The Independent System Operator-New England, ISO-NE, administers the regional wholesale electric market. ISO-NE currently operates four Demand Response Programs designed to reduce peak demands and thus limit the adverse rate impacts of peak demands. The adverse rate impacts are due to the costs of owning and operating spinning reserve...[read more]

When the Arizona campus of the Nature Conservancy, a global charitable environmental organization, announced it was going solar, it seemed like a no-brainer. And Arizona is tops in the nation for solar insolation values.   So it was no surprise when the organization “planted” a donation of $130,000 and, through the help of a...[read more]

The Guardian has an article on Jeremey Leggett and the debate in the UK about the value of solar PV - Jeremy Leggett: caught between low carbon and high-voltage rows. A tiny doorway next to a BetFair shop in south London is the unassuming headquarters of Solarcentury, a company that arguably stands to gain most on 1 April when the feed-...[read more]

Last week saw yet another in a recent string of large PV system announcements--the latest one from PG&E with SunPower and Optisolar weighing in at 800MW! It's an exciting announcement that should largely put to rest any question about the role PV can play in utility-scale renewable generation. But what's...[read more]

A new study suggests that solar photovoltaic energy could produce one-tenth of the world’s energy needs by 2035. According to RNCOS, the main reason for the solar PV growth is the expected drop in technology prices. Of course installed capacity will grow even further once grid parity (which means that solar power is competitive...[read more]

I've got an article in the Toronto Star today about an Ottawa-based company named Menova Energy, which has what hockey fans might call a "hat trick" solar technology. The company's Power-Spar array is a concentrated solar power system (1,000 suns), a solar thermal system, and a solar lighting system (using fibre-optic redirecton) in one...[read more]

Just after yesterday’s post on photovoltaic (PV) installs in CA and NJ, I found a 43-page update from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in my inbox. The second paragraph of the executive summary tells the good news: Despite the transition to a new program, demand is robust. In the first twelve months, demand for CPUC-...[read more]

This blog previously noted that, In the absence of federal initiative, states now are leading the way in Solar Energy development. Cooler Planet via Climate Progress relays solar PV (photovoltaic) installation data from the California Energy Commission. Growth of solar photo voltaic installations has gone from only 1,675 grid connected...[read more]