If you're planning on flying into Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona in the next year, you may notice a new facility rising just south of the airport, the focal point of which-a 75 foot diameter concentrating solar dish-will actually be visible to commuters as they cross the Salt River along Interstate 10.
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Salt River Project will be examining its green energy portfolio and soliciting public input on potential changes. SRP, the state's second largest utility, has set goals of having 15 percent of its power provided by sustainable sources by 2025. It is planning public workshops March 3 and 21 as well as April 1 at its PERA Club in Tempe.
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In a paper called "A solar economy in the American Southwest: Critical next steps," ASU professors Martin J. Pasqualetti and Susan Haag examine what is needed in order to advance Arizona's solar industry, with a focus on education.
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With Arizona's abundant sunshine (and heat!), one might wonder why all our rooftops aren't covered with solar panels. But until recently, people were changing addresses as often as their clothes, making the outlay impractical. A newly formed solar co-op hopes to organize a group-buy to make access to solar easier.
Aided by at least $43 million in assistance from the government of Massachusetts and an innovative solar energy technology, Evergreen Solar emerged in the last three years as the third-largest maker of solar panels in the United States.
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EnviroMission has secured $29.8 million in debt and equity from AGS Capital Group. According to a press release, the debt/equity agreement "will provide EnviroMission with the ability to place EnviroMission securities with AGS Capital Group on an as-required basis or at intervals when market conditions support a debt/equity transaction."
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Arizona has an extraordinary opportunity to lead the nation in clean electricity production, if there is widespread support for a shared vision and strong leadership to put it in place. A recent study by Mathew Croucher of Arizona State University's Business School contains a list of states that would reap the greatest benefit from deploying solar energy for their own consumption and exporting to other states. Arizona tops that list.
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The European Union's (EU) 27 countries will exceed their target of meeting 20% of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020, according to an analysis from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
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As Jerry Brown (D) retook the reigns of California, and Jan Brewer (R) won her first election to the governorship of Arizona, both made clear in their inaugural addresses that renewables like solar and wind are imperative to both states.
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With the growth in the number of plants being built and the increasing cost competitiveness, 2011 looks like solar energy could start to come into its own in the U.S. Even with the entrance of a Republican-controlled Congress, some see a reasonably bright future for solar in the U.S...
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Despite the slow economy, it's been an eventful year on the local renewable energy front. In part, that momentum has been driven by state mandates and federal tax credits. But those jumpstarts have been accompanied by some creative approaches that will pay off in the future as the cost of carbon-based fuels continues to climb.
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Casa Grande elementary schools looked like energy gluttons compared to other U.S. schools in 2008. The average on the Energy Star rating scale, which runs from 1 to 100, was 50. Casa Grande Elementary District schools averaged 7.58. Cactus Middle School and Saguaro Elementary School each scored a 1. The more energy efficient the school, the higher the number .By Oct. 7 of this year, the average of the district's schools was slightly better than the national average at 50.42.
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For Sara Ruto, the desperate yearning for electricity began last year with the purchase of her first cellphone, a lifeline for receiving small money transfers, contacting relatives in the city or checking chicken prices at the nearest market. But charging the phone was no simple matter in this farming village far from Kenya's electric grid. Thanks to a solar panel, Sara Ruto no longer takes a three-hour taxi ride to a town with electricity to recharge her cellphone.
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Chino Valley Mayor Jim Bunker recognized Arizona State University professors Govindasamy "Mani" Tamizhmani and James Subach with Notices of Commendation at a Town Hall meeting in November for their contribution to the town's acquisition of solar panels. Both are professors in the College of Technology and Innovation at ASU's Polytechnic campus.
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Roger Angel, an internationally celebrated US researcher in the field of solar energy and optics, has been awarded a USD$1 million grant by the Science Foundation of Arizona (SFAz) to continue his pioneering work on concentrating solar power using an "energy telescope."
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Abengoa Solar has finalized a $1.45 billion federal loan guarantee to keep its large solar power plant near Gila Bend moving forward. The company announced Tuesday it had completed work on the guarantee, which was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy in July for the 280-megawatt Solana Generating Station concentrated solar power project.
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The latest report from the American Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), in conjunction with GTM Research, looks at the latest growth figures of the entire solar industry across the US and should make for sunny reading for installers and manufacturers of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in that country.
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Six states in the western United States were identified by the federal government as potential solar energy zones, two Cabinet officials announced. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said an environmental analysis identified public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah as suitable for utility-scale solar energy projects.
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(Prescott, AZ) Two new joint projects between SunEdison and Arizona Public Service (APS) are turning the tri-city area into a hotspot for renewable energy. SunEdison and the utility announced plans Friday morning during a press conference at the Hassayampa Inn to bring two solar farms with thousands of photovoltaic panels to the community beginning next year.
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The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) has released a new report today, The Intersection of Net Metering and Retail Choice: an overview of policy, practice and issues, detailing the methodologies states use to accomplish 'net metering' in competitive electricity markets.
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