The U.S. Bureau of Land Management this week released an updated list of projects it's hoping to fast-track for development. Arizona got one, and a California facility being built by First Solar Inc. also made the list.
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Arizona made great strides in 2010, taking fourth place for deployment of photovoltaic installations, according to a study by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research.
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The Bureau of Land Management is keeping open the public comment period on its solar plan for an extra 30 days. Comments for the draft solar programmatic environmental impact statement will be accepted until April 16.
Kyocera and SolarCity have completed the installation of two solar electric systems in partnership at Phoenix area schools: Copper Ridge in Scottsdale and Cholla Elementary in Casa Grande.
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Can the collaborative-development model made famous by websites like Wikipedia also help to standardize and simplify solar power purchase agreements (PPAs)? San Mateo, Calif.-based Tioga Energy Inc. says it has taken a critical first step toward open, accessible PPAs by making its SurePath PPA available to the public and fellow industry members.
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It is official: China is now the world's largest consumer of energy. And its twelfth five-year plan will set annual GDP growth at 7.0% for the next five years. The plan also outlines a tectonic shift in the structure of the Chinese economy away from export-oriented manufacturing in the face of unstable external demand, towards a service-based economy with more domestic consumption.
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Southwest Solar Technologies of Phoenix, AZ has announced the commissioning of North America's biggest commercial solar dish, one of the largest concentrated photovoltaic solar (CSP) thermal dish collectors in the world.
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Gestamp Renewables will set up shop in Surprise in a new building designed to build steel for large solar projects around the state and the Southwest. The project, announced Tuesday afternoon, will employ 50 people in the project's first phase of 75,000 square feet.
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This month, El Chorro Lodge became the first restaurant in Arizona to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design Gold Certification.
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Scottsdale building and planning officials drafted a policy for solar-panel permit requirements last week that, if implemented, would override the more stringent regulations the city adopted in January. The move was largely in response to backlash from some solar installation companies, who said the regulations imposed unnecessary fees and delays on residential solar-panel projects in Scottsdale that could otherwise be spent on saving energy.
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Arizona Diamondback fans will get a lesson in solar electricity on their way to games this summer under a $1 million solar shade Arizona Public Service Co. is building at the west entrance to Chase Field.
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Arizona Public Service Co. will have a few more changes in its 2011 renewable energy standards plan after the Arizona Corporation Commission altered it Friday. The ACC approved changes that would allow lower incentive rates for solar panels, and removed a proposed feed-in tariff pilot program, among the several changes.
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These "doctors" are hoping their "patients" start to look a little green. The House Energy Doctor program, started in 1986, is a course where graduate architecture students prescribe how buildings can save more energy. This semester, the UA Office of Sustainability suggested the students target the UA campus.
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Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated a solar cell that can respond to virtually the entire solar spectrum and can be made using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.
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Paying solar owners cold hard cash to supply clean power to the grid has proved to be the best way to get more people to actually do it. Two mechanisms for getting instant cash back are SRECs - Solar Renewable Energy Credits and FITs - Feed-in Tariffs.
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Global Solar Energy Inc. set out 15 years ago to invent a flexible solar power panel for soldiers. Since accomplishing that mission, Global Solar - which operates Arizona's only manufacturing plant for thin-film photovoltaic cells - has had to reinvent itself to adapt to a rapidly changing market.
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NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) just announced that the 290-megawatt Agua Caliente solar project has received an offer of a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $967 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. NRG's acquisition of the project from First Solar was announced last month and has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
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Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has unveiled a new 1.6 MW PV project and will offer a new program for its customers that allows them to buy the array's solar energy directly from TEP.
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