Arizona Solar Center Blog

Gary Dirks, director of Arizona State University's LightWorks project, is featured in this PBS Special "The Energy of Innovation" - part of a segment called Planet Forward. Dirks is one of seven finalists of innovators working to improve how we generate or use energy.

Home buyers will pay for solar, a new study from Lawrence Berkeley Lab says, but the incentives are important to make it economical.

A few days before Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the country's top corporate buyers of "green" power - solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and small-scale hydroelectric. Many of the companies have a strong presence in Arizona.

The 1 GW Blythe concentrating solar power (CSP) project, which is slated to be the world's largest solar facility when completed, has added another superlative to its credentials: On Tuesday, the project's developer, Solar Trust of America, was awarded the industry's largest-ever loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office.

Now that California's new, enhanced renewable portfolio standard (RPS) has been signed into law, where will California's utilities find the in-state renewable energy they need in order to meet requirements?

IT LOOKS like a planetary tattoo designed to be seen from space, a vast set of concentric circles inscribed in the skin of southern California's desert. Ground was broken on the Ivanpah power plant, which is to be one of the biggest solar installations in the world, last October.

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Stay-at-home mom Angie Gorkoff regularly roasts meats and vegetables in a solar oven to feed her family of five...

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The Arizona Court of Appeals this week upheld the Arizona Corporation Commission's ability to set a state renewable energy standard, and to set tariffs to fund solar energy systems.

Salt River Project is looking at expanding its renewable energy and conservation standards to 20 percent or more by 2020, but solar businesses say it's not enough.

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Suntech Power (STP) has been donating solar power on a small scale to schools, community centers and even a base at the bottom of Mt Everest in Tibet for many years. Yesterday they announced a larger scale 10MW solar project in Chek Kang village.

Salt River Project customers overwhelmingly support alternative energy, especially solar, but most don't want to pay more than about $57 a year for it, according to a recent survey. The utility surveyed 423 customers last month to gauge their support for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

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Sempra Generation has opened a Nevada solar photovoltaic plant that it says is the country's largest. Nevada governor Brian Sandoval was on hand to help dedicate the 48 MW Copper Mountain Solar plant, located adjacent to Sempra Generation's 10 MW El Dorado Solar installation on 380 acres in Boulder City, Nev., about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

First Solar Inc.'s Mesa plant represents a $300 million investment and 600 jobs for the Phoenix area.
Construction will begin in the second quarter and be complete a year later with the first shipments beginning in third-quarter 2012, officials from the Tempe company announced Thursday morning.

There's a growing movement on 4th Avenue designed to shine new light on solar power. Two businesses have become among the first in Southern Arizona to be powered 100% by solar energy.

As Tim Nilsen steps into one of his barns outside Sacramento, Calif., hundreds of turkeys snap to attention. Turkeys are the name of the game at Nilsen Farms. But his property is also serving up something else - solar energy for about 750 homes in the community.

There are about 500 openings for Valley residents to receive free training and certification to help them find jobs in the renewable-energy industry, which economic experts believe is expanding in Arizona. Three agencies in central Arizona received about half of a $6 million federal grant the state was awarded to run the State Energy Sector Partnership program.