Two years ago, before it was even built, the Macho Springs Solar Facility in New Mexico made headlines thanks to a 20-year, 5.7-cents per kilowatt-hour power purchase agreement with El Paso Electric. The 30 percent federal investment tax credit and a generous New Mexico production tax credit helped make that price possible, but another factor… Keep reading →
The growth in installed solar power capacity over the past several years is nothing short of astonishing. Decreased costs and innovative financing mechanisms, along with supportive policy at national, state and local levels has helped solar power take off. Traditional fossil-based power generation sources like coal and natural gas had a huge head start and… Keep reading →
Crescent Dunes will be generating electricity before the end of March, and SolarReserve’s south-central Nevada solar project won’t stumble out of the gate the way power-tower forerunner Ivanpah did, CEO Kevin Smith said in an interview with Breaking Energy. It would be an understatement to say there’s a lot riding on him being right. Crescent Dunes,… Keep reading →
The energy industry – oil & gas sector in particular – is bracing itself for a massive wave of retirements over the short to medium term, which has been dubbed “The Great Shift Change.” As the industry prepares for this turnover, companies are looking to the next generation of candidates with skills ranging from finance,… Keep reading →
![Agua Caliente Plant[1]](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/2/2014/04/Agua-Caliente-Plant1.jpg)
The United States has long been known for building at a scale previously never achieved: Hoover Dam was the world’s largest dam when it was completed, Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) was the world’s tallest building for decades and the Library of Congress remains the largest library in the world. Today we add another innovation… Keep reading →
At the recent staging of the Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition 2014 in Düsseldorf, Germany, more than 850 experts from politics, business and research representing 46 countries discussed the most recent worldwide developments in energy storage. At the accompanying exhibition with almost 70 stands, visitors were able to get information about the latest state-of-the-art technology and… Keep reading →
The U.S. solar industry celebrates its 40th anniversary this Friday, and there is a lot to celebrate. Costs are at an all-time low, and solar is now competitive with traditional electricity generation sources in over half of the world’s markets. We are transitioning from the hobbyist phase of Solar 1.0 into the true commercialization phase… Keep reading →
It might the hottest issue in solar, but a leading analyst says not to worry – for now, at least. We’re talking about the debate over net metering – NEM, for net energy metering, by the industry’s nomenclature. Utilities have been pushing back against NEM policies that often reward solar power system owners at the… Keep reading →
Fifty cents a watt? Wow. That’s the module cost claim for utility-scale installations that Cogenra is making with its new T14 PV system. The emphasis on the system’s ability to deliver low-cost benefits with low-concentration photovoltaics is a bit of a shift for Cogenra, which had long sold itself as uniquely able to combine PV and… Keep reading →
From insomnia to an off-grid power system; Hurricane Sandy relief; modern art; doctoral degrees and community clean energy projects; these engineers are tackling some of today’s pressing energy challenges. Rob van Haaren and his friend Garrett Fitzgerald, Columbia University engineering students, became unexpected heroes in post-Sandy Far Rockaway, Queens, NY when they brought solar-generated electricity… Keep reading →
