No, the idea isn’t to power commercial air travel with photovoltaic solar – that’s being left that to super-lightweight, experimental efforts like Solar Impulse. Nevertheless, a French collaboration this week plans to unveil a new way of bringing solar power to aircraft, with a photovoltaic window. The pitch is that it can automatically adjust the… Keep reading →
The death of the traditional utility business model has been highly exaggerated, to butcher the Mark Twain quote. But that doesn’t mean change won’t happen, and when it does, those companies with a strong ‘ecosystem of innovation’ will be faster to pivot and more likely to survive. The drumbeat of warnings has grown louder that… Keep reading →
Many assume that it’s cheap labor that gives Chinese companies an edge at producing solar panels that cost less than those that come out of Europe or the United States. But a new study says uh-uh. Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and MIT said a bottom-up cost model they developed shows that a plant… Keep reading →
It’s no longer, if, but rather when. In study released in late July 2013, DB’s US-based Vishal Shah estimates that three-quarters of the world’s solar market will be “sustainable” within 18 months, meaning they can operate with little or no subsidy. In 2 years, he reckons, the market will have flipped from one being largely… Keep reading →
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz gave a speech at Columbia University yesterday, in which he highlighted the multiple facets of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. And he stressed the progress on one of the plan’s main priorities – lowering the cost of alternative forms of energy – has made tremendous strides in the past few years.… Keep reading →
The steady upward march of oil prices over time is putting increasing pressure on remote communities in Alaska that rely on diesel-fueled generators for much of their power supply, but displacing diesel with other electricity sources, such as renewables, is often an even higher-cost option. Alaska’s rural communities pay some of the highest prices for… Keep reading →
State level regulators, like politicians, read the newspaper headlines, notice what is in their in-box and have a good sense of what their constituents like and dislike. This, more than anything else, explains why they seem reluctant to modify or nullify prevailing net energy metering (NEM) laws even when they realize that the status quo may be unsustainable… Keep reading →
Even the Tea Party is pushing back on the conservative political group’s claims. A curious thing happened in Georgia this month. As the state’s public service commission was considering a proposal for 525 megawatts of solar PV — a program fiercely opposed by Georgia Power — an unlikely alliance formed to support more solar. The… Keep reading →
New large-scale solar projects earmarked for funding under the NY-Sun initiative will potentially increase New York’s solar capacity by 64 MW, bringing the state to the forefront of solar energy development. On July 9, 2013, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $54 million in funding for large-scale solar projects having a combined capacity of… Keep reading →
For many years, Hawaii has been home to one of the strongest solar PV markets in the US. The state has offered renewable energy tax credits since 1976 and at 35% today, the credit is one of the largest in the country. Additionally, the market has been bolstered by the high cost of electricity, which… Keep reading →
