Solar panels do not work that well. Often far below expectations.
And few know it. Not the owners who depend on power. Not the bankers who finance it. Not the brokers who insure it. Keep reading →
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Obama and business finally agree. The renewable energy business, that is.
“If we are going to compete in the 21st century, we have to dominate cutting edge technologies,” Obama said at a Thursday morning press conference. Keep reading →
In a blog post today, the White House publicly reaffirmed its commitment to not only develop clean energy, but to win the global race in the sector.
“It’s not enough for our country to invent clean energy technologies – we have to make them and use them too. Invented in America, made in America, and sold around the world – that’s how we’ll create good jobs and lead in the 21st century,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, quoted by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer on the White House blog. Keep reading →
The sun set on the federal government’s loan-guarantee program for renewable-energy development on Friday, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) closing four deals – three for big solar-power plants and another for a 28-state rooftop-to-grid project – worth more than $4 billion. But while there were last-day winners, there were also losers, as four conditionally guaranteed projects that were on the DOE’s Section 1705 scoreboard Friday morning had disappeared by nightfall.
The two biggest of the four to fail: First Solar’s Topaz solar plant in California, and SolarCity’s SolarStrong project to put solar system on the roofs of military housing around the nation. Neither’s fate was a surprise; First Solar revealed on Sept. 22 that it had been told Topaz wasn’t going to clear, and SolarCity made a similar revelation a day later. Keep reading →
A long-time veteran of the renewable energy business–with experience in both the biofuel and CSP sectors–David Field currently works as President & CEO of OneRoof Energy.
He visited the Breaking Energy office recently to discuss OneRoof Energy’s recently announced residential rooftop solar leasing program and his views on the distributed generation (DG) electrical generation markets, the solar industry and financial trends in the industry relating to tax breaks and renewable energy credits. Keep reading →
NRG Energy is continuing its expansion. The generation firm’s portfolio now includes nuclear and coal in addition to wind and solar and it is increasingly serving customers around the globe.
Last Friday, NRG announced two separate acquisitions that will both broaden its portfolio and add to its generating capacity: the company bought a 250 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR), from SunPower, and completed acquisition of Philadelphia-based Energy Plus Holdings, an electrical retail company that specializes in providing customers with green energy options for home and office power. Keep reading →
After a tumultuous end to the summer, the energy industry has stepped back to focus on fundamentals and damage control in the past few weeks as it prepares for the final months of 2011 and braces for a high-drama politics-focused 2012.
How to attract and allocate rare resources from skittish investors was the focus of the week as the conference season got into full swing. In addition to the high-profile, and oil and gas-heavy, high-level Pacesetters conference, the renewable energy and cleantech industries gathered in California for a pair of events. Keep reading →
Physicists at the University of Michigan have made a breakthrough discovery that could change the way solar panels are constructed, making them cheaper to manufacture.
The team, led by Dr. Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Applied Physics, discovered that at the right intensity, light traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity can generate magnetic effects 100 million times stronger than previously estimated. That magnetic power, could be used to create an “optical battery,” Rand said. Keep reading →
The renewables industry has an image problem, an influential billionaire investor said this week.
Tom Steyer, who invested $5 million of his own money in last year’s opposition campaign to California’s proposition 23, said “we need the right message but also the right messenger.” Keep reading →
AOL Energy Week In Review
By Peter GardettThe roles of government and business in driving energy investment are areas of continual debate, but this week brought the turmoil to a new high.
The Department of Energy and the Obama Administration went on the offensive to defend their renewable energy and clean tech programs, many of them funded or arranged under previous administrations but implemented and promoted by current leaders. Keep reading →