photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The Obama administration’s solar building boom continues. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed the first lease to build a large-scale photovoltaic project on federal land in Nevada. “Yes, it’s about jobs and finding a new way forward but it’s also about [...]
Archive for the ‘First Solar’ Category
Feds approve first solar farm on goverment land in Nevada
Posted in alternative energy, environment, First Solar, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Ken Salazar, Nevada, Silver State solar project on October 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Walmart says thin (solar) is in
Posted in alternative energy, environment, First Solar, solar energy, SolarCity, tagged Miasole, solar, SolarCity, Wal-Mart, Walmart on September 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: Walmart I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. When Walmart announced on Monday that it would install 15 megawatts’ worth of solar arrays on as many as 30 of its stores in California and Arizona, it set out to shape the solar market in more ways than one. The reason? The [...]
Recycling farmland, toxic waste sites for solar energy
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, First Solar, global warming, green policy, green tech, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SunPower, the green economy, tagged First Solar, Natural Resources Defense Council, PG&E, Sierra Club, solar energy, solar power plants, SunPower, water, Westlands Solar Park, Westlands Water District, Westside Holdings on August 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Wednesday’s New York Times, I write about a growing movement to repurpose farmland and toxic waste sites for big renewable energy projects: LEMOORE, Calif. — Thousands of acres of farmland here in the San Joaquin Valley have been removed from agricultural production, largely because the once fertile land is contaminated by [...]
Government sets lease fees for big desert solar projects
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, environment, First Solar, green policy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, Bureau of Land Management, First Solar, Solar Energy Industries Association, solar lease fees, solar power plants on June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Thursday, I write about the solar industry’s dismay over the rent and other fees the United States government will charge developers to build big solar power plants on federal land in the desert Southwest: The nation’s biggest landlord, the United States government, has set the rent [...]
Solar shakeup: Ausra sells power plant to First Solar
Posted in alternative energy, Ausra, environment, First Solar, OptiSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, tagged Ausra, First Solar, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants on November 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Ausra Silicon Valley solar company Ausra has sold its sole remaining solar power plant project in the United States, all but completing its exit from solar farming. As I write Thursday in The New York Times: Ausra is continuing its exit from the business of building solar power plants, announcing on Wednesday that it [...]
Nanosolar books $4.1 billion in orders, reveals tech
Posted in alternative energy, First Solar, green startups, Nanosolar, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged First Solar, Martin Roscheisen, Nanosolar, solar cells, thin-film on September 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Nanosolar A day after First Solar made waves with its agreement with the Chinese government to build a 2,000-megawatt solar farm in Mongolia, Silicon Valley startup Nanosolar took the wraps off its much-hyped thin-film photovoltaic technology and announced it has booked $4.1 billion in orders from solar developers. As I write in today’s New [...]
First Solar first into China with 2-gigawatt PV project
Posted in alternative energy, First Solar, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged China, First Solar, Mike Ahearn, Ordos, solar power plants, thin-film solar on September 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Photo: First Solar First Solar became the first U.S. solar company to break into the Chinese market on Tuesday and it did do in a big way when it signed an agreement to build a two-gigawatt thin-film solar power plant in Inner Mongolia. As I write in The New York Times: Chinese government officials signed [...]
Google-backed eSolar to build New Mexico solar farm
Posted in alternative energy, energy, enviro startups, environment, eSolar, First Solar, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, tagged eSolar, New Mexico, NRG, solar power plant on June 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
photo: eSolar California may be in the midst of licensing dozens of massive megawatt solar power plants but New Mexico may be first state out of the gate with a big project using next-generation solar thermal technology. On Thursday, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar and utility giant NRG Energy will [...]
Solar manufacturing ramps up in the U.S.
Posted in Abengoa Solar, First Solar, green collar jobs, Schott, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarWorld, SunPower, Suntech, tagged First Solar, New Mexico, Schott Solar, solar factory, SunPower, Suntech on May 11, 2009 | 23 Comments »
photos: Schott German solar company Schott on Monday cut the ribbon on a $100 million factory in Albuquerque, N.M., that will produce solar panels as well as receivers for solar trough power plants. Meanwhile, Chinese solar giant Suntech said Monday that it will build a solar cell manufacturing plant in the United States. The move [...]
Sempra to run nation’s largest PV solar farm
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, First Solar, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged First Solar, Nevada, Sempra Generation, solar energy, solar power plants, thin-film solar on April 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: First Solar Sempra Generation on Wednesday said it has signed a deal for the United States’ largest photovoltaic power plant, a 48-megawatt solar farm to be built by First Solar in Nevada. The thin-film solar power station will add on to a 10-megawatt solar farm built by First Solar (FSLR) last year adjacent to [...]
