photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Wednesday, I wrote about floating solar farms: PETALUMA, Calif. — Solar panels have sprouted on countless rooftops, carports and fields in Northern California. Now, several start-up companies see potential for solar panels that float on water. Already, 144 solar panels sit atop pontoons moored on a [...]
Archive for the ‘solar power plants’ Category
Offshore solar: Get ready for floating photovoltaic farms
Posted in renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged SPG Solar, Sunengy on April 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
DOE nuke funds to continue, big green energy loans on way
Posted in nuclear energy, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Uncategorized, tagged Jonathan Silver, United States Departmetn of Energy loan programs office on March 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: San Luis Obispo County In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about a United States Department of Energy official affiming that loan guarantees for nuclear power projects would continue in the wake of the Japanese reactor disaster. He also said loans for a “significant” number of large renewable energy projects would be [...]
Solar: It’s not just a California thing anymore
Posted in renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants on March 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: REC Solar I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The United States solar businesses boomed, as usual, in 2010, growing 67 percent to $6 billion, according to an annual report released Thursday by an industry trade group. That’s been the story for the past several years, but what’s notable is that [...]
California utilities (just) miss renewable energy deadline
Posted in energy, PG&E, renewable energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison on March 11, 2011 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The California Legislature is moving to put into law a regulation requiring the state’s utilities to obtain a third of their electricity from renewable energy by 2020. But how did California’s three big investor-owned utilities do in meeting a previous mandate to [...]
Portlandia to help wean Los Angeles from coal
Posted in environment, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarWorld, tagged Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on March 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Portlandia may not be the sunniest of places, but it’s exporting solar energy in the form of photovoltaic panels used to build carbon-free power plants. On Wednesday, SolarWorld — the German photovoltaic module maker that operates a big factory in Hillsboro, Ore. — announced it [...]
Short-circuiting California’s solar thermal power plant boom
Posted in BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, NextEra Energy Resources, renewable energy, Sierra Club, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Tessera Solar on February 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about how the nascent solar thermal boom in California’s Mojave Desert is being derailed by lawsuits from environmental, union and Native American groups: SAN FRANCISCO — Just weeks after regulators approved the last of nine multibillion-dollar solar thermal power plants to be built in the [...]
Report: Californians paying too high a price for green energy
Posted in alternative energy, green policy, PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison on February 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Are Californians forking over too much green for green energy? A new report from a ratepayers advocacy group found that the price of electricity in 59 percent of renewable energy contracts signed by the state’s three big utilities exceeded the market price referent, or MPR [...]
Southern California Edison signs another big solar farm deal
Posted in renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison on February 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Southern California Edison on Wednesday announced another big photovoltaic power plant deal, this time to buy electricity from a 250-megawatt solar farm to be built by First Solar. Add that contract to 831 megawatts’ worth of photovoltaic power purchase agreements the Los Angeles utility signed [...]
Solar gets big and cheap in California
Posted in Amonix, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison on February 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Earlier this week, I wrote about the green evolution in California regarding electric cars. Well, when it comes to solar energy, it’s starting to look more like a revolution. This week, utility Southern California Edison asked regulators to approve 20-year contracts to buy 250 megawatts [...]
China moves into U.S. solar power plant market
Posted in solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Suntech on February 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Friday, I write about how Suntech has become the first Chinese solar company to win a major U.S. power plant contract: Suntech, the Chinese solar giant, has won a contract to supply photovoltaic panels for a 150-megawatt project in Arizona, marking China’s entry into a lucrative United States power-plant [...]
