photo: Sungevity Berkeley on Friday hands over checks to the first two homeowners who tapped the California city’s pioneering solar financing program to install solar arrays. The city fronts the cash for rooftop solar panels for any Berkeley business or homeowner, who pays back the cost through a 20-year surcharge on their property tax bill. [...]
Archive for the ‘SunPower’ Category
Berkeley hands out solar checks
Posted in alternative energy, energy, green financing, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, Sungevity, SunPower, tagged Berkeley, Berkeley FIRST, city-financed solar systems, solar panels on February 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
PG&E chief: We’ll be solar’s ‘green knight’
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, corporate green, environment, First Solar, green financing, green startups, green tech, investment tax credit, MMA Renewable Ventures, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, SunPower, Suntech, tagged PG&E, photovoltaic solar, solar energy, solar power plants on February 24, 2009 | 3 Comments »
photo: Optisolar SAN FRANCISCO — With the financial crisis dimming solar’s prospects to become a significant source of renewable energy, utility giant PG&E on Tuesday said it will spend $1.4 billion over five years to install 250 megawatts’ worth of photovoltaic panels in California while contracting with private developers for another 250 megawatts. PG&E chief [...]
Green stimulus: Who wins
Posted in Abengoa Solar, alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, endangered species, First Solar, green financing, green policy, green tech, MMA Renewable Ventures, OptiSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Stirling Energy Systems, SunPower, the green economy, tagged BrightSource Energy, First Solar, OptiSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, solar power plants, stimulus package, thin-film solar on February 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
In the green stimulus sweepstakes, big potential winners are companies like Silicon Valley startup OptiSolar. The solar-cell maker came out of nowhere last year to score a deal with utility PG&E to build the world’s largest photovolaic power plant, a 550-megawatt monster that would cover some 9 1/2 square miles on California’s central coast. OptiSolar [...]
Solar investor bucks the downturn
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green financing, green tech, MMA Renewable Ventures, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SunPower, Suntech, tagged Gemini Solar Development, MMA Renewable Ventures, SunPower, Suntech, tax equity investors on January 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
photo: WorldWater & Solar Technologies As the financial crisis short-circuits the ambitions of green tech companies, solar financier MMA Renewable Ventures is pushing ahead with raising its fifth fund. Meanwhile, its solar power plant joint venture with Chinese solar cell maker Suntech – Gemini Solar Development – has been selected by utility Austin Energy to [...]
Ausra exits solar power plant building business
Posted in Ausra, BrightSource Energy, energy, enviro startups, environment, eSolar, First Solar, green financing, green startups, green tech, PG&E, renewable energy, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Stirling Energy Systems, SunPower, tagged Ausra, Bob Fishman, BrightSource Energy, financial crisis, layoffs, solar power plants on January 27, 2009 | 5 Comments »
photo: Ausra When Green Wombat sat down for a chat with Ausra founder David Mills back in September 2007, he allowed that it was not unreasonable to expect the Silicon Valley solar startup to soon be building several massive megawatt solar power plants a year. The optimism was not unwarranted. After all, in the space [...]
Utilities turn to thin-film solar for big power
Posted in alternative energy, Ausra, BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, First Solar, green startups, green tech, OptiSolar, PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Stirling Energy Systems, SunPower, Suntech, tagged First Solar, PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sempra, solar thermal power plants, Southern California Edison, thin-film solar power plants on January 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
With Big Solar thermal power plants bogged down in bureaucracy and facing environmental and financial hurdles, utilities are turning to smaller-scale thin-film solar stations that can be built in a matter of months. In late December, PG&E (PCG), for instance, signed a 20-year contract for electricity generated from a 10-megawatt thin-film solar power plant in [...]
Report: The dark side of solar
Posted in corporate sustainability, energy, First Solar, solar energy, SunPower, Suntech, tagged recycling, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, solar panels on January 14, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Solar cells may generate clean green electricity but manufacturing them involves a witches brew of toxic chemicals that could harm the environment if millions of solar panels end up in landfills, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. The California environmental group is calling for solar manufacturers to take back [...]
Solar jobs head south
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, energy, First Solar, green collar jobs, OptiSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarWorld, Solyndra, SunPower, tagged green collar jobs, solar cell factories, SolarWorld, Suniva, SunPower, Suntech on December 11, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Amid the daily drumbeat of mass layoffs, here’s some sunny news: Solar startup Suniva cut the ribbon Thursday on a photovoltaic cell factory outside Atlanta. As solar factories go, Suniva’s plant – the first such facility in the Southeast – is relatively small, making 32 megawatts of solar cells annually until production is fully ramped [...]
No happy new year for the solar industry
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, energy, environment, First Solar, global warming, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Sungevity, SunPower, Suntech, tagged Akeena Solar, First Solar, polysilicon prices, solar indusry, Sungevity, SunPower, Suntech on December 8, 2008 | 9 Comments »
photo: Southern California Edison While demand for solar panels is expected to continue to grow by double-digits in the years ahead, 2009 could be a make-or-break year for some companies, according to an analysis from HSBC Global Research. After grappling with a shortage of polysilicon – the base material of conventional solar cells – for the past [...]
Credit crunch burning solar industry
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, energy, First Solar, global warming, green collar jobs, green financing, green policy, green tech, investment tax credit, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SunPower, Suntech, Uncategorized, tagged Abengo, Energy Convresion Devices, investment tax credit, Sharp Solar, solar energy, Solar Energy Industries Association, solar industry, Suntech, transmission on December 3, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The credit crunch is taking a toll on the United States’ nascent solar industry, scuttling big renewable energy projects and curtailing expansion plans, solar executives said Wednesday as they proposed the inclusion of green incentives in the Obama economic stimulus plan. Spanish energy giant Abengoa, for instance, has put on hold plans to build its [...]
