Google Invests $80 Million to Open 6 Solar Energy Plants

        Google is investing $80 million in 6 new solar plants in California and Arizona that the company says will provide enough electricity for 17,000 homes in the United States. The investment is Google's 14th in renewable energy. The company has so far put more than $1 billion behind solar and wind projects since April 2010. Google is partnering with investment firm KKR for the venture; the lead developer is Recurrent Energy.
       According to a Google blog post, the projects have a combined capacity of 106 megawatts. A typical coal power station produces 600-700 megawatts while a nuclear power plant puts out 900-1,300 megawatts. Google currently gets 33% of its energy from renewable sources, but hopes to be 100% reneawble at some point.

New York and Solar Energy?

           Owens Corning, the Fortune 500 buildings materials company, is probably best known for its pink fiberglass insulation. Now it's got another claim to fame: the company's Bethlehem, New York manufacturing plant, already the winner of a New York State Governor's Award for pollution prevention, is, as of [recently], home to one of the largest industrial solar arrays in the Empire State.
          The company had flipped the switch on the 2.7 megawatt installation [on October 15] at noon--just as sunshine broke through the clouds, as if on cue. The solar array was approximately 9,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels located on more than 9 acres, on a former cornfield close to the plant. The array demonstrates the benefits of pollution-free electricity, producing enough clean power from the sun to supply some 6% of the plant's electricity needs.
          It also demonstrates the benefits of Governor Cuomo's NY-Sun Initiative, without which this solar array would not have come into being. The initiative is currently funded through 2015, but we hope that with one last push from the Governor, NY-Sun will live on as a 10-year, $150-million-a-year effort to finally make New York a solar leader.
          Sunny states like California, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico are, of course, early leaders in installed solar capacity, but Northeastern states also have a high potential for solar power. Currently, the great state of New York lags behind New Jersey and Massachusetts in total solar power installed. However, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, New York is catching up, thanks to NY-Sun and is now #8 in the country for installed solar power, up from #13 at the beginning of 2013.

Robots Built to Clean and Install Solar Panels

Rover, a robot, placing a solar panel in a track at Alion Energy, which is looking to shave labor costs

       In Richmond, California, there are low-tech robots installing and maintaining large-scale solar farms, at least a start-up company, known as Alion Energy, believes so. Working in near secrecy until recently, the company is ready to use its machines in three projects in the next few months in California, Saudi Arabia, and China. If all goes well, executives expect that they can help bring the price of solar electricity into line with that of natural gas by cutting the cost of building and maintaining large solar installations.
       In recent years, the solar industry has wrung enormous costs from developing farms, largely through reducing the price of solar panels more than 70% since 2008. But with prices about as low as manufacturers say they can go, the industry is turning its attention to finding savings in other areas.
       "We've been in this mode for the past decade in the industry of really just focusing on module costs because they used to be such a big portion of system costs," said Arno Harris, chief executive of Recurrent Energy, a solar farm developer, and chairman of the board of the Solar Energy Industries Association. Now, Mr. Harris said, "Eliminating the physical plant costs is a major area of focus through eliminating materials and eliminating labor."

(877) 20-SOLAR Introduces Solar Power to Burbank with 0 Out-Of-Pocket Costs

         The leading Burbank solar energy company, Solar Center, is pleased to announce that their new (877) 20-SOLAR subsidiary is now offering zero down solar energy systems in Burbank. (877) 20-SOLAR is dedicated to serving every aspect of the Burbank solar energy market.
         Solar Center offers leasing options, with an extremely small upfront payment, that's usually around $1,000 but sometimes as low as zero, that allows homeowners to start saving money immediately. Homeowners can also purchase a system and earn an extremely attractive return, typically around 20% per year on the investment. Typical payback periods for solar systems today are approximately 6-8 years, although with leases the paybacks can be instant. As the solar industry has grown and matured over the last decade, the cost of putting solar panels on homes has decreased significantly. There's never been a better time to switch over to renewable clean energy than now and to Go Solar.
         Solar Center is one of a select group of Burbank solar power distributors who can offer the highest efficiency solar panels on the market, those manufactured by SunPower. With SunPower, the Solar Center can tailor a solar panel installation to specific needs and lifestyles, so customers get maximum Burbank solar energy performance without a maximum investment. Also, the provided experienced service and craftsmanship meets the highest standards set by the AAMA (The American Architectural Manufacturers Association).

Solar Cells Meets New World Record Efficiency

        Researchers at the German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have achieved a new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a new solar cell structure with four solar subcells. It took three years of research on this particular solar technology to hit the new world record of 44.7%, an efficiency that is getting the world of solar technology tantalizingly close to 50%.
        Just four months ago in May 2013, the group of researchers at the institute were able to achieve an efficiency of 43.6% with the technology. This type of solar cell is used in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV). Phys.org reports, "The terresterial use of so-called III-V multi-junction solar cells, which originally came from space technology, has prevailed to realize highest efficiencies for the conversion of sunlight to electricity. In this multi-junction solar cell, several cells made out of different III-V semiconductor materials are stacked on top of each other. The single subcells absorb different wavelength ranges of the solar spectrum."
       The solar cells developed in the Fraunhofer labs are manufactured by Soitec. So far, the company has produced solar cells for installations in Italy, France, South Africa and California, as well as in 14 other countries.

World's Largest Solar Power Plant is Now Online

         After three years and $2.2 billion of construction, California has just flipped the switch for the planet's largest solar thermal plant, the 392 megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Ivanpah's 300,000 heliostatic mirrors, which reflect and concentrate light around a central molten salt-filled tower, rather than convert light to electricity like photovoltaics, sit on 3,500 acres of federal land in Mojave, California. The project has received major funding not only for the DoE but also Google, NRG Energy, BrightSource Energy and Bechtel.
         While only the first of they system's three central towers has begun operating, it's already feeding power back into the PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) grid. And when the remaining two will be activated in the coming weeks, Ivanpah is expected to produce enough energy at peak to power 140,000 homes while reducing carbon emissions by some 400,000 tons per year over its 30-year service life.

Utah's $600 Million Solar Power Plant Coming Soon!

        A multimillion dollar power plant will be soon built in Central Utah. The solar farm will be nestled near the small town of Delta, but it won't be generating clean energy for Utah. Instead, it will be sending its energy to California, but it'll prove to be a big boom for rural Utah's economy. At the same time, the Provo-based company contracted to do the project is placing the solar panels next to one of the worst polluters in the Western United States. Josh Case is the CEO of Energy Capitol Group, and he said that's a good location. 

       "We think we have the ideal location," he said. "We're adjacent to the Intermountain Power Plant and the transmission infrastructure and we're developing a 300 megawatt solar plant. We're leasing 1,754 acres from SITLA." The vacant landscape will become a sea of 800,000 solar panels spanning nearly 2,000 acres. Because the land belongs to SITLA, school children will also benefit from the energy harvested from the sun.

Washington Gas Solar-Powering California University

       Washington Gas Energy Systems, Inc. will own and operate a solar array at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. Financial terms were not disclosed. However, "the facility will be opened and operated by Washington Gas Energy Systems, Inc. under a 20-year power purchase agreement," Washington Gas said. Green Energy Group LLC developed the project, which will be completed next month. 

       The roof-mounted system includes 2,688 solar panels on three campus buildings and will produce more than 1,100 megawatt hours of solar energy a year. Washington Gas Energy Systems, Inc., is actually a subsidiary of Washington Gas parent WGL Holdings, which owns commercial-scale projects in 10 states, including the largest solar photovoltaic panel system in the District, at Catholic University at America. 

City Hall Powered with Solar Panels

        By the end of this year, Rancho Mirage's City Hall and the city's vehicle maintenance yard should be getting most of their power from brand-new rooftop and carport solar panels. The City Council gave the go-ahead Monday to a $1.2 million contract with Palm Springs-based Nobell Energy Solutions to add the panels to the city facilities, with construction expected to begin in October and finish in mid-December.
        The council also approved spending $23,000 to put a new roof over the maintenance yard's traffic signal warehouse, which will be able to support the panels. The new panels, which will be leased by the city from Nobell for up to 20 years with an option to buy them out at 10 years, are projected to generate 60% of the electricity needed by City Hall and 95% for the maintenance yard, which is in Thousand Palms.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- "Reinventing the Toilet"

Bill, Melinda and William H. Gates Sr.

            The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a grant-making organization that promotes research and problem solving initiatives locally and globally. Recently, the foundation has announced a focus on their next project, which is to re-engineer the toilet with the help of Chinese researchers.

            The foundation had announced this on Thursday, which was actually a Seattle-originated project known as Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, to China, which seeks to help make toilets more environmental friendly, economical and effective. The China branch of the project is valued at $5 million, allocating anywhere near $100,000 to $500,000 to grant awardees who are selected to explore what the China Daily claims to be as the "poop power."  

            While China is particularly interested in this challenge, researchers at Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology have received a $100,000 first prize for their unique solar-powered toilet design, which helps transform waste product into hydrogen gas and electricity. 

             A report shown by Xinhua News Agency have relatively shown some light on the subject in how much of an impact this "toilet reinvention" would help revolutionize nations and their livelihood. According to the report, 40% of the world's population--roughly 2.5 billion--do not have proper sanitization or sewage facilities and perform open defecation.

Researchers Double Efficiency of See-Through Cells

        Researchers at UCLA have developed a new type of see-through solar cell that could be used applicably on windows, car sunroofs, smartphone screens and other transparent surfaces that can harvest energy from the sun. First developed in the year 2012, the researchers currently have almost doubled the efficiency of the solar cell, approaching the subject of commercial visibility very closely.
        The solar device is compromised of two thin polymer solar cells that can be made in shades from light green and gray to brown, which helps to camouflage them within the colors of surfaces on buildings and other structures. The solar cells absorb more light, harvest light and use the energy from a wider point-of-view, and incorporates a variety of materials between the two solar cells to reduce energy loss. The technology had previously had an efficiency level of only 4% but the UCLA team has brought the efficiency level to 7.3%.

Solar Panels Helps Cool Buildings (like Trees)!

         Usually, trees provide us shade for buildings, whereas we are kept cooler than in if it were to be fully exposed by the sun. However, these days, solar panels, when mounted onto the rooftops of buildings, are able to also provide us comfort and shade (along with generating clean electricity). 

          Researchers at the University of San Diego took a closer look at the solar panels' cooling effect to see how big the effect is and what kind of panel orientation can reap the most benefits." They note that "Using thermal imaging, researchers determined that during the day, a building's ceiling was 5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler under solar panels than under an exposed roof."

LivingSocial's Glow-in-the-Dark Dance Party - Profit Donated to Solar Lanterns in Somalia

     

         Hosted in a various number of places in the U.S., LivingSocial is hosting a glow-in-the-dark party to communities for a cause. Such places include Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; New York City; Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C., San Francisco, California; Seattle; San Diego, California; Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Not only are you qualified for the glow-in-the-dark party but you would also be allowed admission for an after-party. If this doesn't interest you, maybe this will: portions of the profit would be donations for solar lanterns to children in Somalia. So, enjoy this special event for if you're having fun, you'll be helping another country in taking another step towards solar energy! 

For more details, click LivingSocial 5K Dance Party.

Solar Plane completes its 2nd quarter of it's cross-country flight

A solar-powered plane with its side by side propellers and the pilot named Andre Borsche along with Bertrand Piccard, the ones in charge of the project, took on a challenge of travelling cross-country  powered only by the sun. The plane had gotten airborne off the ground of California early May headed to  Phoenix, Arizona taking part in completing its 1st quarter of its travel. After it's take off from Phoenix, Arizona last Wednesday, the plane landed safely at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas finishing off it's 2nd trip cross country. After preparations, the plane is expected to take off from Texas to Washington, then crossing the finish line at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Each trip is measured to take about 20 hours with several of days for inspection at each of the cities.

Solar Power Helps Pump Oil

      Built by GlassPoint Solar, a Fremont company that uses renewable power to squeeze oil from the ground, a new solar steam plant has been developed in the Middle East, specifically the Omani desert. GlassPoint Solar, raising approximately $32 million in venue capital, has a small pilot plant in Kern County that has been generating steam for two years. Known as the Oman plant, it is 27 times bigger than the relatively small pilot plant, producing a average of 50 tons of steam per day.
       "Oman doesn't have the massive oil reserves of some of its neighbors, and its production started declining more than 10 years ago," said John O'Donnell, GlassPoint's Vice President of Business Development. "Steam-flooding an old field can help boost production. Plus, Oman has heavy oil deposits that are hard to develop without steam." O'Donnell added, "most steam-flooding operations burn natural gas to generate the steam, but Oman doesn't have large gas reserves of its own. And the price of importing it is high, more than three times its current cost in the United States."
         GlassPoint's technology is a low-cost twist on the conventional display of solar power plants in the past. GlassPoint's mirrors are made from thin, lightweight and inexpensive aluminium sheets. A decent breeze could knock the mirrors out of alignment so GlassPoint has them inside of glass greenhouses. Most of the materials can be bought from shelves from many suppliers. "Solar will be, by far, the cheapest way of complying with the standard," O'Donnell said. "As that develops, obviously we'll be keenly interested. We're a California company."

GlassPoint Solar

Solar-Powered Clothing made of Natural Fibers

     Designers at Colorado State University at work in designing and developing solar-powered clothes from natural fibers that holds the ability to charge a variety of devices, including phones, tablets, and GPS units. Professor Eulanda Sanders and associate professor Ajoy Sarkar in CSU's department of design and merchandising, as well as four of their students, are making prototypes for solar-charging apparel that can be worn while biking, snowboarding, skiing or hiking.
     Clothing with solar panels have been done before so the concept of it is not amazing as it was perceived before, but they usually rely on petroleum-based materials rather than natural fibers. A prime example would be seen in California-based Silvrlining's GO Solar Power Collection, which puts solar power into microsuede clothing. While certainly looking fashionable, the director's jacket alone amounts to a total of $1,180.
    Instead of the traditional standard of making clothing relying on petroleum-based materials, Sanders and Sarkar have the desire to produce clothes from cotton and linen that are safe and strong enough to handle the elements. According to the university, the group was able to modify natural materials to make them more durable. From that procedure, they continue on to incorporating flexible solar panels within the apparel. Their goal with these greener clothes is ultimately to make solar clothing not only comfortable and fashionable, but also to be highly functional and easy to clean.

Closer Details of Mosaic's Crowdfunding Projects

       Mosaic, a solar crowdfunding service, had announced on Monday that it had received permission from California securities regulators to offer $100 million in new investment opportunities in the state. Therefore, on Tuesday, the first of the projects Mosaic had to offer, which was a 114-kilowatt array on the roof of the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego, was quickly fully subscribed. It only took Californians simply 6 hours to invest $157,750 in the project, which happened to offer a 4.5% annual return.

2012 Mosaic-financed project in Oakland

"The future is distributed clean energy, funded by the people. These are investments in infrastructure and they offer competitive returns," Mosaic President and Founder Billy Parish said. "More projects will be coming online soon."
        The public is already prepared for such projects to be offered for Mosaic had originally launched in January with four projects totaling to an amount of $313,000 and had sold out in less than 24 hours. More than 400 investors had invested between the amounts of $25 and $30,000, with the average investment being approximately $700.
        Solar financing in the United States is said to be held mainly in the province of Wall Street, with the likes of big corporations as Citi, Credit Suisse and U.S. Bancorp reaping the returns from the steadily growing industry. By Mosaic existing, it is trying to overturn the way things are (especially the way solar financing is done) at a very small scale to start.
        However, questions are arising as to whether crowdfunding solar might put inexperienced investors at risk. A recent analysis by Rocky Mountain Institute consultant Jessie Morris largely put those fears to rest, while recognizing that returns never came without risks. Not only this but Mosaic has moved to backing up its claim to offer "high-quality projects" by backing truSolar, an effort to develop standards for rating solar projects by risk. Founding members of truSolar include Mosaic, DuPont, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Booz Allen Hamilton, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Assurant.

150 MW California Solar Power Plant is Bought!

      The 150-megawatt Solar Generation 2 photovoltaic power plant, located in Imperial County (California), was recently bought by First Solar, Inc. The construction of this solar power plant is planned to start this year and is set to be completed next year. Once completed, the new photovoltaic solar power plant is to produce enough electricity to power more than 60,0000 homes while displacing more than 115,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This solar power plant will estimably save around 93,000 metric tons of water per year.
      The San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) has agreed to purchase the electrical output under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Once this agreement is started, the photovoltaic solar plant is expected to provide over 800 construction jobs within Imperial County, which has been overcome with high unemployment.
       "We are very pleased to help SDG&E meet its clean energy goals and provide clean, reliable, renewable power to their customers," said Dana Diller, First Solar Vice President of U.S. Business Development. "We are also proud to once again bring the economic benefits of utility-scale solar development to Imperial County, where both county officials and the Imperial Irrigation District, with which this plant will interconnect, have been extremely supportive."
        The financial details of the new purchase is still unknown but it does include 40 megawatts of solar modules that the project had previously purchased from another supplier. First Solar, Inc., is actually planning to integrate those modules into construction and make up the difference with their own modules in order to complete the construction of the power plant. In addition, First Solar will be providing project development, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and grid integration services.

New Apartments offer Free Solar Power

     Solterra, a newly found 114-unit apartment project is nearing its completion, is to be equipped with facilities such as a salt-water pool, games-filled clubhouse as well as a stand-up tanning salon. At this era in the declining economy, there is stiff competition for landlords to attract tenants, especially in luxury areas. Therefore, this sweet luxury area to call home opens in May and offers free electricity to residents.
     In San Diego, this may be the county's first "net-zero" energy project, whereas there is enough solar power cells being installed to provide all energy to be obtained by average users as well as common areas at the 4-acre site east of Interstate 15 at Mira Mesa Boulevard. If residents do not exceed the average use projected, they are guaranteed a rebate check in the mail.
     Company President Mike Neal claims that they offer this special incentive to residents because "we want them to choose us," he says. He believes it's the energy-saving features that he hopes will make a difference. "With our apartment communities we've previously put photovoltaics on, we noticed our customers had a real interest in it," Neal said. "Some of them would say 'How could that benefit my unit?' We took it upon ourselves to take this project and try to answer that question by providing it and see how the customer likes it."
     "The target tenant group at Solterra draws from all over the county and from all demographic groups," he said, "and the rental rate of $1,495 to $2,225 is comparable to housing costs in Scripps Ranch."

Solar-Powered Plane's Cross-Country Flight

        Researchers at Moffett Air Field at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, announced on March 28 that Solar Impulse, an ultra-lightweight plane solely powered by solar power, is planned to fly coast-to-coast this spring. The plane is claimed to require no fuel and solely rely on solar panels and battery power.
        Two Swiss pilots of the Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, desire to complete a flight beginning from Moffett Field to New York City. Along the way, it is planned to stop by in the following locations: Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C., and either Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, or St. Louis. The plane is set to fly on May 1 and plans to land in the Big Apple in early July.
         Solar Impulse has a wingspan equivalent to a 747 jetliner, the weight of a station wagon, and the power needs of a small scooter. The solar panels across its wings harness power from the sun during the day, and lithium-polymer batteries store that energy for overnight trips. A carbon-fiber material formed in a honeycomb structure makes up the bulk of the plane, which allows for its feather-weight.
        In 2010, the plane completed a 26 overnight-hour flight and in 2012, it flew from Switzerland to Morocco with no fuel.