New Jersey Approves $446 Million Solar Investment

        New Jersey state regulators had approved a proposal brought up by the utility company, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), which the plan triggered permission granted to go ahead on two projects increasing the involvement and usage of solar power. The two projects will both be financed by an incremental increase in customers' utility bills.
         According to Associated Press reports, the first project consists of offering nearly $200 million in loans to commercial and residential areas to install solar power systems in their buildings. The second project will help finance an extension of the utility's Solar4All program through 2016 that helps to develop solar installations primarily on unused landfills and former industrial sites, known as brownfields.
          However, the state-appointed advocate for utility customers has criticized the landfill decision as creating an unfair market advantage for PSE&G since the company is expected to recover its costs through rate increases. In return, New Jersey had, instead, approved the proposal under the conditions that adjustments be made in PSE&G's utility rates such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, raising electric bills for residential customers by $11.45 a year and costs to the same gas customers by $2.18 annually.

Japan Proposes to cut Solar Power Price

         Recently, it has been discovered that Japan has submitted a proposal to cut solar power prices by 10%, leaving, in its midst, a place for incentives to trigger increasing amounts of solar power installations. Researchers have observed that the prices for solar power would be assumed to be cut in the beginning of April this year while payment for the wind energy sector prices remain unchanged. However, of course, the Japanese government has to consent to the proposal before solar power prices can be enforced and utilized.
         In the previous year, Japan has invested on non-residential solar projects totaling the estimate value to be 222 billion yen, or in other words, $2.3 billion, adding 580 megawatts of solar power capacity. This year, however, the country is claimed to have spent 438 billion yen for 1,460 megawatts.
          Hisao Kayaoka, secretary general of the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association, has claimed that the proposal may not change circumstances for the solar market is expanding but, the proposal will provide continual growth in the market. The association member companies consists of the following companies: SunTech Power Holdings (STP) Company, Kyocera Corporation, Solar Frontier K.K. and Sharp Corporation. These companies help make solar panels while another member of the association, Kansai Electric Power Company, is responsible for power utility. The proposed incentives actually aid companies, such as Kyocera Corporation, in giving them opportunity to construct solar stations while also encouraging Softbank Corporation, a mobile-phone provider, to develop solar power plants.

Shirashi Daiichi Elementary School received a grant of up to 30 million Japanese yen ($369,000) to purchase and install solar power equipment. In this photo featured above, it is shown that the pupils are touching the solar power generator installed.