solar power
-
![]()
![]()
Silicon Valley solar firm buys East Coast’s biggest photovoltaic installer
Volunteers install a solar PV array in Brooklyn, N.Y.Photo: 350.orgCalifornia solar companies are continuing their eastward expansion, with Silicon Valley’s SolarCity on Wednesday acquiring the residential operations of one of the East Coast biggest solar installers, groSolar. With the acquisition, SolarCity, California’s largest residential solar installer, will move into Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and […]
-
![]()
![]()
Busting 4 myths about solar PV vs. concentrating solar
Although both produce electricity from the sun, there are significant differences between solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar thermal electricity generation. This guide provides answers to the most pressing questions about the two solar technologies. 1. Isn’t concentrating solar power cheaper? No. Five years ago, the two technologies were relatively comparable, but in 2011 there’s […]
-
![]()
![]()
California to green its grid with energy storage
With intermittent sources like wind and solar becoming more common, energy storage is increasingly seen as crucial for greening the grid.Photo: mike_tnIn just about every story on renewable energy, there’s a familiar cast of characters: green power developers, utilities, and sundry state and federal regulators. But there’s one key player that often lurks in the […]
-
![]()
![]()
Southern California Edison signs another big photovoltaic farm deal
Solar farms could be sprouting in the Nevada desert.Photo: FotowatioSouthern 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 with […]
-
![]()
![]()
Distributed renewable generation = big numbers
Distributed renewable energy comes in small bites, but it makes mouthfuls — gigawatts — of renewable energy capacity. Americans tend think big, but it is countries that built small that are hitting big renewable energy targets. Take Germany. In 2009, it installed 3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar PV, more than three times all the solar […]
-
![]()
![]()
Keep the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall!
The Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in 2009.Photo: NREL Solar DecathlonThe National Mall has long served as the nation’s front yard, a place where citizens can gather and display what’s important to them — whether it’s a protest to end wars, a rally to restore sanity, or even a celebration of mid-Atlantic maritime communities. […]
-
![]()
![]()
Solar gets big and cheap in California
A San Francisco solar installation. Photo: Gavin NewsomEarlier 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 of electricity from […]
-
![]()
![]()
How to get to 100 percent renewables globally by 2050
There are many reasons to move to a sustainable energy system: fossil fuel supplies getting tighter, easy oil increasingly having to be replaced by uneasy oil, accelerating climate change. And most indications are that we’ll have to go there as soon as possible. But is it possible? And when? At Ecofys, we’ve been working for […]
-
Los Angeles residential solar PV less costly than any concentrating solar power plant
This is part of a series on distributed renewable energy posted to Grist. It originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. A residential rooftop solar PV system in Los Angeles, Calif., has a cheaper cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity delivered than the most cost effective, utility-scale […]
