SunEdison to Build 50MW of PV Solar for Xcel in New Mexico
SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), and Xcel Energy’s (NYSE: XEL) regional operating company, Southwestern Public Service Company, announced a deal for five photovoltaic solar installations in New Mexico that will total 50 megawatts (MW) in generation capacity.
The five 10MW sites, to be located in Lea and Eddy counties in southeastern New Mexico, will comprise a utility-scale, ground-mount system that will be fully operational by the end of 2011. In total, the installations will generate enough power for more than 10,000 homes in its first full year of operation.
This total project will enable Xcel Energy to continue meeting New Mexico’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires that regulated electric utilities meet 15% of their electricity needs by 2015, and 20% by 2020, through renewable energy sources.
The five installations will be built, financed and maintained by SunEdison, under a 20-year solar power services agreement (SPSA) with Xcel Energy, which will buy the solar power generated by the plant.
This project eclipses the 8.22MW (DC) solar power system SunEdison activated for Xcel Energy in Alamosa, Colorado in December 2007.
SunEdison finances, installs and operates distributed power plants using proven photovoltaic technologies, delivering fully managed, predictably priced solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers.
Solar wafer maker MEMC acquired SunEdison in October 2009.
New York plugs in first electric car solar charging station
Off grid charging station to allow New York firm to recharge electric car using solar power
By Tom Young, BusinessGreen.com
Sustainable energy company Beautiful Earth Group has this week unveiled New York’s first solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station, which will allow the firm to recharge its electric MINI E using zero carbon energy making it one of the few cars in the world to run exclusively on solar power.
The off-grid station features solar photovoltaic panels and has been built using recycled, decommissioned steel shipping containers.
“It never ceases to amaze me, when I get behind the wheel of this 95 mph sports car, that it doesn’t use a single drop of gasoline, and that all of its power comes from the solar energy we collect right here on the Brooklyn waterfront,” said Beautiful Earth’s president and chief executive Lex Heslin.
The company said that the charging station has a capacity of about six kilowatts and will also produce enough energy to power a small home. It added that an integrated battery bank will stores electricity and ensure that the system can provide power 24 hours a day.
The move comes in the same week as London Mayor Boris Johnson announced plans to install 25,000 electric car recharging points across the UK capital, including 22,500 charging points at workplaces.
The Green Rush Is On In China
by Louisa Lim, NPR.org
A new gold rush in China is actually a green rush — an urgent drive to develop green technologies. One group of Western companies, the Cleantech Initiative, suggests China’s market for renewable energy could eventually be worth as much as $500 billion to $1 trillion a year.
Now, Obama administration officials are warning that the U.S. could risk losing the race in green technologies.
“The future of sustainable energy is here.” The words are emblazoned on a wall at the world’s largest nongovernmental solar research center. It was built by an American company, Applied Materials, in the central Chinese city of Xian.
The cost of solar panels has dropped dramatically — 30 percent in the past year alone. One major reason is the “China price,” or the competitive advantages offered by Chinese manufacturing, with its cheap labor and economies of scale. China is now the world’s biggest producer of photovoltaic solar panels, making about 40 percent of all panels, according to the China Daily, mostly for export.
At Applied Materials’ $250 million research center in Xian, Elizabeth Mayo, a process engineer from Santa Clara, Calif., is working with local staff testing solar panels in the Sunfab panel reliability test lab. This simulates extreme weather conditions, and the company boasts that it is the world’s only laboratory capable of testing 61-square-feet solar panels.
Mayo is impressed by the facilities in Xian. “We don’t have facilities like this in the U.S. We don’t have anything of this magnitude,” Mayo says.
Catrina Ren, an enthusiastic English-speaking engineer, beams while showing a visitor another facility at the research center: vast empty hangars waiting for new pilot lines for crystalline silicon, and thin film solar technology to be installed. “I’m very proud I have chance to work here,” she says. “This is most advantaged tech center in world. I graduated from university only two years ago. I’m very proud.”
And Applied Materials is no doubt overjoyed to have Catrina and her former classmates on staff. Costs in China are much cheaper than in the U.S. An engineering graduate in Xian earns one-tenth of her American counterparts.
And the biggest draw is the eternal lure of China’s fabled market. Gang Zhou, general manager of Applied Materials Xian facility, says the company has decided to put its money where its customer base is.
“China is No. 1 producer of solar panels. That’s where our market is. The China new R&D center, that’s where we validate a lot of R&D work that is being carried out in U.S. and in Europe,” he says.
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Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Florida
By Christine Armario, Associated Press Writer (from Yahoo.com)
ARCADIA, Fla. – Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida’s renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.
For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation’s largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight.
The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light’s 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.
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New solar energy product could revolutionize industry
From CoolerPlanet.com
A newly announced development from Dow Chemical may change the solar energy industry for homeowners in the coming years.
Dow’s new Powerhouse solar shingle is said to incorporate photovoltaic technology into a roof shingle, potentially allowing people to use their entire rooftop to generate electricity at a reasonable cost. According to the company, the new shingles will be on the market in limited quantities next year, becoming more widely available in 2011.
“These types of innovative products not only showcase our deep scientific and technical expertise but also demonstrate how our commitment to R&D is fueling Dow’s future growth agenda around the world,” said company chairman Andrew Liveris.
The news was also hailed by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm because of the green manufacturing jobs the new product is expected to bring to the state, which has it headquarters in the city of Midland.
The technology is said to involve thin film technologies that have been growing more common throughout the industry. In the coming years, thin film technology may provide advanced new applications for solar energy technology, such as wrapping or printing solar generating material onto a variety of surfaces.
