Solar Energy News

Residential solar may reach grid parity in California in 2015

Feb 03, 2012

California is the nation’s largest solar market in the nation, thanks to its incentives and rebates, which include a 33 percent renewable energy standard and the Million Solar Roofs programs.

And with a number of the largest solar projects in the world planned to start supplying utilities with power beginning to come online (at least partially) this year, it’s no wonder that the market has reduced prices to near grid parity levels. But now some are saying the cost of residential solar could reach grid parity by as early as mid-2014.

Environment California’s Research & Policy Center estimated that when the price of installed solar falls to $5.25 per watt, without rebates, that it will have reached grid parity in the market.

“If progress continues at the same rate it has over the past four years, residential prices will reach this cost-competitive position without rebates in mid-2014. Outside investment analysts place this milestone at around 2016,” the center said in its recent report, Building a Brighter Future.

“It’s sort of our prognosis,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, director of Clean Energy and Global Warming Programs Environment California. “It could be wrong; policy makers could change the roads we’re on.”

But based on current progress on the

Solar Energy News

Fastest growing solar cities in California driven by middle-class homeowners

Feb 03, 2012

There’s a new trend in solar—at least in California: More middle-class homeowners are installing solar than ever before. As such a new crop of cities are showing tremendous growth in solar. That’s according to a new report by SunRun and PV Solar Report that looked at full-year 2011 residential solar growth across the state. The report found that San Jose, Bakersfield and Simi Valley were the cities with the greatest growth of residential solar . But it also found that other cities, like Hemet and Apple Valley, are also showing a lot growth in the market segment. The cities in...

Real estate player Prologis enters solar field with innovative concept

Feb 03, 2012

A California real estate company is diving into the solar market. Prologis owns more than 600 million square feet of building space all over the world. The majority, 380 million square feet, is located in the United States. The buildings, mostly warehouses using little power, are spread throughout the country. Drew Torbin, vice president of the renewable energy group for Prologis, said he was looking at the buildings and saw an amazing opportunity to capitalize on the roof space. Most of Prologis’ clients don’t use a lot of power. “They operate on laser-thin budgets in these distribution...
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MA nonprofits, municipalities get access to low-cost solar

Feb 02, 2012

Under a new partnership between PowerOptions and SunEdison, nonprofits—including hospitals, schools and universities—and governments will have access to low-cost solar through power-purchase agreements or net-metering arrangements. Under the agreement, customers of PowerOptions, an energy buying consortium, will have access to solar with no upfront costs through agreements with SunEdison. The partnership will allow PowerOptions customers to install solar rooftops, ground-based systems, parking-lot canopies and other properties they own or operate. “Many of our municipal members...
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COSEIA all set for 2012 Solar Power Colorado conference and expo

Feb 02, 2012

On Feb. 09, Colorado’s solar industry puts all its chips on the table. The 2012 Solar Power Colorado conference and expo, hosted by the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, gets underway next week at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in Loveland, Colo. And there are a few notable changes from last year’s event, which had sold out nearly a week before the doors opened. First, CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association Rhone Resch will join three other industry heavy hitters—Paula Mints, Navigant's principal solar analyst; Travis Bradford, author of the book Solar Revolution;...
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TEP boosts power at power plant with solar

Feb 02, 2012

As solar becomes more of a household term for energy, the multitude of uses is continuing to grow, too, from photovoltaics to solar hot water, to concentrated solar power (CSP)—it’s even being used in fracking applications. But now it’s being used to boost the generation capacity of an existing fossil-fuel-powered generating plant for Tucson Electric Power. The 156-megawatt H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station in Tucson will get a 5-megawatt boost from the Sundt Solar Boost Project. The project will use AREVA Solar 's Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector system to superheat water into...
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U.S. solar market poised for growth

Feb 01, 2012

With five of the most tumultuous months in solar history behind it, the United States market is poised for major growth. That was the message Shayle Kann, managing director of the solar division of GTM Research, shared with several hundred solar industry representatives in his opening remarks at the Solar Power Generation USA conference in Las Vegas Tuesday. The U.S. has installed about 5 to 7 percent of the world’s solar every year since 2005, Kann said. While the U.S. market has been growing by leaps and bounds, so has the global market, which has kept the U.S. solidly in third, fourth...
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Solar Decathlon moves to Irvine, CA for 2013

Feb 01, 2012

Everyone’s got to leave home at some point. And apparently its time for the U.S. Solar Decathlon to make its first move from its home in Washington, D.C. Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the international event, which challenges 20 university teams from around the world to build a solar-powered home and compete in 10 events, will take place at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif., in 2013. Since the first event in 2002 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it has been held in the nation’s capital. And it has spawned sister events in Europe and China...
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Conservation, solar groups support DOI’s proposed Solar Energy Zones

Feb 01, 2012

During the President’s State of the Union address last week, he mentioned that he was opening up public lands for solar development. He was referring to the Department of the Interior’s proposed 17 Solar Energy Zones on 285,000 acres of public lands in the desert southwest—enough land to power at least 3 million homes. A diverse group of conservation and solar advocacy groups, utilities and solar developers sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in support of the Interior’s work thus far and offered insight into what the next necessary steps should be. The signatories...
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European solar market’s strong finish in 2011 crosses over into early 2012

Jan 31, 2012

Sales in Europe’s solar market increased 23 percent in the last quarter of 2011, surprising many, according to a new report from NDP Solarbuzz. The report found that the steep decline in module prices led to the unexpected growth, which is expected to spill over into at least the first quarter of 2012. Growth was biggest in Germany, which saw a 63 percent year-over-year increase in solar in the quarter. “The strength of the market in the fourth quarter of 2011 took most people by surprise, Germany in particular, but also the U.K., for example,” said Dr. Alan Turner, Vice President...
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Amonix lays off nearly 200 as it revamps facility for its next generation of CPV

Jan 31, 2012

Amonix last year began work on a new manufacturing facility in North Las Vegas, where it assembled its 7700 CPV arrays. And now it’s laying 200 employees off as it shutters the facility to revamp it for its next generation of CPV products, dubbed the 8700. The 7700 consisted of an IMAX screen-sized solar array mounted on a dual-axis tracker that was capable of producing 60 kilowatts of electricity. It used Fresnel lenses to concentrate the sun up to 500 times onto high-efficiency, multi-junction gallium indium PV cells. But that was in 2011. The company is now working on the 8700 solar power...
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