Reviewing last week's solar energy news

Reviewing last week's solar energy news Despite one dark spot last week, the solar industry remained overall positive. Solar is again proving its metal in quick deployment to save lives in the wake of disasters, and is being used to remove nuclear contamination from water in Japan. Legislators in the U.S. continued to show support for the industry and its ability to create jobs when they are sorely needed. Companies continued to expand their presence in new markets.

A lawsuit was filed against Colorado’s popular renewable portfolio standard, which requires investor-owned utilities to source 30 percent of their power from renewables by 2020. The American Tradition Institute (ATI) said the law violates the U.S. interstate Commerce Clause and is therefore unconstitutional. If the lawsuit is successful, ATI could pursue such lawsuits in other states.

Photovoltaic-powered water pumps are providing clean drinking in Japanese villages near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. A reverse-osmosis pump donated by WorldWater & Solar Technologies, Inc. and Gamesa of Spain is cleaning irradiated water to provide safe drinking water as the recovery effort begins there. Another pump is filtering other contaminated water there as well.

Among the most important things helping the solar industry continue its remarkable growth from last year is continued support from the federal government.

Last week, even as Congress debated how best to control spending, it decided to take the U.S. DOE’s Loan-Guarantee Program off the chopping block. The program has been instrumental in allowing solar manufacturers and developers to attract financing to support large projects.

Another big boon to the solar industry was codifying California’s renewable portfolio standard into law. Though utilities have been making significant progress toward meeting the standard, it was only under an executive order and could have been legally contested. With Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) signature last week, the renewable portfolio standard was made into law.

In other places, like Pendleton, Ore., municipalities are coming up with unique ways to use funding to develop solar. The rural community is borrowing unused funds from its sewer fund reserve to create a no-interest rate solar loan program. Under the program, up to 75 homeowners and a number of businesses could go solar in 2011.

Meanwhile companies forged ahead with new innovations, showcasing solutions that increase the reliability of solar, like Sunverge’s solar-battery hybrid solution, which is now being deployed at the Energy Innovation Hub at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The company’s hybrid system includes homes with photovoltaic arrays and battery storage. When excess electricity is produced by the array, it goes first to the batteries, then to the grid. The batteries can help provide stability to the grid and deliver conditioned power as needed.

First Solar, which has focused on large-scale deployments of its thin-film photovoltaics, finally opened up to some smaller-scale installations—albeit only in Europe. The company said to meet demand there, it will make its modules available to commercial installations as small as 10 kilowatts. Previously it only allowed its panels in installations larger than 30 kilowatts.

The idea of invisible, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) is gaining momentum. New Energy Technologies, which has been developing its unique spray-on solar cells, is moving one step closer to being market-ready. Last week, it announced it is testing its technology at the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory.

The solar industry also got support from one of the heaviest hitters in the Internet industry. Google invested $168 million in Brightsource’s 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System and bought a 49 percent ownership stake in a German solar farm. The company is expecting positive returns from the projects.

Pictured: Construction on First Solar’s Blythe power plant.