TORONTO, ONTARIO – Direct Energy and PURE Energies are pleased to announce a new partnership which will promote a cleaner environment and energy efficiency for residential homes – at no cost to the home owner – through a unique offer which bundles home services with solar power. 

”Pairing solar power – a renewable resource – with high efficiency heating and cooling equipment and annual maintenance service is an amazing opportunity for home owners to embrace a greener home and realize substantial energy savings,” said Chris Buitron, Senior Marketing Director, Direct Energy Home Services. “We are always promoting energy efficiency tips and measures to consumers at large, while working to develop innovative ways to help our customers be more energy efficient.” 

PURE Energies – a provider of the world’s leading PV (photovoltaic) solar panels and inverters – will install and service solar systems that would normally cost between $40,000-80,000.

Homeowners can choose from different ‘bundle’ plans based on PV panel size. Each bundle is a combination of high efficiency heating and cooling equipment and products and a related maintenance package. Annual maintenance is core to ensuring cooling and heating appliances run smoothly and efficiently during their lifespan.

Oakland, Calif., September 15, 2010 — Chevron and Solar Millennium, LLC, won unanimous approval from the California Energy Commission to build and operate its Blythe Solar Power Project, a concentrating solar power facility.
Combined, the four 250 MW plants will deliver 1,000 MW of nominal generating capacity, or enough electricity to power more than 300,000 homes annually.
Construction of the first two Blythe solar power plants is expected to begin by the end of the year. The plant complex could start generating power in 2013.
Having received formal approval from the California Energy Commission, the project must now secure a Record of Decision approving the project’s Right of Way Grant from the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which is expected this fall.
The company is also actively pursuing completion of financing with the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program for the first phase of the project, representing about 500 MW of generating capacity.
Converting the high-intensity solar radiation of the California desert into electricity will bring a host of environmental benefits to the state. Once constructed, the solar project will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about two million tons per year, or the equivalent of removing more than 300,000 cars from the road.

PRINCETON, N.J. & PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As students attend classes in several Arizona school districts this fall, the schools will be featuring on-campus solar arrays specially designed to meet their own electricity needs while providing the school’s faculty with new teaching tools. This clean solar energy program has been conceived by Arizona’s Kennedy Partners, LLC and co-developed by Kennedy, NRG Solar, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG), and in conjunction with Pinnacle West, APS and public officials across the state.
As a first stage of the program, NRG Solar and Kennedy Partners are building 12 large solar pavilions at schools which are part of the Continental Elementary School District in Green Valley, south of Tucson and the Gila Bend Unified School District, southwest of Phoenix. Additionally, NRG and Kennedy Partners are currently working on similar large scale projects at Payson Unified School District, northeast of Phoenix, and Arlington Elementary School District, west of Phoenix. This unique public/private partnership allows the schools to benefit not only from available utility incentives but also from the federal and state tax benefits.

The solar cells on these pavilions will collectively generate more than 2.5 megawatts (MW) of power for the schools, roughly the same amount of power consumed by more than 2,000 homes. In reducing greenhouse gases, this is the equivalent of taking more than 550 passenger vehicles off Arizona’s roads.

By Karen E. Klein: As a former environmental activist, Danny Kennedy, 39, says he is “probably more missionary than mercenary” when it comes to clean energy. Still, the founder of Sungevity, a Berkeley (Calif.)-based company that sells solar power panels for homes, is “entirely comfortable with the fact that we’re going to make a killing in this industry.”

Coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy fuel the vast majority of America’s energy consumption. Solar energy and other renewable sources account for less than 3 percent of the total, although their share is growing. The residential solar market in the U.S. increased 101 percent during the 2009 recession, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn. With the nation’s toughest environmental regulations, California made up the lion’s share of that growth, with 220 megawatts of new capacity installed in 2009.

Already in the top 5 in sales of U.S. residential solar companies, three-year-old Sungevity wants to dominate the Golden State market, and is just starting to sell in Arizona and Colorado. This year, thanks to a new customer lease option, Kennedy says revenue is on track to exceed $25 million, up from just under $3 million in 2009. Read On