Solar Powered Portable Generator Offers Green Energy

Posted on January 3, 2011 by quest

Universal Power Group today announced the launch of its the Ecotricity ECO1800 solar-powered portable generator. UPG’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Ian Edmonds said, “Our entire Ecotricity line will be focused on products that are as convenient and useful as they are green. The ECO1800 provides an ideal alternative to noisy, gas-powered emergency generators and is also perfect for recreational uses, from camping and outdoor events to tailgating at your favorite game.”The Ecotricity ECO1800 features an 1800W inverter with four 120V outlets and a 50-foot cord that is ideal for generating environmentally friendly home backup power, emergency power and remote power for both indoor and outdoor use. The ECO1800 features a high-efficiency solar panel designed to enable quick system recharge without the noise or harmful emissions typically associated with portable gas-powered generators. The unit includes a cart that allows the foldable solar panel to be easily transported and positioned for optimal exposure to solar rays. The Ecotricity ECO1800 is also flexible, allowing for solar charging, or charging through standard DC or AC outlets. Best of all, it is a true “plug-and-play” product – ready to use right out of the box with no installation required.

The new generator can be fully charged in 12 “sun hours” from its solar panel, so on a camping trip the generator can be charged during the day and used to power lanterns and radios in the evening through its 1800W of continuous AC power. When it comes to home backup and emergency power, the ECO1800 can supply power to refrigerators, TVs, radios and mobile phone chargers during a power outage, as well as emergency power for lights, garage doors and sump pumps to help mitigate the impact of storms. In an emergency, a fully charged unit can provide up to four hours of emergency power for a cordless phone, television, clock radio and lamp.

The ECO1800 is also ideal for small office use as it can power a cordless phone, printer, laptop computer and wireless router for up to 10 hours in the event of an outage.The Ecotricity ECO1800 will be available through automotive, mass merchandise and other retailers beginning next spring. Future Ecotricity products, including solar-powered plug-and-play power hub variations, are also scheduled to be introduced in 2011.

EXPLORE CAREERS

Solar Power to Brew Coffee in Virginia

Posted on December 30, 2010 by quest

The Dominion Foundation, has awarded a $30,000 grant to Virginia Highlands Community College for the development of “Wolf Grounds,” an on-campus, student-run coffee shop. The non-profit business will involve 100 percent organically grown and recyclable products, local suppliers, Energy Star appliances, and both solar hot-water heating and solar photovoltaic technologies. The coffee shop project will serve as a student learning tool. “Dominion’s grant will allow our students to experience first-hand the process of opening and operating a business within the security of college supervision,” said Virginia Highlands President Ron Proffitt. “This is an outstanding opportunity for our students, and we are grateful to Dominion for their support of the college, our students and this project.”

Besides providing experience to business students in running a self-sustaining business, the project also will provide a hands-on learning opportunity to students in solar energy system design, equipment installation, and system maintenance and repair. “Dominion is excited about supporting this hands-on learning project and particularly because of its emphasis on energy conservation, efficiency and alternative energy generation,” said Preston Sloane, station director for the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center. The power station is being built in nearby Wise County, about 30 miles from the campus, by Dominion Virginia Power, a subsidiary of Dominion Resources.

The coffee shop, which is scheduled to open in April, will be managed by the campus organization Students in Free Enterprise. Roughly half the students involved in the project’s development will continue their involvement in the shop’s operation. For example, information technology students will continue to maintain the shop’s Web page and produce brochures, marketing students will promote the business and accounting students will manage the books. Dominion is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,600 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates the nation’s largest natural gas storage system and serves retail energy customers in 13 states. The Dominion Foundation is its’ philanthropic arm.

GO ORGANIC

Solar Prosperity Project in Effect in New Mexico  

Posted on December 29, 2010 by quest

Federal and state governments and private companies have been budgeting millions of dollars to demonstrate cost-effective ways to store electricity generated by the solar or wind energy and dispatch it when needed. As a result PNM, a New Mexico utility, has planned to join with two educational partners and the Sandia National Laboratories in one of a growing number of renewable-energy storage and distribution projects getting under way across the country.   The PNM project has received about $2m from the federal Department of Energy as part of the overall cost of about $6m, and the project calls for the installation of a large lead-acid battery system to store and dispatch energy generated by a 500kW solar photovoltaic array.

The Prosperity Energy Storage Project it is to be built near the master-planned community Mesa del Sol off Interstate 25, about 1.5m south of the Albuquerque International Sunport, the city’s primary public airport.   The utility-scale battery system, which will have a storage capacity of 2MWh to 4MWh of electricity, is to be used for power conditioning, voltage smoothing and peak shifting, according to a Department of Energy document.   The project calls for the utility to test the system’s ability to mitigate voltage fluctuations from solar or wind-generated energy.

POWER FROM WIND & WAVES

SunPower Completes Montalto di Castro Solar Park

Posted on December 28, 2010 by quest

International solar company SunPower Corp has announced that it has completed the sale of its 44-megawatt Montalto di Castro solar park to a consortium of international investors that include MetLife, Fondo PPP Italia (managed by Fondaco SGR S.p.A and advised by Equiter S.p.A) and Voigt & Collegen. SunPower designed and built the solar power plant and will provide ongoing operations and maintenance services for the new owners. Barclays Capital advised MetLife on this transaction.

“With the sale of this power plant now completed, we have met the goal of developing, constructing and monetizing 72 megawatts from the Montalto di Castro solar park,” said Dennis Arriola, SunPower chief financial officer. “We are proud of this accomplishment and recognize the dedicated team and various independent parties that helped to deliver this successful outcome.”

The Montalto di Castro solar park, developed by SunPower, is located in the Lazio region of Italy near Rome, where the 20-MW first phase was connected to the grid in November of 2009, several weeks ahead of schedule. The 8-MW second phase was commissioned earlier this fall, and the third and fourth phases, totaling 44 MW, were completed earlier this month. SunPower financed the development and construction of the 44-MW with proceeds from the solar industry’s first-of-its-kind solar bond.

Solar Money House SunRun Expands New Markets

Bill Schuh has joined SunRun a solar power company service that offers a service similar to a lease that allows homeowners to upgrade their home to solar for as little as $0 upfront and simply pay monthly for solar electricity. Joining SunRun as vice president of sales. Bill Schuh will be growing network of installation partners. Schuh has already helped SunRun extend its partnership withThe Home Depot and enlist new installation partners to take SunRun’s solar power service to more communities across seven states.

Prior to joining SunRun, Schuh served as vice president, EMEA for Callidus Software Inc. where he led sales and marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At Callidus he grew a fledgling EMEA business from a small handful of customers in the UK to a successful business spanning more than 20 countries.

“We have an opportunity to provide clean, attractively-priced solar to millions of homeowners that aren’t aware today of how significantly they can benefit from it. Success requires a top-class sales and partner network that innovates constantly to reach potential customers in new ways,” said Schuh. “I look forward to supporting such a talented and passionate group of employees and partners at SunRun, and we’ll complement creativity with a relentless commitment to quality to achieve our goals.”

MORE GREEN NEWS WALL

Solar Maps Out Power in Salt Lake City

Posted on December 28, 2010 by quest

Salt Lake City joins the ranks of other cities such as San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles County, Anaheim and Portland which have solar maps. The Solar Salt Lake Project, an innovative partnership among Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah Clean Energy and other partners; as well as through work with CH2M HILL and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities program. The solar map gives the citizens of Salt Lake City the ability to visit the site, enter in a property address and see a visual snapshot of the property rooftop and its suitability for solar panels.

Designed by Critigen a global leader in information technology consulting and IT outsourcing. The solar map demonstrates Critigen’s ability to deliver leading-edge visualization technologies. The Salt Lake City map utilizes a multicolored solar layer, where blue indicates lower solar radiation and red indicates an area of higher solar radiation. “As part of broader livability initiatives, Salt Lake City has set a goal to facilitate at least 10 megawatts of solar installations by 2015,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. “With tools like the solar map, we take the next steps to encourage adoption and further livability in our city,” he added.

These approaches make it simple for property owners to create highly accurate user-defined areas for solar panels in the rooftop areas with the highest solar radiation. The solar map then calculates the system size that will fit into the user-defined area, calculates the amount of electricity that will be generated, and provides information about the cost of the proposed system. If the system is not what the user expected, the property owner can redraw the area to get a different set of results. This tool offers a great deal of flexibility and convenience to those “do-it-yourself” citizens who are interested in solar. “Every step we take to make it easier for the general public to understand the value and potential of renewable resources on their own homes brings us closer to energy security in this country,” stated Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon.

VISIT THE SOLAR WALL

Beyond Solar Plans New South Africa Project

Posted on December 24, 2010 by quest

Beyond Solar the US based international non profit that provides educational, medical, and economic well being for communities in the developing world by providing solar powered electricity is initiating a new project in South Africa. Beyond Solar’s approach to community development is a hybrid systems that blends traditional donation models with basic microfinance concepts. They provide capital to finance the purchase of solar powered lighting products and villagers make weekly payments for the products they receive. By providing inexpensive and sustainable energy Beyond Solar seeks to increase exposure and facilitate solar power adoption rate.

“Throughout the year we have received a lot of inquiries and interest about our two previous distributions in Orissa, India. We are pleased to report that our process of using your donated funds to provide lights to the villages in Orissa has made a tremendous impact. Even more exciting is that our use of micro-financing principals has been a success. Beneficiaries have made “payments” to cover the cost of their lights, which were funded by their increased productivity as well as the money saved on kerosene they didn’t have to buy. These payments were deposited into a fund that was administered by village leaders, and upon complete repayment of the loans, the money was returned to the villagers for future development projects; the funds you give continue to give!” said Jeff Olshesky Beyond Solar Co Founder.

Olshesky, also commented, “In the coming weeks, I will be sending more updates about our new project. In the meantime, I ask that you consider making a tax-deductable donation to Beyond Solar. Our goal is to distribute lights to 300 households and to do this, we need to raise approximately $10,000. Give the gift of light this holiday season.” To make a donation, simply go to Beyond Solar.