Solar Incentives Powering Growth In Arizona

Posted on July 10, 2011 by quest

Fueled by aggressive, new business incentives, Arizona is quickly becoming the premier location for renewable energy companies. The Arizona Commerce Authority will feature those new incentives and business opportunities available to companies at Intersolar North America, the leading annual solar industry exhibition and conference in San Francisco, July 12-14. Arizona is home to more than 100 significant solar energy businesses, including the world’s two largest solar companies, First Solar and Suntech.

“Arizona has been an ideal location for First Solar to grow its business, including our new factory under construction in Mesa that will add 600 associates to our local workforce,” said Maja Wessels, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs for Tempe-based First Solar. “Arizona offers an attractive business climate, a talented workforce and boundless potential for clean solar energy.”In recent months, Arizona has experienced significant growth in the renewable energy marketplace. Companies are taking advantage of tax incentives, a pro-business climate, a specialized workforce and more sunny days than any other state in the country.

“Arizona’s aggressive new focus on solar and renewable energy following the passage of the Arizona Competitiveness Package will significantly enhance economic development opportunities and encourage business relocation for companies that are leading the way in this fast-paced, innovative industry,” said Governor Jan Brewer. “The ACA is spreading the word that Arizona is the place to be for cutting-edge solar technology.”Incentives for renewable energy companies in Arizona include: Up to 10% of capital investments as a refundable income tax credit, Arizona Competes deal closing fund, Income tax credits up to $9,000 for each quality new job, Up to $1.5 million in reimbursable grants to train employees, Up to 34% R&D tax credit, and Significant business tax reductions including lowering the state income tax from 6.97% to 4.9%.

“The U.S. solar industry has the opportunity to double in the coming year. Arizona and the ACA are committed to being a part of that growth,” said Don Cardon, president and CEO of the ACA. “Arizona is armed with business opportunities and tax incentives which make us the leading contender in the renewable energy.”

QUESTPOINT IS: MOBILE

Cali Gets More Solar Power More Solar Jobs

Posted on July 1, 2011 by quest

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has just announced offers of conditional commitments for loan guarantees, of approximately $4.5 billion, to support three alternating current Cadmium Telluride (Cd-Te) thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar generation facilities. The Department is offering a conditional commitment for a $680 million loan guarantee to support the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project, conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.88 billion in loans to support the Desert Sunlight project, and conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees of $1.93 billion in loans to support the Topaz Solar project. First Solar, Inc., with headquarters in Tempe, Arizona, is sponsoring all three projects and will provide Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules for the projects from a new manufacturing plant that has begun construction in Mesa, Arizona, as well as from its recently expanded manufacturing plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, which serves as its primary hub for engineering, research and development. The company expects that the projects will create a combined 1,400 jobs in California during peak construction.

“These projects will bring immediate jobs to California in addition to hundreds more across the supply chain,” said Secretary Chu. “Together the projects will power hundreds of thousands of homes with clean, renewable power and increase our global competitiveness in the clean energy economy.” DOE is offering a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to AV Solar Ranch 1, LLC to support the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project. The 230 megawatt (MW) project will be located in the Antelope Valley area of the Western Mojave Desert, approximately 80 miles north of Los Angeles, California. The project is expected to generate 350 construction jobs and will feature a utility-scale deployment of innovative inverters with voltage regulation and monitoring technologies that are new to the U.S. market. The inverters enable the project to provide more stable and continuous power, increasing the efficiency and reliability of large-scale solar power plants greater than 100 MW. The facility is expected to generate over 622,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to powering over 54,000 homes, and will avoid over 350,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Power from the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 project will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

DOE is offering conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees to Desert Sunlight 250, LLC and Desert Sunlight 300, LLC to support the Desert Sunlight project. The 550 MW project is expected to generate 550 jobs during construction and will be located on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in eastern Riverside County, California. The Desert Sunlight project is expected to use 8.8 million Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules, which are commercially proven and have been deployed since 2001. The facility is expected to generate enough electricity to power over 110,000 homes and will avoid over 735,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The DOE is also offering conditional commitments for partial loan guarantees to Topaz Solar Farms, LLC to support the Topaz Solar project. The 550 MW project is expected to generate 500 jobs during construction and will be located in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California. The Topaz Solar project will use over 8.5 million Cd-Te thin film solar PV modules and is anticipated to generate enough electricity to power approximately 110,000 homes and avoid nearly 725,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The project’s power will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

BUTTE COLLEGE POWERED BY 100% SOLAR ENERGY

Brown Praises Job Creation At World’s Largest Solar Project

Posted on June 17, 2011 by quest

California Governor Jerry Brown, Jr. today joined Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other federal, state and local officials at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Blythe Solar Power Project, a plan to build the largest solar energy facility in the world. The project will bring thousands of construction jobs to Riverside County and help California obtain 33 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. “It makes sense to power California with renewable wind and solar energy that protects clean air and water and promotes energy independence,” Governor Brown said. “Renewable energy projects also stimulate business investment in California and create thousands of new jobs.”

Brown also visited six other solar and wind energy projects—just 5% of the state’s 270 total renewable energy projects—including: First Solar’s Desert Sunlight, Solar Millenium’s Palen Solar Power Project, NextEra’s Genesis facility, Solar Reserve’s Rice Airfield Project, Abengoa’s Mojave Solar Project, and Terragen’s Alta-Oak Creek wind power project. The projects Brown visited today are estimated to create 5,390 new construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs in California. Upon completion, these power plants will generate 3,470 megawatts of energy, or 6 percent of California’s peak energy requirement, which is enough energy to power more than 1.4 million single-family homes.

In 2010, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies surveyed 12 solar, wind, and geothermal projects and found an average of 4,258 jobs would be created per month during construction. Skilled and non-skilled trades needed to work on these projects include steel and ironworkers, teamsters, plumbers and pipefitters, cement masons, electricians, operating engineers, and managers and general laborers. These projects would also bring nearly 1,000 long-term operations and maintenance jobs to California. Source: Imperial Valley News

33% of Electricity Must Come from Renewables by 2020

Why Water Conservation Is Important

A New Day For Solar City And Google

Posted on June 14, 2011 by quest

SolarCity and Google , today announced the creation of a new $280 million fund to finance residential solar projects. The Google-backed fund is the first collaboration between the Internet giant and the nation’s leading solar power and energy efficiency service provider, and represents Google’s largest investment to date in the clean energy sector. The fund is SolarCity’s largest project financing fund and the largest residential solar fund created in the U.S. SolarCity has now created 15 project funds with seven different partners to finance $1.28 billion in solar projects. Google has now invested more than $680 million in a wide range of clean energy technologies. This marks Google’s first investment in residential solar.

The SolarCity/Google fund will extend solar lease (SolarLease) and power purchase agreement (SolarPPA) options to customers who desire to have solar panels installed on their homes, but do not wish to make the larger upfront investment to purchase the systems. SolarCity serves Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas, and has more than 15,000 solar projects completed or underway. More than 12,000 of those customers have chosen SolarCity’s financing options, while 3,000 have purchased their systems.

“Google has made a series of investments in renewable energy because they make business sense and help deploy a range of solutions that can help move us toward a clean energy future,” said Rick Needham, Director of Green Business Operations at Google. “Now, through this partnership with SolarCity, we’re excited to be making our first investment in distributed residential solar, making it easier and more affordable for consumers across the country, including our own employees, to use renewable energy at their own homes.”

Top 10 Solar Trends for 2011

Nepal Schools Say Namaste To Solar Energy

Posted on June 13, 2011 by quest

by Jasmine Greene EarthTechling: Tilak Pun and co-worker Clif Swigget of Knowledge Mosaic have created a plan called the “Solar Energy for Shikha Schools.” This plan seeks to bring technology to a remote part of the world by providing consistent energy via renewable means.

Pun himself graduated from the Shikha higher secondary school and knows first-hand the energy issues over 350 schools are having. Power outages in these schools are a frequent occurrence and often last for days, severely limiting options and opportunities to study. Shikha’s solar panels will help at least power the numerous donated computers in these schools to allow access to the Internet and communication. Pun tested a small prototype of the panels out in Seattle and was able to successfully grill shrimp on a small Nepalese grill to ensure compatibility with the Nepalese current.

Pun, along with Swigget and his two sons, plan to travel to Nepal in August and install the solar panels. The installation of these panels will lead the four along the Annapuna circuit, reaching elevations of 17,000 feet and taking around two days while the men carry ten solar panels and ten batteries, altogether weighing 1,400 pounds. Besides getting support from Knowledge Mosaic, the project is receiving help from the Nepal’s Secretary of Ministry of Education and the Namaste Children’s Fund. Knowledge Mosaic will track its employees’ progress in Nepal via their blog. Pun’s efforts are not only to provide clean and reliable energy, but, as he stated, are also to “giv[e] these children access to the wealth of knowledge and educational resources available on the internet [that] will enable them to dream big and realize new possibilities.”

SOLAR DICTIONARY

Solar and Clean Energy In the Midst of a Transformation

Posted on June 7, 2011 by quest

As the clean energy industry emerges from a challenging period caused by the global economic downturn, it is entering a stage of rapid change in which business models are being transformed against a backdrop of regulatory uncertainty. In several key sectors, the market is shifting back toward business structures and technologies that were once abandoned, but are now being revived. A new white paper from Pike Research identifies 10 key trends that are part of this transformation. The paper, which includes commentary and predictions about the state of the clean energy industry in 2011 and beyond, is available for free download on Pike Research’s website.

“Clean Energy: Ten Trends to Watch in 2011 and Beyond”
“As the clean energy industry matures and as it simultaneously comes to grips with economic challenges, market leaders are experimenting with new business models, both at a large scale and on a distributed basis,” says senior analyst Peter Asmus. “At the same time, key industry players are utilizing an increasingly wider diversity of technology options, especially in the solar and wind sectors.”
Key clean energy trends that Pike Research is watching in 2011 and beyond include the following: