11Aug

SunPower, First Solar, environmentalists reach agreement on 700 MW of PV projects

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments
SunPower, First Solar, environmentalists reach agreement on 700 MW of PV projects

Email, RSS Follow

SunPower Corporation (San Jose, California, U.S.) and a subsidiary of First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) announced that they have reached a settlement agreement with three environmental groups on two large solar photovoltaic (PV) plants under development in Central California.

The agreement between Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity and the solar companies should remove barriers to the development of the 250 MW California Valley Solar Ranch and the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
9Aug

BrightSource applies for second, 500 MW CSP project in California

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments

Email, RSS Follow

BrightSource Energy Inc. (Oakland, California, U.S.) has applied to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for permission to build a second large concentrating solar power (CSP) project utilizing a solar power tower design.

The 500 MW Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System (HHSEGS) has been proposed for 13.3 square kilometers of privately owned land in Inyo County, California, 72 kilometers west of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The proposed project will be comprised of two 270 MW CSP plants. The CEC notes that the solar power tower technology for the HHSEGS system will utilize a taller receiver tower at 230 meters, which will allow for heliostat rows to be placed closer together, utilizing less land for equivalent power generation.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
9Aug

Tracking the CPV Global Market: Ready to Fulfill Its Potential?

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments

Email, RSS Follow

Not to be confused with Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP), Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV) systems use mirrors or lenses to focus the sun’s light onto a small area of photovoltaic material. By focusing the sun’s light (usually by several hundred times, but potentially by up to 1000 times) in order to reduce the amount of expensive semiconductor material that is needed to produce a usable quantity of energy, and so reduce the overall costs of the system.

While CPV has had its supporters for many years, it has so far made little impact on the global photovoltaic market. Nonetheless, despite this relatively slow progress, a series of recent developments and the possibility of rapidly falling costs mean that the sector is once again attracting attention.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
8Aug

SunPower signs 15-Megawatt solar panel and tracker technology supply agreement with Mahindra in India

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments
SunPower signs 15-Megawatt solar panel and tracker technology supply agreement with Mahindra in India

Email, RSS Follow

SunPower Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) on August 4th, 2011 announced that Mahindra EPC Services Pvt Ltd. has ordered 15 megawatts of SunPower solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and SunPower T0 Tracker technology for delivery by the end of this year.

The solar panels will be used by Mahindra for building multiple grid-connected solar power plants in India in the Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat regions.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
6Aug

That “Other” Solar Tower Technology

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments

Email, RSS Follow

Giant Arizona Solar Tower (and confusing names) that is trying to find funding. Brightsource is the company that is presently building Solar Towers with an entirely different technology.

  (more…)

Share

Tags:
6Aug

GlassPoint Solar to build 7MW solar thermal powered oil recovery system in Oman

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments
GlassPoint Solar to build 7MW solar thermal powered oil recovery system in Oman

Email, RSS Follow

GlassPoint Solar (Fremont, California, U.S.) announced that it has won a contract from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO, Muscat, Oman) to build an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) system powered by a 7 MW solar thermal plant.

The solar thermal system will use GlassPoint’s single transit trough (STT) technology, and the company says the system will produce 11 tons of steam at temperatures of 312 degrees Celsius and pressures of 1,450 PSI.

“After extensively researching solar EOR solutions, we’ve identified GlassPoint as the most promising technology for this pilot” said PDO Corporate Technology Advisor Dr. Syham Bentouati.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
29Jul

Egypt’s Solar Slides House Has a Transforming Perforated Facade

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments
Egypt’s Solar SLIDES House Has a Transforming Perforated Facade

Email, RSS Follow

A team of architecture and engineering students have devised a way to harness Egypt’s strong solar rays and combine them with an innovative design. The SLIDES house — which stands for sustainable, livable and interactive design — is the American University in Cairo’s entry for 2012’s European Solar Decathlon. The home is designed to maximize solar power efficiency and sustainability.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
25Jul

UK’s largest rooftop project to provide 100 percent solar power

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments
UK’s largest rooftop project to provide 100 percent solar power

Email, RSS Follow

Lightsource Renewable Energy and Octopus Investments have now completed what is thought to be the largest solar rooftop in the UK. At 1.65MW the project, installed at the Promens warehouse in Beccles, Suffolk, trumps the previous 1.16MW record. Developed by Lightsource and constructed by Grupotec, the solar installation was financed by hundreds of investors throughout the UK.

REC supplied 7,000, 235Wp multicrystalline solar panels for the project, with Danfoss 15kW inverters additionally utilised. The modules, at 65.5in x 39in x 1.49in, are said to hold 14.2% efficiency and will support the Promens warehouse to the point where 100% of the power-generated will be used on site.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
23Jul

New GSE figures: Italy reaches almost 7.8 GW of PV plants

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
No comments

Email, RSS Follow

An interactive online atlas created by Italy’s Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) reports that the nation has reached almost 7.80 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants.

The region of Puglia in Southern Italy has reached the greatest reported installed capacity, at 1.29 GW. The majority of capacity comes from plants larger than 50 kW, which total 6.22 GW of capacity across the nation.

(more…)

Share

Tags:
23Jul

World’s Largest Solar PV Farm to be Built in U.S.? Maybe!

Categories: Green Technology & Efficient Solutions
1 Comment
World’s Largest Solar PV Farm to be Built in U.S Maybe!

Email, RSS Follow

The race is on to choose the best location for the world’s largest solar power complex in the United States. Solar power experts have been working behind the scenes on a project that will see the most advanced and the largest solar power farm emerging to change the landscape somewhere in the southeastern United States.

By last count, there were seven finalists left, all hoping to have the solar farm in their midst. The International Energy Agency in this year’s global outlook says renewable energy sources will raise their profile in the coming months. All seven communities named as finalists for the solar farm are located in southeastern United States, the agency said.

(more…)

Share

Tags: