A new bill modeled in part on successful solar energy programs in New Jersey and California was introduced in Congress last week with support from both of the Garden State’s Senators and U.S. Rep. Albio Sires. The bill – which has the somewhat clunky title of the 10 Million Solar Roofs and 10 Million Gallons… Read more »
International Battery, a U.S. manufacturer and developer of large-format lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, is partnering with system integrator HNU Energy to assess the effectiveness of storing solar energy using new, more-efficient battery technology. If successful, the solar power generation and energy storage project in Maui, Hawaii, could pave the way for small businesses and others that… Read more »
Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, lowered its full-year forecast after wind park developers delayed or canceled orders because of a lack of financing. Vestas expects 2010 sales of 7 billion euros ($9.6 billion), compared with a previous range of 7 billion to 8 billion euros, the Randers, Denmark-based company… Read more »
It started as just an idea, but now the thought of a wind farm in mid-Missouri could become a reality. Mark Chamberlin is a chicken and dairy farmer who originally had the idea to put a wind turbine on his property. “You always have a lot of time to think when you’re in tractors,” Chamberlin… Read more »
Ten years ago energy pundits said Portugal was wasting its rich renewable energy sources; now, the country generates 35.9% of its electricity from wind and solar energy. Portugal’s wind energy industry has led the country’s shift away from fossil fuels. Recently, the Portuguese wind industry displaced Spain as the wind industry that provides the second-largest… Read more »
The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved two grants totaling about $1.7 million for studying the development of offshore wind technologies in the state. Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center and the University of Michigan’s Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute are getting $1.3 million for jointly researching offshore wind and ice data… Read more »
The world’s largest nuclear plant builder, Areva SA, is diversifying into solar power with the aim of becoming an industry leader, as it acquires U.S.-based solar thermal player Ausra, the company said on Monday.”This market is set to have 20 gigawatts by the year 2020. Areva has an objective to be a world leader in… Read more »
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst. “After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy,” said Nicolas Sarkis, Director of the Paris-based Arab Petroleum Research Centre (APRC), which… Read more »
New Energy Husum, in cooperation with the World Wind Energy Association, is hosting the 1st World Summit for Small-scale Wind – Turbines, with participants and speakers from 11 nations. Leading experts from Egypt, Argentina, Belgium, China, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Mali, Spain and the USA will be presenting an overview of the use and potential… Read more »
The world’s wind power capacity grew by 31 per cent in 2009, according to statistics released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). The boost added 37.5 GW to total global wind power installations, bringing the figure up to 157.9 GW. One third of these additions were made in China, which experienced yet another year… Read more »
President Obama is spending $2.1 million to help Suntech Power Holdings build a solar-panel plant in Arizona. It will hire 70 Americans to assemble components made by Suntech’s 11,000 Chinese workers. That gap shows the challenge Obama faces as he works to create “green” jobs. Asia makes more than half the world’s wind and solar… Read more »
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar journeyed out into Nantucket Sound on a Coast Guard vessel last week to signal the Obama administration’s readiness to put some muscle behind wind energy. To do that, Salazar has to resolve a battle over building a wind farm on 25 square miles of open water that has driven a rift… Read more »
A special three-part series in last week’s San Jose Mercury News, entitled “The Cleantech Revolution,” highlighted the enormous economic opportunity in the clean-tech sector and warned that the U.S. is quickly falling behind while Asia seeks to gain global market dominance.In its analysis of the clean technology market, the Mercury’s rhetoric is grand and its… Read more »
Israeli solar energy developer Arava Power said on Sunday it signed long-term contracts with 15 agricultural cooperatives to build mid-size solar fields at an investment of 2 billion shekels ($533 million). The fields will produce a total of 100 megawatts of solar energy using photovoltaics, for an average of 6.5 megawatts per field. Arava said… Read more »