Consumers Energy has chosen 22 new projects offered by businesses and homeowners across Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to produce solar energy. Five non-residential projects in four counties were selected. The projects will provide 546 kilowatts of electric capacity, and they range in size from 21 to 150 kilowatts. Seventeen residential customer projects in 13 counties – Bay, Barry, Clinton, Eaton, Gladwin, Hillsdale, Ingham, Jackson, Kent, Monroe, Newaygo, Ottawa and Washtenaw – also were selected. The projects will provide about 171 kilowatts of electric capacity, and they range in size from 2.5 to 20 kilowatts. The customers were chosen as part of the company’s Experimental Advanced Renewable Program (EARP). The program provides for the long-term purchase of renewable energy generated by solar energy systems owned by electric customers.- SunEdison, Inc. has announced the closing of a US $155 million non-recourse debt financing arrangement with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and CorpBanca, a prominent Chilean commercial bank, who also provided a local Chilean Peso VAT facility equivalent to US $35 million. The debt proceeds will be used in Chile for the construction of a 72.8 MWp (megawatt) merchant solar power plant.
- Vernier Software & Technology has launched the Renewable Energy with Vernier lab book and the Vernier Energy Sensor to help students explore renewable energy concepts through engaging, hands-on investigations. The lab book, which was written and aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), contains 26 experiments that use the Vernier Energy Sensor, as well as KidWind Experiment Kits, which are exclusively manufactured and distributed by Vernier.
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has joined forces with Lappeenranta University of Technology and the Finland Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku in the launch of an extensive development project for a brand new energy system and its associated business sector in Finland. The NEO-CARBON ENERGY project, targeting the storage of solar and wind energy, has been granted major strategic funding by Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation for the next couple of years.
