The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that its investigation into anti-dumping and countervailing duties for solar cell products from China and Taiwan will move forward. The announcement was made public following a preliminary phase vote in Washington, DC. The anti-dumping and countervailing duty on solar cells issue stems from a compliant initiated by Frank Asbeck and his company …
Crescent Solar Energy Project Commissioned
SolarReserve has confirmed that the 110 megawatt (MW) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project located near Tonopah, Nevada, has entered the plant commissioning phase. According to the company, Crescent Dunes is the first utility-scale facility in the world to feature advanced molten salt power tower energy storage capabilities. The Crescent Dunes Project is more than five times the capacity output of …
U.S. Utlility-Scale Solar 60% to Goal
The U.S. solar industry is more than 60 percent of the way to achieving cost-competitive utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity – only three years into the Department’s decade-long SunShot Initiative, reports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). To help continue this progress, the DOE announced $25 million in new funding to strengthen U.S. solar manufacturing for photovoltaic and concentrating solar …
Clean Energy for Resilient Communities
“Resilient communities need resilient power. Without dependable power, a community can be brought to its knees, and the most vulnerable will suffer the most,” was written in a new report, Clean Energy for Resilient Communities. Based on the success of Baltimore, the report is a blueprint for how a city could become more “power resilient” and details how cities use …
Reusing EV Batteries for Energy Storage
Sumitomo Corporation has developed and installed what the company says is the world’s first large-scale power storage system which utilizes used batteries collected from electric vehicles (EVs). This commercial scale storage system, built on Yume-shima Island, Osaka, will begin operating this month. Over the next three years, the system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the …
Advancing Solar Energy in Saudi Arabia
An agreement to jointly fund a feasibility study for the establishment of a vertically integrated solar PV (photovoltaic) manufacturing complex at Wa’ad Al Shammal in Saudi Arabia has been signed. SunEdison, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Government of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Investment Company hope to move forward with a project to produce polysilicon through modules. …
Princeton Power, EnStorage Awarded BIRD Grant
Princeton Power Systems and EnStorage have been awarded a $950,000 grant from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD). The grant will support the commercialization and deployment of an energy storage system based on EnStorage’s proprietary hydrogen bromide (HBr) flow battery and Princeton Power Systems’ inverters and site controller. The first system will be deployed to support a …
Solar Lights Up Students in Zambia
SolarAid and Yingli Green Energy have “lit up” Mayukwayukwa High School in Kaoma, Zambia by installing a solar PV system on the newly built UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) School. The project was successfully completed with partner contributions including Atama Solar Energy, Kingspan Energy and Solar Roof Systems. The High School is located in the Mayukwayukwa Settlement, one …
Study Finds U.S. Solar Jobs Grew 20% in 2013
The Solar Foundation (TSF) has released its fourth annual National Solar Jobs Census, which found that the U.S. solar industry employed 142,698 Americans in 2013. This figure includes the addition of 23,682 solar jobs over the previous year, representing a 19.9 percent growth in employment since September 2012. Solar employment grew 10 times faster than the national average employment growth …
UK Government to Boost Community Energy
According to a survey conducted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) located in the UK, more than 50 percent of people surveyed said that saving money on bills would be the major motivations for getting involved with community energy programs. The survey also found that approximately 3.5 million bill payers are ready to get together with other …