New Mexico farmworkers are receiving green job training installing solar panels, according to the Association of Farm Worker Opportunity Programs. HELP-New Mexico, a statewide community-based organization headquartered in Albuquerque, helped prepare a group of farmworkers to obtain certifications that will provide them with the skills, knowledge, and ability to work together with journeyman electricians to design and install solar panel …
Obama Calls for End to Oil Subsidies
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama voiced strong support for renewable energy and an end to oil subsidies. “We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough,” the president said. “It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s …
Petra Solar and Enviromena Form Alliance
Petra Solar and Enviromena Power Systems have formed an alliance so the two can develop solar and smart grid projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Petra Solar is the pioneer and market leader of Smart Solar, an innovative approach that couples solar with smart grid technology to generate clean, safe renewable energy while making the electric infrastructure …
ESA Renewables Enters Four Solar O&M Agreements
ESA Renewables, (ESA), a leading turnkey solar solutions provider, has entered into separate multi-year operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts with four solar farms in North Carolina. The four O&M agreements are with: -The Murphy Solar Farm, which is approximately eight acres in size and consists of 4,298 ground-mounted solar panels. The solar installation is located on the grounds of the …
Biodiesel Consulting Group Expands
Biodiesel consulting firm Lee Enterprises of Little Rock, Ark., has announced plans for expansion in 2012 into ethanol, biomass, wind, solar and geothermal, and the addition of consultants and strategic partners. “We are currently the world’s largest biodiesel consulting group, and most of our consultants and strategic partners are already very involved in the other alternative fuels,” said principal owner …
Solar Energy to Power Irrigation for Chilean Company
Subsole, one of Chile’s largest locally owned exporters of table fruits, is planning to use solar energy from the Atacama desert to help supply its power as the company grows. Subsole plans to increase output 60 percent over the next four years, mostly by expanding farming in the Copiapó Valley, a region 800 kilometers north of Santiago that is surrounded …
Solar Decathlon May Move
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is looking for a new location for Solar Decathlon 2013. DOE hopes to provide other communities with the opportunity to host the competition and share the economic and education and outreach benefits of the event. Since 2002, the Solar Decathlon has been held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where it has successfully …
Solar Adoption Highest Among Middle Class
A new study from PV Solar Report and SunRun reports that families in median zip codes make up the majority of California home owners who have installed solar energy. Nearly two-thirds of solar installations in ’09, ’10 and ’11 were completed in homes where the household median income is than $85,000 per year. In addition, the state is seeing a …
San Diego Utility Considers Increasing Solar Costs
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has proposed a General Rate Case (GRC) “network use charge” that would impose new costs on more than 14,000 solar power producers in the utility territory who are exporting solar energy to the grid. In response, the San Diego Solar Coalition has filed for intervenor status with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that …
HyperSolar to Use Solar to Make Natural Gas
HyperSolar has filed a patent application for its technology to produce natural gas using solar power. According to the company, the natural gas is a carbon neutral methane gas that can be used as a replacement for fossil-fuel based natural gas. “The sun is our greatest source of energy and a method to use this energy to make clean, renewable …