400 Low-Income Families in Cali to Recieve Solar Systems

Joanna Schroeder

Here is a feel good story for a Monday. Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited’s U.S. subsidiary Yingli Green Energy Americas, Inc. has formed a partnership with GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit solar installer, to provide solar modules for 400 low-income families during 2011. Yingli Americas is a photovoltaic manufacturer (PV), and GRID Alternatives provides renewable energy and energy efficiency services, …

Electricity, Energy, Solar

EPA Names DC Leading Green Power City

Joanna Schroeder

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named Washington D.C. as the leading EPA Green Power Community. Combined, government, businesses, institutions, and residents in the nation’s capital are collectively purchasing nearly 756 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power each year. This is enough to meet 8 percent of the city’s total electricity use. All voluntary, this feat catapulted the city into …

biogas, biomass, Electricity, Energy, Environment, Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind

Largest PV Solar Power Plant Operating in Colorado

Joanna Schroeder

The largest photovoltaic solar power plant (PV) in the state of Colorado is now operating. The 19-megawatt (mW) Greater Sandhill solar power plant began generating power on December 22, 2010 and is now complete. It will generate enough power to meet the electricity needs of approximately 5,000 homes. The Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. project was completed in nine months. …

Electricity, Energy, Solar

New Jersey Utility Installs Rooftop Solar Array

John Davis

New Jersey’s oldest and largest publicly owned utility has put in a 921-kilowatt rooftop solar at the power provider’s Central Division Headquarters. With some help from Solis Partners, a leading developer and integrator of commercial solar power systems, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) put in the U.S.-made SolarWorld flat, glass-plated crystalline panels and Solyndra thin film panels, part …

Solar, Utilities

Ford Michigan Assembly Plant Goes Solar

Joanna Schroeder

Ford Motor Company is now manufacturing American made-cars with solar power. The Ford Michigan Assembly Plant’s solar installation currently provides 500 kilowatts (kW) of power for the plant and the solar facility will be integrated with a 705 kW energy storage facility that can store 2 million-watt hours of energy using batteries. This is enough to power 100 average Michigan …

Car Makers, Electric Vehicles, Electricity, Solar

2 Energy Companies Team Up to Form Alterra Power

Joanna Schroeder

Canada is now the home to a giant renewable energy company. Vancouver-based Magma Energy, a geothermal company, has purchased wind, solar and hydro energy company Plutonic Power, also based in Vancouver, to form Alterra Power Corp. The deal is worth around $190 million but when the two companies are combined, their net worth is estimated to be worth $575 million. …

Electricity, Energy, Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind

City of Hayward Adds Solar Power to City Water Facility

Joanna Schroeder

The City of Hayward, California has completed the installation of a 1 megawatt (MW) solar energy system  for the city’s Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF). The system will generated an estimated 1.95 megawatt hours of energy each year offsetting approximately 24 percent of the need’s of WPCF. The facility treats nearly 12 million gallons of wastewater per day for the …

Electricity, Energy, Solar, water

Kyocera Installs 2 Solar Systems at Phoenix Schools

Joanna Schroeder

Kyocera Solar has completed the installation of solar electric systems in two Phoenix, Arizona schools: Copper Ridge in Scottsdale and Cholla Elementary in Casa Grande. The solar arrays were installed in partnership with SolarCity and featured Kyocera solar modules. Combined, the two solar systems will produce 764 kilowatts (kW) of electricity. The Copper Ridge School’s solar system is comprised of …

Electricity, Energy, Solar