Duke Energy Ohio is seeking proposals for renewable energy resources. The energy company says it’s looking to begin delivering energy through more renewable means sometime between 2009 and 2012. The effort falls in line with Ohio’s new renewable energy portfolio standards. Types of renewable resources that would qualify: — Wind energy — Solar photovoltaic or solar thermal energy — Geothermal …
Sun Powering Rice Milling Operation
A California rice miller will dedicate the largest rice plant solar installation in the U.S. on Wednesday, June 18th. Far West Rice will unveil its $6.5 million, one-million megawatt, Mitsubishi Solar System, that the company is using to power its milling operation at Nelson (south of Chico), California. The solar array will meet about 70-80 percent of the total energy …
Investment Banks Bank on Alternative Energy
A growth sector focused investment bank is hosting its annual Alternative Energy Conference today at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. The Thomas Weisel Partners one-day event will focus on the opportunities and challenges of the Alternative Energy industry for 2008 and the future. The conference will showcase presentations from over 30 established and emerging public and private companies, …
PG&E Mixes Solar with Biofuels
Pacific Gas and Electric Company says adding renewable solar hybrid power to its energy mix will mean “around-the-clock” clean energy production. PG&E has entered into two contracts with San Joaquin Solar Technology that are meant to combine solar power and biofuel. The contracts equate to 106.8 megawatts of solar thermal-biofuel hybrid power. Located near Coalinga, CA, the solar-biofuel projects will …
Alternative Energy Incentives Hit Snag in Senate
A bill that would have extended and boosted the producer-incentive tax breaks on a host of alternative energy sources, including wind, solar, biodiesel, clean-coal and other projects to help spur alternative energy development, has been stopped in the U.S. Senate… for the time being. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), would have extended the $1-a-gallon producer tax incentive …
IEA: Solar and Wind Part of Plan to Halve CO2 Emissions
A report out from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world will need to spend $45 trillion if it wants to cut in half the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. And part of that money will need to be spent on solar and wind power. In this story posted on Bloomberg.com, Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA’s executive director, …
Georgia Gets First Solar Cell Builder
Atlanta-based Suniva, Inc. has announced it will build its first solar cell facility at Norcross… a first for the state of Georgia as well. This story posted on Chattanoogan.com says the company will use technological advances developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology to make high-efficiency solar cells: “This new solar cell facility is a perfect example of the way …
Energy Abundance
This weekend I visited the RIT/NASA AstroZone exhibit in St. Louis. The free exhibit was offered in conjunction with the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society and it offered all kinds of fascinating scientific demonstrations: from seeing yourself in infrared to star-gazing in a portable planetarium to being enveloped in Cosmic Collisions while watching a video a portable dome. …
Solar Power in Spain
Another 8.7 megawatts of solar energy is now available in Spain. SunPower Corp. has opened two new solar-electric power plants in Llerena and Lebrija. The solar power plant constructed by SunPower in Llerena is 4.8 megawatts; the plant in Lebrija is 3.9 megawatts. In Spain, SunPower has completed or has signed contracts to deliver solar power plants totaling more than …
Bubble in Renewables Feared
A report out from accounting firm KPMG says that 60 percent of executives believe that consolidation in the renewable energy sector will continue. That’s leading to fears that a bubble may be developing in the solar, wind, and biofuel sectors as bidders compete for assets and send prices sharply higher. This story from Reuters says many of those same executives …