The Rise & Shine is your daily source for all solar-industry news. Brought to you by Sweet Solar Home and the Experts at SunRun.

CALIFORNIA NEWS
Cal Net Metering Bill Stalls
A spat over licensing and labor couldn’t be resolved by state lawmakers when they considered a bill to expand the net metering program for solar and wind energy system owners.

Schwarzenegger to Hand Wins to Big Solar, Hydro Power This Week
According to the Los Angeles Times, Schwarzenegger is also considering directing state regulators to redefine “renewable” to include energy from hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants.

Is Schwarzenegger Considering Making Nuclear Power Renewable?
Keep an eye on California’s renewable-energy policies. They could, like so much else in the Bear Republic, have big national implications.

Solar-Powered, Affordable Housing Community Nears Completion
The new solar installations at the Crescent Park apartments in Richmond, California are nearing completion. This is largest solar-powered affordable housing community in the United States.

California Renewables Push Could Drive up Prices in Oregon
California’s push to supersize its renewable energy standards could drive electricity rates higher for Northwest consumers, strain the West’s transmission and hydroelectric systems, and create a host of thorny policy issues.

City Considers Way to Have Moreno Valley Become a Solar City
How Moreno Valley could make use of alternative energy sources for new and existing buildings is a topic for City Council study session Tuesday.

Loma Linda Strengthens Solar Commitment
The City Council has taken the initial steps on a solar-panel project at the city corporation yard on Barton Road east of Mountain View Avenue.

A Clean Energy Plan in Doubt
Fledging renewable firms are also springing up while investors and new technologies are poised to move beyond the current goal of 20 percent renewable energy by next year. It’s a landscape primed for change, but it needs certainty and clear rules.

Home Solar Prices Falling, Even As Rebates Shrink
On average, a home solar power system cost about $8 a watt last year in California, according to researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That figure has dropped about 50 cents a watt in the past year, according to Vote Solar’s analysis of state statistics.

DWP Outmaneuvered on Kern County Land Purchase
Villaraigosa’s appointees at the DWP met behind closed doors two weeks ago to discuss a possible purchase from Vernon, a move that would help the mayor keep his promise to bring wind, solar and geothermal to the nation’s largest municipally owned utility.

NATIONAL NEWS
Dow Corning Begins Construction at Solar Monosilanes Facility
Dow Corning this week, is set to begin construction on a plant that will manufacture monosilane gas-a key material used to manufacture thin-film solar cells in Thomas Township, Michigan.

GE Boosts Solar Power Production
General Electric aims to ramp up production of solar power panels by early next year in a crucial step in the company’s bid to transform its initial investments in the renewable energy field into a multibillion-dollar business.

Making Solar Power at the Office?
Skyscrapers have so little roof space available on top compared to their 40 or 50 floors-worth of electrical needs underneath them.

MARKETS & MARKET RESEARCH
The Real ( and Potentially Minimal) Impacts of the Cash Grant Program
This excerpt from GTM Research’s upcoming report United States Downstream PV Market: Opportunity, Strategy and Policy takes a look at the Cash Grant program.

UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
Hawaii Tries Green Tools in Remaking Power Grids
With the most diverse array of alternative energy potential of any state in the nation, Hawaii has set out to become a living laboratory for the rest of the country, hoping it can slash its dependence on fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Interior Launches Climate Strategy
A secretarial order will create eight “regional climate change response centers” in areas ranging from Alaska to the Northeast and build landscape conservation cooperatives that will create strategies for the eight regions with the help of state and local groups, and other federal agencies.

FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
Investing in Renewable Energy Could Support 6.9M Jobs
The renewable power industry could support 6.9 million jobs by 2030, if world leaders seize the opportunity to invest in a greener future by securing a strong treaty at December’s Climate Summit in Copenhagen.

TECHNOLOGY
Carbon Nanotubes Could Make Efficient Solar Cells
Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than now used in calculators and on rooftops.

Looking Deeply Into Polymer Solar Cells
The investigations shed new light on the operational principles of polymer solar cells.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
PV Legal Aims to Reduce Bureaucracy for PV Installations
Since photovoltaic (PV) is considered one of the most important energy technologies for future power generation, a European project consortium is aiming to facilitate the deployment of this technology by addressing administrative burdens.

Off-grid Solar for Madagascar
A cooperation deal between battery company Saft and energy management specialist Schneider Electric is to deliver a off-grid solar photovoltaic installation in rural Madagascar.

Conservative French Government Again Proposes Higher Solar PV Tariffs
For the second time within twelve months the French Government of conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed raising the feed-in tariff for solar PV in the coming year.

JA Solar Developing Next Generation Solar Products Using Silicon Ink Technology from Innovalight
JA Solar is currently developing silicon ink-based high efficiency solar cells at its R&D pilot line in Yangzhou, China with plans for initial commercialization in 2010.

China PV Module Makers to Fight Dumping Charges from German Firms
Main China-based photovoltaic (PV) module makers, including Suntech Power and Trina Solar, last week met to discuss how to cope with the dumping charges made by Germany-based PV firms.

Maharishi Solar Technology partners with Abengoa Solar
Maharishi Solar Technology today announced its strategic tie-up with the Industrial (IST) Division of Abengoa Solar Inc., (ASI) based in Colorado, USA.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 6:44 am and is filed under Solar Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.