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
SolarCraft Helps Sonoma County Go Green
Sonoma County Energy Independence Program a Success.

California to Subsidize Solar Water Heaters
California regulators on Thursday approved a $350 million program to subsidize the installation of solar water heaters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Acro Energy Extends Zero Down Promotion with SunRun for California Homeowners Who Want to Go Solar in 2010
Acro Energy , through its strategic alliance with SunRun, Inc., has extended its Zero Down Solar Promotion for California homeowners through Feb. 15, 2010, due to overwhelming positive response.

SolarCity Makes Peace Offering
After drawing fire for reneging on a promise to build a training academy in a low-income neighborhood, SolarCity pledged Tuesday to hire and train more locals and to support existing training programs.

NATIONAL NEWS
SunRun Brings Solar Leasing to New Jersey
With SunRun, homeowners will get solar panels installed for as little as US $500, and then pay a low fixed rate every month for the solar electricity, allowing them to save money while enjoying clean electricity.

Advanced Energy Signs 2MW Solar Service Deal with AMEC
The new solar facility started producing power in early December and is expected to be fully commissioned in early 2010 AMEC said.

Confluence Solar Announces #200M Plant in TN
Confluence Solar Inc. plans to build a $200 million solar manufacturing plant in East Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen and company officials announced Thursday.

Mercury Solar Systems Partners with SunRun to Offer Affordable Home Solar Power in New Jersey
Mercury Solar Systems, one of the leading solar integrators on the East Coast, today announced that it has partnered with SunRun, the nation’s leading residential solar company, to deliver New Jersey homeowners affordable solar power.

Illinois to Receive $6M for Green Jobs
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Wednesday announced the stimulus money will go to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity from the federal Department of Labor.

UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
AB 32 May Yeild a 41%-59% SDGE Rate Hike
If state regulators follow through on recommendations to require that 33 percent of all energy come from renewable sources by 2020, the chart shows the SDG&E cost per kilowatt hour goes from about 14.5 cents in 2008 to 20.5 cents in 2020. That’s a 41 percent increase in cost.

Senate, House Panels Approve ‘Net Metering’ Bills
A bill aimed at utility customers who install renewable power sources such as wind turbines is seriously flawed and would hurt Indiana’s renewable energy movement, clean energy advocates told a state Senate committee Thursday.

3 Smart Grid Fundings This Week
Investments included $14 million raised by smart grid communications player Tantalus, $6.73 million raised by home energy management player ecobee, and $1.5 million raised by long time building energy management firm Lucid Design Group.

MARKETS & MARKET RESEARCH
Oversupply, Low Demand Have Solar Tech Firms Under a Cloud
A global oversupply of solar technology foreshadows a cloudy 2010 for manufacturers but a brighter outlook for more widespread adoption of the clean-energy technology by consumers, according to some analysts.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
FERC Kicks Off Process to Get More Solar into Grid
SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch released the following statement in response to today’s announcement by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it is reviewing its policies with an eye toward integrating more variable resources into the electric grid.

FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
Venture Capital Was tight for Tech Startups in 2009
Although several of the largest deals involved so-called clean technology companies, including Solyndra, a maker of solar panels, and Silver Spring Networks, which sells energy-efficiency technology to utilities, overall investment in clean tech tumbled 52 percent.

NREL as Venture Capitalist
Someone has to pick solar winners and NREL can’t be any worse than Sand Hill Road.

TECHNOLOGY
Solar EnerTech Modules Get UL Certification
A UL certification ensures that Solar EnerTech’s PV products (trademarked as SolarE) fully complies with all safety, environmental and other performance requirements established by UL.

Solar Research Center Set to Open
The Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing at Oregon State University (OSU) is scheduled to be fully operational this May, officials say.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NextPower 1 Connects Two Solar Power Plants to the Italian Grid
Zouk ventures and NextEnergy are pleased to announce through their joint company NextPower 1 (“NP1”) the successful completion of two power plants of 1MWp each, in Puglia – Southern Italy.

Merkel Ally Urges Delay in Solar Aid Cuts, Backs Panel Makers
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies backed solar-panel makers in their fight against government proposals to slash aid for solar power companies earlier than the industry expected.

Samsung and KEPCO Sign Major Renewables Agreement with Ontario Government
The McGuinty government has signed an agreement with aconsortium led by Samsung C&T Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) will invest $7 billion to generate 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power.

Berlin’s Mayor Inaugurates PV System
Yesterday, Berlin’s acting mayor Klaus Wowereit officially put into service the solar system on the roof of the Max-Schmeling-hall in Berlin. In attendance were numerous guests from the fields of politics, economy and media.

Chinese Companies to Build Solar Plant in Bulgaria
Two Chinese companies, Polar Photovoltaics and Wiscom, have proposed to invest seven million U. S. dollars to build a 2 MW Photovoltaic plant near Ihtiman, 40 km south from Bulgarian capital Sofia.

FRV, formerly Fotowatio, Presents itself as a “Global Leader in the Generation of Solar Energy”
FRV has revealed that it has started work to construct three new photovoltaic arrays in Spain with a total capacity of 16.5 MWp,

Bajaj Elec Exploring Options in Solar Cell Mfg
Electrical appliances maker Bajaj Electricals is exploring options to get into commercial manufacturing of solar cells and bid for distribution franchisee licenses, a top official said on Friday.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 7:52 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.