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
ABC Solar Wins Exemption from Planning for All Solar
Bradley Bartz and ABC Solar are proud to announce the decision of the City of Torrance to exempt solar installations from planning review.
PG&E Purchases 230MW of Solar Power
Pacific Gas and Electric Company has entered into a contract with AV Solar Ranch 1, LLC, a subsidiary of NextLight Renewable Power, LLC, for 230 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power.
Glass Contractors Open Solar Powered Business in San Bernardino
Division manager Rick Lawler said Giroux’s facility, which is in southeastern San Bernardino near the Santa Ana River bed, is the city’s first business to be boast its own solar panels.
Senate Approves Wiggins Solar Energy Bills
The California Senate voted 29-0 June 3 to approve legislation by Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) designed to encourage residential and commercial producers of solar power to generate even more.
Solar Power Inc. Installing 3.5MW System in Sacramento
Aerojet and Solar Power Inc. have entered into an agreement to build a 3.5 MW solar system at Aerojet’s Sacramento, Calif., facility. This will be the first solar system Aerojet has installed.
NATIONAL NEWS
Marking Solar Panels Requires Old-Fashioned Coal-Fired Power
The process of manufacturing base materials and panels to capture electricity from the sun is energy-intensive, utility officials say.
Solar Homes Come to Santa Fe Springs
Comstock Homes broke ground Saturday on a project the developer says is the nation’s largest solar community.
Portland’s New Web Site Should Spark the Area’s Coming Solar Business
The city of Portland on Tuesday will launch a Web site that will let visitors zoom in on a satellite image of their rooftop to determine whether it’s a good candidate for solar panels.
Morgan Stanley Tax-Equity Exit Leaves Developer in the Cold
At least one solar-project developer has had to find new tax-equity support as a result of Morgan Stanley (MS) dropping out of this type of financing for renewable energy projects, Clean Technology Insight has learned.
Solar Factory Deal on Table
Corpus Christi is still in the running for a solar module factory whose planners hope to make the city the center of solar energy in Texas.
UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
NJ Regulators Resist Parts of PSE&G
Public Service Electric & Gas Co. is facing resistance from New Jersey regulators over parts of its nearly $800 million solar generation proposal, the utility’s president said Friday.
FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
Investment in Renewables Up in Q2
New investment in the worldwide clean energy sector in the second quarter of 2009 has already surpassed that in the first quarter by a third, with several weeks still to go in Q2, according to analysts at New Energy Finance.
Spire Ranked 4th on The Boston Globe’s The Best of Massachusetts Business for Return on Equity
The Globe 100 magazine is a ranking of the best-performing public companies based in Massachusetts.
TECHNOLOGY
Lasers are Making Solar Cells Competitive
Fraunhofer researchers will be demonstrating how laser technology can contribute to optimizing the manufacturing costs and efficiency of solar cells.
PNNL Works on Flexible Solar Panels for Roofs
Flexible solar panels that could be installed on roofs like shingles are being developed by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EDP Leads Consortium to buy Qimonda Solar
Portuguese electricity utility Energias de Portugal SA (EDP.LB) said late Friday it had bought, along with other companies, 100% of solar cell manufacturer Qimonda.
Solar in Paradise: remote PV Systems Offer Power in the Pacific
In late 2008 and early 2009 an EU-funded programme added a new feature to the Micronesian landscape – nearly one thousand solar PV modules.
Asola Unveils New Module Assembly Plant
The new facility is located in Erfurt, the capital city of Thuringia, and is the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany.
Making Money from the Indian Sun
The Indian government could expand its small solar subsidy program announced last year, prompting domestic solar companies to gear up for what they believe would be a lucrative local market.
Could India Become a Solar Leader?
India may be gearing to turn itself into the global leader in solar power generation, a sign that major developing nations could become renewable energy hubs to rival Germany and the United States.
