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
Applied Materials Acquires the Assets of Advent Solar
Applied Materials has acquired substantially all the assets, including the intellectual property, of Advent Solar, Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount. Advent Solar is a developer of advanced technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) PVs.
Fremont High School District Celebrates Completion of its First Solar Grid
District officials say the systems, being installed at each of its five campuses, will save more than $1 million in energy costs each year.
Silicon Valley’s Catholic Community Finds Higher Power in Solar Power
Within months at the most, five local parishes and one cemetery will fire up on-site solar power systems to light their schools and churches, run their computers, power their nativity scenes and provide the juice to keep their coffee urns warm for after-church socials.
NATIONAL NEWS
SolarCity Aims to Make Solar Power More Affordable
With a SolarCity residential lease, customers can lease a system at no money down, and in many areas, save 10% to 15% a month on their combined electric and lease-payment bill, SolarCity says.
Partners Release Preview Beta Version of SolarHub Website
Industry consortium, leading professional magazine, and software developer collaborate to produce the solar industry’s centralized repository of product specification data.
MiaSole Modules Receive UL & IEC Certifications
MiaSolé a manufacturer of CIGS thin-film photovoltaic modules received simultaneous certification of its 100 and 107 watt CIGS thin film, solar modules to UL 1703 and IEC 61646 and 61730 standards on October 30, 2009.
GE to Close Glasgow Solar Panel Plant
General Electric Co. will close its solar-panel manufacturing facility in Glasgow because the facility can no longer produce panels competitively, the company confirmed today.
Energy Conversion Devices and MP2 Capital Announce Plans to Develop Rooftop Solar Projects in Ontario, Canada
ECD and MP2 Capital will partner with Rumble Energy, an Ontario-based renewable energy developer, to install a series of rooftop solar projects throughout Ontario, Canada.
Balancing Energy Needs and Material Hazards
First Solar should have a bright future doing business in the European Union.
A Sunny Deal
Teens will also be able to watch the panels crank out electricity as it happens. The company and school are setting up a Web site to monitor panel action in real time, according to Scott McClintock, Nexamp’s director of sales.
NWP Services Corp Teams with SolarCity on Multifamily Solar Deployment
The companies plan to develop solutions to make it easier for property owners and operators to deploy and benefit from on-site solar power generation at their multifamily communities.
Port Townsend’s Efforts to Generate, Share Renewable Energy Earn State ‘Solar City of the Year’ Honor
Most of the systems in the county have been installed in the sunny Sequim-Dungeness Valley — called the “blue hole” by pilots because of its number of sunny days — where the Olympic Mountains rain shadow begins to dissipate cloud cover.
UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
SMUD Signs 16MW Biomass PPA
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Board of Directors has approved a 20-year power purchase agreement with Buena Vista Biomass Power LLC for the purchase of renewable energy from a 16-megawatt power plant that generates electricity from woody biomass.
It’s Time to Rethink Electricity
Unless we open the market to let more suppliers in, Arizonans will be at increased risk of electricity shortages and spiraling prices.
The Thin Green Line: PGE Wants to Charge Savers More, Profligates Less
In a recent application to the state, Pacific Gas and Electric asked to raise service rates by 5 percent for their best energy-conserving customers, typically smaller households.
MARKETS & MARKET RESEARCH
Solar Power for the World’s Poor
By 2020, the world’s biggest potential solar markets could be in the developing world, areas largely ignored by the solar industry today, according to executives working to bring renewable energy to rural regions.
The Pursuit of New Ways to Boost Solar Development
The solar power boom in Germany, Spain, and other places has been fueled by government subsidies. But now some U.S. states — led, perhaps surprisingly, by New Jersey — are pioneering a different approach: issuing tradable credits that can be sold on the open market.
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
An Incentive in Every Pot: The Race for New Energy-Related Federal Cash Grants
Some of the new federal programs require standing in a different kind of line — a line to obtain grants set aside for energy-related projects and, unlike the FDR programs, it appears to be the race goes to the swift.
Clean Energy Wish List: Six Federal Policy Actions to Ensure US Leadership
To remain competitive on the global clean-energy playing field, and to ensure our status as the world’s preeminent innovation nation, the U.S. must implement aggressive federal policy and regulatory actions.
Some Utilities Push Congress to Act on Carbon Emissions
Utility executives are stepping up calls for legislation to cap greenhouse-gas emissions, fearing that if Congress doesn’t act, the EPA will establish rules that would be costlier and less effective.
FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
STR Debuts on NYSE to Lukewarm Reception
STR’s stock closed up 31 percent. The encapsulant maker is the first solar company to go public for more than a year. But the timing is off as investors absorb some bad news about job cuts.
Landis + Gyr Raises $100M to Find Growth in Smart Metering
L+G said most of its recent growth has been coming from U.S. business, citing unsurprisingly the stimulus package.
Day4 Energy Reports Third Quarter 2009 Results
Day4 Energy today reported operating results for the third quarter of 2009.
TECHNOLOGY
Chemists Describe Solar Energy Progress and Challenges
Scientists are making progress toward development of an “artificial leaf” that mimics a real leaf’s chemical magic with photosynthesis — but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
$4M Goes to MIT from French Oil Company for Solar Energy Battery Project
Total, a French oil company, recently agreed to give the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) $4 million for a 5-year research project to develop stationary batteries that can more efficiently store solar energy.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Suntech & HNE to Build 10MW Project in Jiangsu
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. will develop a 10-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Dongtai, Jiangsu Province in conjunction with its strategic partner Huadian New Energy Development Co. Ltd. (HNE).
Scheuten Solar to Construct PV System for Loveld NV
Scheuten Solar has concluded a turnkey EPC contract and a photovoltaics maintenance contract for the installation of nearly 3,500 solar panels with Loveld NV of Aalter, Belgium.
Linde Group Supplies Gases to Four Indian Solar Manufacturing Plants
BOC India (BOCI), a member of The Linde Group, has won four new long-term gas supply deals with large PV manufacturers, Moser Baer, Euro Multivision, Solar Semiconductor and Indo Solar (formally Phoenix Solar).
Aleo solar AG Consolidates its Position in the Israeli PV Market
aleo solar AG has announced that it will supply further solar modules for several solar power facilities in Israel.
Masdar Awards Two Contracts for Tests of Solar Technology
The firm has awarded two contracts in a project to build at least 1 megawatt (mw) of concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) at Masdar City.
High Tech Companies Face Shortages as china Hoards Metals
Germany is pinning its economic hopes on future-oriented industries such as solar panel manufacturing. But high-tech companies are facing shortages of essential metals as China, which dominates the world market in so-called rare earths, begins stockpiling the highly sought-after resources.
