Sunpower and NRG Plan 250 Million MW California Solar Ranch

San Jose, California based SunPower Corp. and Princeton, N.J. based NRG Solar, a subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc., announced their plans to build a 250 megawatt solar ranch in San Luis Obispo County. The huge photovoltaic ranch, creating over 350 jobs and powering 10,000 homes, will be one of the largest in the world. NRG Solar plans on investing 450 million dollars in equity into the project over the next 4 years subject to the projection of the cost of the project and the terms and conditions of financing.
The project will greatly help California achieve its 33% renewable energy goal.
Read the Story in PR Newswire.

Power Generation and Renewable Energy Conference in Pakistan

The International Conference on Power Generation Systems and Renewable Energy is being held this week in Islamabad, Pakistan at the International Islamic University. For information regarding this important event of worldwide scope please visit this site of the University.

Clean Energy Advocates Rest on New Tax Package.

With the financial incentives set to expire at the end of this year, 5 billion of which goes to Ethanol and renewable energy (mostly wind and solar), clean energy advocates are banking on an omnibus tax package to be ushered in during the lame duck congress. It is unclear how much of these incentives will actually make it into a bill. Read the full story here in the  National Journal.

3rd Quarter Solar Inverter Shipments Up 7.2 Percent

With Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounting for 80% of the market, the shipment of solar inverters is up from 5 percent in the second quarter to 7.2 percent in the third quarter. The top three markets accounted for 90% in the second quarter but that drop of ten percent is attributed to a lessening demand by Germany, the worlds leader, and an increase in American demand.
You can read the full story here.

Fate of Arizona Solar Farm Rests on Groundwater Supply

The Kalauplai Solar Farm received its Certificate of Environmental Compatibility from the Arizona Corporate Commission but is facing a hurdle due to its necessary consumption of water for cooling.  The 2 billion dollar project, located on a 4000 acre parcel of privately owned land 27 miles north of Skinner, is a parabolic trough farm. These farms utilize long trough shaped parabolic reflectors with a pipe that runs down the center at the point where the suns rays are the most concentrated.  This pipe contains a liquid, generally oil, that is heated  by the sun to produce steam and power a generator.  Unlike the photovoltaic panel arrays that convert light photons directly to electricity, that most people are familiar with from seeing them on rooftops, these parabolic systems need a great deal of water to cool down components.
Original plans were to use the water from a reclamation plant nearby for cooling but it appears that the plants full capacity will not be ready in time, therefore the utility's dependency on ground water is the only option for operation to remain cost effective.

Photo by Goddessjoy c/o Photobucket

A similar parabolic trough system has been approved for construction in Nye County, Nevada
Parabolic trough technology has history dating back to at least 1912 when a farm was first built in Meadi, Egypt by a Philadelphia solar visionary and entrepreneur named Frank Shubert.  His plans were ended with the onset of WWI followed by the discovery of vast Middle Eastern oil fields. Almost 100 years later those same oil fields are still posing a challenge to solar energy progress.
Read the whole story as published

New Mexico Stores 2 - 4 MW Hours from Solar Energy

New Mexico has laid the paving for PNM and two educational partners to get underway, along with Sandia National Laboratories, in one of many national solar and wind produced storage and distribution projects being initiated throughout the country.

Millions of dollars have been budgeted by Federal and State Governments, along with concerned private corporations, to study and develop means to store energy for release in the future as needed.

After receiving 2 million dollars from the department of energy towards the overall cost of 6 million, the PNM project is positioned to install a lead acid battery system capable of delivering energy on demand from a 500 kilowatt photovoltaic array.

The unprecedented 2-4 megawatt hours of electrical storage will be used primarily to balance off peak demand and to power air conditioning according to a document from the Department of Energy.

The construction, not far from the community of Mesa Del Sol, just off of I-25, is called the Prosperity Energy Storage Project. It lies just south of Albuquerque International Sunport.

Please read the entire story from http://www.solarhbj.com/ here.