Wind and Solar News: Sunpower and NRG Plan 250 Million MW California Solar Ranch

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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.

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Inherit the Wind (Mill) History of Wind put to Work

It is perceived by many that this movement to capture the surface flow of the earths atmosphere and turn it into power is a technological advance that is still in its infancy. It is true that just like a child that refuses to grow up it is still infantile. But only in acceptance and utilization. The concept has been put to use for centuries.
Most of us think of the windmill as that quaint contraption that dots the landscape of Holland and is often used on bread wrappers or doughnut boxes as a symbol of something made with an old Dutch recipe. I imagine even environmentalists at the time debated over them. Jan said it would save on oxen and Peter countered with his opinion that it would detract from all the tulips in the field. Not much different than todays wind farm debates. Only the oxen are now oil.
To give a clear lens into how many times man has attempted to harness the wind in the past 2000 years I have added this link.

Offshore Wind Project Gets Obama Blessing

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama administration announced the fast forwarding of the Atlantic Offshore Wind Project. Google and other investors have pledged up to 5 billion dollars for the placement of a deep water transmission line to connect to various points along the east coast. A series of elecrtical on and off ramps will keep the voltage consistant over the total long run of up to 1500 miles. The survey to identify the best areas for the development of offshore wind farms will be completed in 60 days and permitting could begin as early as 2012. Read more here and in this Huffington Post article.