Solar NewsLetter                                August 29^nd, 2005

 

 

Policy Development

 

California To Save Over $6 Billion From Million Solar Roofs Initiative

Los Gatos, CA - 2005-08-24 - - A White Paper entitled "The Economics of Solar Energy for California" was released today showing that the Million Solar Roofs Initiative (California Senate Bill #1) will save California over six billion dollars net of incentives. Supported by Governor Schwarzenegger, the Million Solar Roofs Initiative is an ambitious plan to install 3,000 Megawatts of solar electric power on roofs throughout California by 2016. The complete text of "The Economics of Solar Power for California - A White Paper" is available for download at http://www.akeena.net/about/whitepaper.htm.

 

Bittersweet Victory for Million Solar Roofs Bill

Sacramento, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] - 2005-08-26 - The Million Solar Roofs bill, SB 1, was passed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee with some bittersweet amendment changes aimed at appeasing various interest groups. While this vote officially clears the solar bill to move on for a full vote in the California's Assembly sometime before September 9, it includes some union provisions that have splintered its support and could ultimately doom the bill.

 

Spain Aims to Double Energy from Renewable Sources
Planet Ark - New York,NY,USA... A previous renewable energy plan, spanning 2000-2010, has fallen well short of targets, especially for solar energy and biomass -- an energy resource derived ...

 

Spain sees renewable energy accounting for 12 pct of electricity ...
Forbes – USA, MADRID (AFX) - The Spanish government approved the 2005-2010 Renewable Energy Plan which envisages that renewable energy sources will account for 12 pct ...

Sun, wind for energy: first draft of new law is ready
Indian Express - New Delhi,India ... among the radical reforms towards what President APJ Kalam called ‘‘energy independence,'' contained in the first draft of a renewable energy law for ...

Italy Eyes Concept of Selling Sun's Energy

Boston.com news. [AP] 2005–08-26 Italy is blessed with some of Europe's most brilliant sun and cursed with some of its highest electricity rates, but the nation has long lagged behind its more inclement neighbors in harnessing energy from the sun's rays. See the full article from the Associated Press, via the Boston Globe, at the following link.

 

CERTIFICATION GROUP RELEASES DRAFT NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR GREEN ENERGY
SAN FRANCISCO, California, US, August 24, 2005 (Refocus Weekly) A draft national certification standard for renewable energies has been proposed to replace the current region-specific and product-specific criteria certified by Green-e.

 

Municipal Achievements

 

Renewable Energy Powers Syracuse City Hall
RenewableEnergyAccess.com - Peterborough,NH,USA
... city's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions earlier this year, and now its decision to power the City Hall with 100 percent renewable energy has earned ...

 

Rooftop Plan for Solar Power Production

CRIENGLISH.com - 2005-08-24. The Shanghai municipal government aims at turning the city's roofs into sites for solar-energy production. If the project becomes operational, 100,000 of the 6 million roofs in Shanghai, a city plagued by chronic power shortages, will be used to supply solar energy to local residents. Our Shanghai correspondent Wang Jing has the story.

 

Washington island considers energy independence
Seattle Post Intelligencer – USA  ... Mike Richardson, manager of renewable energy for Puget Sound Energy - the company that provides electricity and gas for the island - helped write the report ...

 

Green Power Energizes Georgia's EMCs

Tucker, Georgia [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] - 2005-08-25 - Georgia's renewable energy program, Green Power EMC, offers green energy to approximately 1.2 million households. It recently added 11 new electric membership cooperatives (EMCs).

 

 

Utilities

 

Renewable Energy Set to Represent 38.5% of ENDESA'S Generation Mix.
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA  Roughly 30% of growth in planned capex over the next five years will be to develop new renewable energy capacity. ENDESA ...

 

UTILITY RESOURCE PLANNING IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR NEW GREEN POWER
BERKELEY, California, US, August 24, 2005 (Refocus Weekly) Resource planning by electric utilities is becoming "increasingly sophisticated in their treatment of renewable resources and the costs and risks that they both entail and mitigate," says an analysis by a U.S. federal laboratory.

 

 

Corporate News

 

Grocery Store Sets California Solar Standard

Kentfield, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] - 2005-08-22 - Woodlands Market, a northern California grocery store in Marin County, threw the switch this weekend on a 100 kW solar photovoltaic system, setting a new standard for environmentally-minded grocery stores in the state.

 

 

New Technology

 

Higher Solar Efficiencies Could Surface

Sunnyvale, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] - 2005-08-24 - SunPower announced the discovery of "surface polarization," a performance detriment observed in silicon PV solar cells. As the result of their discovery, SunPower scientists have developed and applied for patents that eliminate surface polarization, which the company believes will lead to improved solar efficiencies.

 

Solar Glass Facility Plans Underway

Aliso Viejo, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] - 2005-08-24 - XsunX has begun the design and engineering of an integrated mass production system for the manufacture of its proprietary thin film transparent solar cell, Power Glass.

KYOCERA Introduces New High-Efficiency "d.Blue" Cell Technology

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, USA - 2005-08-23 - SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (August, 2005) - Kyocera Solar, Inc. announced that it is expanding the application of its newest and most efficient solar cell technology to its the introduction of a new higher-efficiency solar cell that will be incorporated into the entire line of Kyocera photovoltaic modules. The new three-bus cells, which will incorporate Kyocera's "d.Blue" technology, raise the power output of every module in the Kyocera 's module line without line without affecting the physical size of the modules. The new As a result, Kyocera's module designations are now KC40T, KC55T, KC65T, KC85T, KC125TM, KC125GT, KC170GT and KC190GT. This gives the Kyocera module line a broad power range - from 40 watts to of forty through one hundred ninety Watt 190 watts -- modules, providing a solution for something to fit nearly every application.