PVTech -
Feb 7
Judicial Watch, an organization that investigates government corruption, and Human Events, a weekly American conservative magazine, filed a Freedom of Information act to sue the Obama administration on Feb. 1. The organizations state the governmental departments are withholding records relating to claims that the DOE has offered a $1.2-billion government loan guarantee to SunPower, a Calif.-based company which is reportedly $820 million in debt.
United States Department of Agriculture -
Feb 3
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the availability of funds in 2012 for two key programs to encourage the use of renewable biomass and production of advanced biofuels. The Repowering Assistance Program provides approximately $25 million in funding to biorefineries that have been in existence on or before June 18, 2008. The purpose of the program is to provide a financial incentive to biorefineries to use renewable biomass in place of fossil fuels used to produce heat or power. By providing this assistance, USDA is helping these facilities install new systems that use renewable biomass.
North American Windpower -
Feb 6
Global wind turbine order intake activity totaled approximately 26GW in 2011, representing a 13% drop from 2010, finds a report from MAKE Consulting. The decrease was mainly due to drops in Europe and Asia. However, the Americas saw a 7% increase in wind turbine order intake, which MAKE Consulting attributes to the "boom" before the "bust" of the expiring production tax credit in the U.S., as well as strong markets in Ontario and Quebec, and a solid central tender auction in Brazil.
North American Wind Power -
Feb 7
More than 8.3GW of renewable energy capacity - all of which was sourced from wind energy and solar power - came online in California in 2011, the CPUC reports. According to the CPUC's report, the state's three investor-owned utilities submitted 68 contracts representing 4.525GW of renewable energy generation in 2011. During the same time period, the CPUC approved 44 contracts representing 2.461GW of renewable energy generation.
PV-Tech -
Dec 5
The CPUC has injected a further $200 million into the California Solar Initiative (CSI) program to help cover a budget shortfall. The budget increase was authorised through Senate Bill 585, signed by Governor Brown on Sep. 22, and will see $114 million handed out to PG&E, $64 million to Southern California Edison and $22 million to SDG&E. The funds will help re-invigorate non-residential solar activity and the utilities to reach the capacity targets set for them by the CPUC at the start of the CSI program.
California Energy Commission -
Feb 8
The CEC approved the 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report, the state's main energy planning document. The report makes recommendations to ensure reliable energy supplies for the state's growing population and economy, achieve clean energy goals, and promote clean tech jobs and investments.
L.A. Times -
Feb 7
While many industries in California were buckling under the weight of the recession, so-called green businesses were struggling too -- just not as much, according to a new report by research group Next 10’s Many Shades of Green. From Jan. 2009 through Jan. 2010, the overall state economy lost 7% of its jobs. During the same period, the core green economy -- composed of businesses involved in renewable energy, clean-fuel cars, water conservation, emissions trading and more -- suffered a 3% job loss. That left 169,800 green jobs in the state at the start of 2010. Regions such as San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento remained resilient with less than a 2% green employment decline.
PG&E -
Feb 10
PG&E said its 2011 solicitation for new supplies of renewable energy brought in more than 300 offers, a new record for the utility. Since 2002, PG&E has signed more than 110 contracts for about 10,000MW of renewable power. PG&E now expects to be able to meet California's Renewables Portfolio Standard, which requires all retail sellers of electricity to deliver 33% of their electricity by 2020 from eligible renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and small hydroelectric. The utility is on track to reach 20% in 2012.
Sacramento Bee / PR NewsWire -
Feb 6
The Independent Energy Producers Association and the large-scale Solar Association have filed a lawsuit in Riverside County Superior Court asking the court to invalidate the county's Board Policy B-29, commonly known as the "Sun Tax." The lawsuit, which was filed in Riverside County's Desert Judicial District, alleges that the Sun Tax is illegal in that it violates California Proposition 26 and fails to conform to the California Mitigation Fee Act.
Alta Devices -
Feb 6
Alta Devices said it set the record for the most efficient solar cell, able to convert 23.5% of sunlight into electricity. The University of California at Berkeley spin-out said the efficiency mark, verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is a step toward commercializing its novel solar technology. The company is making solar cells from gallium arsenide, a very efficient material typically used on high-end concentrating photovoltaic collectors or solar panels in space. The innovation lies in Alta Devices' manufacturing technique to make extremely thin cells only one micron thick.
SolarCity -
Feb 7
SolarCity is the first to take advantage of the state's efforts to encourage the development and use of renewable energy sources. The California-based company is expanding into Connecticut to provide a less expensive way for residential and business customers to install and benefit from solar power. SolarCity is expanding to Connecticut in large part due to the efforts of the state - through programs at Connecticut Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection - to promote, develop and invest in clean energy and energy efficiency projects.
Bloomberg -
Feb 6
Sanyo Electric, a unit of Panasonic Corp., will cut about 140 jobs and close an aging solar wafer factory in Carson, Calif., as it prepares to start up operations at a plant in Malaysia. The plant, which makes the equivalent of 30MW of silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells a year, will stop production in March and close in October, said Panasonic Energy spokesman Masatsugu Uemura. Equipment at the plant, opened in 2003, was getting old and the company found it difficult to expand the business there because of the small size of the site, Uemura said, adding that “price competition is also getting tough.”
HelioPower -
Feb 9
Canadian Solar, HelioPower and Giumarra Vineyards Corporation announced the successful completion of a 516 kW commercial photovoltaic (PV) system in Bakersfield, Calif. Canadian Solar’s high-performing PV modules and HelioPower’s integrated turnkey energy solutions enabled Giumarra Vineyards to complete the initial phase of its clean energy initiative. The installation will use 2,296 Canadian Solar 225P PV modules which will power Giumarra Vineyard’s main production and cold storage facility. Financial terms were not disclosed.
SunPower -
Feb 2
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), in partnership with SunPower Corp., Joint Venture Silicon Valley, and Wells Fargo, installed solar parking canopy systems totaling 2.1MW at its three bus maintenance divisions. Using a PPA to finance the systems, it is anticipated that VTA will save $2.7 million in electricity costs over the next 20 years. The clean electricity generated by these systems will also offset more than 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.