Strong Year-End Demand Motivates Aggressive Cost Reductions Across the Value-Chain as PV Prices Continue to Fall

PV Module Production, Supply, and Demand Metrics - Source: Q2’12 NPD Solarbuzz Quarterly report

The leading metrics influencing PV industry supply and demand (module production, supply and market-demand) are forecast to come to within 8% of the second-half market demand of 17.2 GW, according to recent findings in the latest NPD Solarbuzz Quarterly report. This follows two years of turbulent over-capacity, over-supply, and inventory build in both the upstream and downstream segments of the value-chain. … Continue Reading

New Mexico Gets a Boost in Solar Energy Development

SANTA FE, N. M. – A federal solar impact statement released this week will foster the development of renewable energy on public lands in six western states, including New Mexico. It provides a roadmap for large-scale solar energy development on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and allows New Mexico to move ahead with development in a Solar Energy Zone in Doña Ana County.
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The French Revolution And Today’s Activist Movements

 The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a major impact on France and throughout the rest of Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants in the countryside.^[3] Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy – of monarchy, aristocracy, and religious authority – were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights.

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While not trying to incite violence, we are simply pointing to any noticeable similarities existing before the upheaval… So without the violence, how can the oppressed affect true lasting change?

What Do You Think?

Electric Vehicles: Getting Charge Boost

While EVs (electric vehicles) may not be the norm in every garage, they are continuing to gain market traction. As the market for EVs matures, the need for associated services will grow as well, especially when it comes to charging infrastructure.

Between 2011 and 2015, around 410,000 plug-in electric vehicles will be sold in the U.S., according to Pike Research, www.pikeresearch.com. However, the analyst firm also says sales are expected to increase strongly during the second half of the decade, reaching the 1 million mark in 2018. Globally, Pike says plug-in EV sales should surpass 1 million vehicles annually in 2017. By 2020, worldwide sales volumes will reach 1.7 million units per year. … Continue Reading

Sub-500 kW PV Projects Provides US Job Creation and Cost Reductions

Because of their modularity, PV systems can be designed to meet any electrical requirement, no matter how large or how small. You also can connect them to an electric distribution system (grid-connected), or they can stand alone (off-grid).

 Encouraged by incentives and power requirements, agricultural land in the US is being converted to renewable PV energy

 Santa Clara, Calif. – While large-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar projects often grab the headlines, the recently-released NPD Solarbuzz United States Deal Tracker report indicates that 40% of PV projects currently underway in the United States are less than 500 kW in size. … Continue Reading

Simplify, Integrate and Standardize for Mass-Market Potential

By Wolfgang Schlichting, Research Director

Loans, rebates, tax credits - These are the typical home solar power incentives offered by federal, state and local governments, as well as some utilities across the nation.

Open standards, integrated and easy-to-use products have been the foundation of most products that have reached mass consumer adoption. The same can be achieved with small solar PV systems. Multi-vendor support of interchangeable modular products can create a fast-growing, competitive market. This will allow vendors to develop low-cost, easy-to-install products and sell them at big-box retailers. … Continue Reading

United States Navy Embraces Clean Energy

This month, sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz are among U.S. Navy personnel in the Pacific Ocean testing whether aircraft such as fighter jets and sea vessels run the same using fuels made of biofuel blends rather than traditional petroleum.

ABOARD THE USS NIMITZ — Some 100 nautical miles northeast of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean, a fleet of U.S. Navy fighter jets slings from the deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, leaving thin trails of smoke on the tight runway.

The operation, part of maneuvers involving several thousand sailors as part of the world’s largest naval exercises in waters off Hawaii, was at the center of a growing controversy involving defense spending and foreign oil.

The dozens of air and sea vessels surrounding the Nimitz — including helicopters, fighter jets and destroyer ships — were running on a biofuel blend that can be substituted for traditional fuel without any engine modifications. … Continue Reading

IKEA State’s Largest Solar Owner

Solar panels sit atop roof of an IKEA store in Bloomington, MN. Nearly twice the size of what sits on the Minneapolis Convention Center's roof.

IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its store in Houston, Texas – which, when combined with IKEA projects atop stores in Frisco and Round Rock, will make IKEA the state’s largest solar owner. IKEA Houston’s 116,400-square-foot PV array consists of a 813-kW system, built with 3,388 panels. The program will produce approximately 1,152,464 kWh of clean electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing 795 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), eliminating the emissions of 156 cars or powering 99 homes yearly (calculating clean energy equivalents at www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html ). … Continue Reading