Renewable Energy Focus
Los Angeles Times - Oct 19
Geothermal power was once king of California's renewable energy. So many companies were clamoring to transform steam into electricity that they sucked the world's largest geyser field dry. But the industry's shortsightedness and its slowness to innovate left geothermal floundering for three decades in the shadows of the solar and wind energy juggernauts. Now, industry leaders say the energy harnessed from the Earth is poised for a renaissance, powered by new technology that will boost production, pare costs, and expand its reach.
SFGate.com - Oct 17
San Francisco could soon require solar panels on most new construction in the city and push owners of existing apartment buildings to plant photovoltaic arrays on their roofs. “If you ever go to the top of a tall building in San Francisco and look down, you see the potential for sustainability on every single roof in the city,” said David Chiu, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Chiu plans to introduce a resolution next week mandating that all new buildings include solar panels, rooftop gardens, or both. That requirement would apply to commercial and residential buildings alike, wherever feasible.
Los Angeles Times - Oct 17
Two out-of-state companies are suing Los Angeles after their plan to install an array of 3,500 solar cells on the northeast edge of the San Fernando Valley was thwarted by a local commission. The proposed project in Lake View Terrace worried neighbors, who thought that the expanse of solar cells slated for a vacant lot off Foothill Boulevard would clash with a tranquil, rural area speckled with horse stables and homes. The dispute represents an unexpected collision between the city's push to ramp up renewable power and its desire to preserve open space.
Renewable Energy World - Oct 15
Offshore wind power isn’t usually associated with lower-cost energy, at least not in the public imagination. But it turns out that installing 54 gigawatts of offshore wind power off America’s coasts can cut the cost of electricity in the U.S. by an astounding $7.68 billion a year. This news came out in a recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study that proves offshore wind power’s potential in the U.S. is far more than theoretical.
UC Merced - Oct 22
The University of California, Merced, will get 75 percent of its power from renewable sources by the end of 2016, and it is on its way to being 100 percent renewably powered by then. The University of California earlier this month agreed to make the largest solar energy purchase by any U.S. higher education institution to help power its campuses and medical centers more sustainably, buying 80 megawatts of solar power from two solar fields near Fresno.
Notable Renewable Energy Projects and Deals
PV Tech - Oct 16
California-based 8minutenergy Renewables has been given the go ahead for its 135-megawatt Redwood Solar Farms PV projects in Kern County, California. After being given conditional use permits from the Kern County Board of Supervisors, the company said the projects would break ground in December 2014. The Redwood Solar Farm projects will span across 640 acres of farmland, eventually providing an annual production capacity of 350 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.
PV Tech - Oct 15
SolarCity Corp said Wednesday that it would offer $200 million in solar bonds directly to investors on a new online investment platform. The bonds will be available to investors regardless of whether they are SolarCity customers, the company said. The interest on the bonds will be paid using the monthly payments SolarCity, the top U.S. residential solar installer, collects from homeowners and businesses for their solar-power systems.
Solar Thermal Magazine - Oct 18
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., a global solar photovoltaic company, and sPower (Sustainable Power Group), a renewable energy provider, announced details of the first partnership between the two companies. According to the terms of the contract, JinkoSolar supplied nearly 115,000 of its 305-watt high efficiency solar PV modules to sPower for the 34-megawatt solar facility, which is comprised of four separate projects located in Lancaster and Victorville, California.
