News & Articles on Solar Energy
While I have primarily worked with wind energy, I have long been a proponent of renewable energy in the broadest sense. This includes solar energy. My work in Canada, especially Ontario, stressed inclusion of solar energy because it had been previously overlooked. At one time Ontario was one of the leading jurisdictions in North America developing solar photovoltaics due in part to the programs I and others pushed. The political winds changed and these policies were abandoned and with it Ontario’s progress toward a renewable energy future.
Solar surprise, revisited
By
Matthew Lockwood
But the solar PV story shows that when tipping points are reached, things can change very quickly. It is not inconceivable that what happened with solar PV will also happen with electric vehicle
German and UK PV markets slow down
By
Craig Morris
Germany added a mere 50.4 megawatts of solar in February, but much of that was simply newly registered, not newly built. The UK market, Europe’s biggest last year, also slowed down considerably.
5 maps that show where the action is on solar policy
By
Herman K. Trabish
Sometimes one stat is all it takes: 46 of the 50 states had solar policy debates going on in 2015. That makes solar literally the talk of the nation.
0.07 Percent of Germany’s Area Used For Solar
By
Karl-friedrich Lenz
Most of that are conversion areas (Konversionsflächen), which means areas formerly used for public purposes, most of them former military installations. At the end of 2014, 61% of projects were installed on this kind of areas. Another 28% were former farm land, and the remaining 11% are areas adjacent to roads.
L.A. Port Adds 1.2 MW Solar Project Under City’s FIT Program
By
The project is part of the city’s rooftop solar feed-in tariff (FIT) program, which enables building owners to host large-scale rooftop solar projects and sell the power they generate to LADWP for distribution on the city’s power grid.
Santa Clara Utah passes new solar policy; residents cheer
By
Julie Applegate
Santa Clara homeowners with solar systems were unhappy with the city’s previous feed-in tariff policy, passed in July 2015, which reduced the amount residents were paid for solar power fed back into the city system from $.085 to $.05 per kilowatt hour.
Do French Solar Roads consume more energy than produced ?
By
Olivier Danielo
L’énergie grise des routes solaires pourrait les empêcher de tirer plus vite que leur ombre. Après la forte émulsion médiatique des dernières semaines, elles pourraient retomber rapidement à plat dès qu’il s’agira de trouver les 2700 millions d’euros nécessaires au projet de Ségolène Royal.
1,000 km of solar roads in France?
By
Craig Morris
It’s enough to make you despair: French Energy Minister Ségolène Royal has announced the construction of 1,000 kilometers of solar panels, which would be fine if she didn’t plan to pave roads with them.
Germany now #2 for solar behind China
By
Crair Morris
It was fun while it lasted, but China has reportedly reached 43 gigawatts, compared to just under 40 gigawatts in Germany. The Germans have lost their status as the largest PV country in terms of installations in the world for good.
German PV in 2016
By
Craig Morris
As the German PV market continues to grind to a halt, new rules that took effect on January 1 could slow things down even further.
