Solar

President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday night held no surprises about energy issues. The word “energy” only appeared twice in the president’s speech—once in mention of the nation’s “booming energy production” and once with regard to how we produce and use energy. The word “power” came up twice with respect to […]

The 550-MW Desert Sunlight solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near Riverside, Calif., which matches MidAmerican’s Topaz Solar project for the largest solar plant in the world, began commercial operations in December, according to the California Independent System Operator. Developed and built by First Solar, and owned by NextEra, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo, Desert Sunlight […]

“When pigs fly” is a figure of speech used to express disbelief that a particular situation will ever come to pass. For the power industry, several recent and emerging developments are the equivalent of

In mid-November, members of the POWER Generating Company Advisory Team responded via email to the following set of questions. Their comments have been edited for style. POWER: What changes in your fleet’s

The Black Oak Wind Farm project is an 11.9-MW wind facility under development in Tompkins County, N.Y., a few miles west of Ithaca. For the most part, Black Oak is unremarkable—the community-owned facility

Renewables’ share of the global power mix is slated to overtake coal to become the largest source of electricity by 2040, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects in its 2014 edition of the World

A major U.S. solar manufacturer will shutter a manufacturing plant in Tennessee in part due to ongoing challenges presented by global trade disputes.  Polycrystalline silicon–maker Hemlock Semiconductor, a company majority owned by Dow Corning Corp., on Dec. 17 said it would close a facility in Clarksville, Tenn., owing to “sustained adverse market conditions.” “As difficult […]

With the landslide re-election of Governor Jerry Brown, California looks certain to continue its suite of low-carbon policies, including the AB32 cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases, energy efficiency programs funded to the tune of a billion dollars a year, and its renewables portfolio standard (RPS) of 33% by 2020. In fact, Gov. Brown has suggested […]

The U.S. on Tuesday issued a new final determination affirming that some crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) products from China and Taiwan have been sold at dumping margins of between 11% and 165%. The final determination from the Department of Commerce stems from anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty investigations covering a category of cells, modules, laminates, […]

Spurred by large utility-scale projects and healthy growth in residential installations, the U.S. added 1.3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the third quarter of 2014, according to the latest US Solar Market Insight Report published by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research. The 1,354 MW of utility, commercial, and residential PV […]