Tag Archives: Solar power

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Arizona’s New Solar Website Ready to Shine

Starting tomorrow, Arizona residents and businesses wanting to ‘go solar,’ learn more about active solar projects in the state, or check out the latest benefits and incentives available for solar installation, will have a new tool: the Arizona Goes Solar website.

The website will be hosted by the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities under state law.

The contents of the site itself will be a collaborative effort between the ACC and electric utility companies with the goal of creating a “one-stop shop for homeowners and business owners” according to a statement released by the ACC yesterday.

The media advisory lists these participating companies:

  • Ajo Improvement Company
  • Arizona Public Service (APS)
  • Duncan Valley Electric
  • Graham County Electric
  • Mohave Electric Cooperative
  • Morenci Water and Electric Company
  • Navopache Electric
  • Salt River Project (SRP)
  • Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative
  • Trico Electric Cooperative
  • Tucson Electric Power (TEP)
  • Unisource Energy Services

When it comes to supporting renewables, and solar power in particular, the ACC is recognized as one of the most consumer- and business-friendly state bodies in the nation. Adding the Arizona Goes Solar website will help the ACC- and solar power — shine.


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Solar power shines on U.S. Manufacturing Council

In announcing his new appointments to the U.S. Manufacturing Council yesterday, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke singled out the Council’s new leader, Bruce Sohn.

First Solar's Bruce Sohn

“With Bruce as chair,” said Locke, “we’re sending a message that President Obama and this Administration are committed to making renewable energy and efficiency technologies a cornerstone of a revitalized American manufacturing sector.”

Sohn is president of First Solar, the world’s largest manufacturer of thin-film solar PV, with headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. According to a Commerce Department spokesperson, Sohn is the first representative from the solar power industry to head the council, which advises the administration on competitiveness and other manufacturing issues facing U.S.-based companies.

Solar advocates, not surprisingly, enthusiastically endorsed the choice.

President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Rhone Resch, issued a statement saying that Sohn’s appointment “has told the world that the solar industry is becoming a backbone for our economy and offers a bright future for U.S. manufacturing.” (First Solar sits on SEIA’s board of directors.)

It’s not just the solar industry, however, that’s applauding the new leadership at the Manufacturing Council.

Jenny Powers, a spokesperson for that Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said that by including Sohn the administration is acknowledging the fact that solar has a new relevancy in our energy future. “They [solar] are scaling up and playing with the big boys,” said Powers in a phone interview.

Sean Garren agrees. A clean energy advocate with the group Environment America, Garren said his organization is “looking forward to working with Mr. Sohn to reap all the manufacturing benefits we will see from the solar revolution in America.”

The U.S. has a lot of ground to make up.

A decade ago, 40 percent of all PV panels were made in the United States. That figure has dropped to less than 10 percent of the global supply today — a trend SEIA’s Resch thinks can be reversed in part by adopting smart manufacturing policies. One such example cited by Resch is the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program that provided $2.3 billion in credits to support U.S. manufacturers of clean energy equipment. The House has voted to refund the popular program; backers are still trying to get a similar bill through the Senate.

Other high tech manufacturers represented on the council include Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., GenMet, Ace Clearwater Enterprises, and Sacred Power Corporation, a Native American-owned business that deals in renewable and distributive energy.

Courtesy of First Solar

First Solar has its corporate headquarters in Arizona, where, in 2009, the legislature passed its own groundbreaking legislation, providing tax credits to manufacturers of renewable energy equipment (SB 1403). When a Chinese-owned maker of PV panels announced it had decided that Arizona would be the home of the first Chinese PV assembly plant in the U.S., the incentives found in SB1403 were given as a primary factor in the choice.

First Solar manufactures thin-film PV at plants in Germany (approximately 700 workers), Malaysia (2,000 workers) and Perrysburg, Ohio (1,000 workers). The company plans on opening a new plant in France in the second half of 2011. Manufacturing jobs have followed demand and until recently, most orders for solar panels have come from Asia and Europe. But as demand for PV in the U.S. has jumped, First Solar has increased the size and production of its Ohio plant.

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Happy Energy Independence / Solar Recovery Day

Energy Independence Day, July 3, 2010

With the economy and job-growth stagnant, oil still spewing from the BP well-head into the Gulf of Mexico as a toxic reminder of our addiction to fossil fuels, President Obama couldn’t have picked a better time to announce a major solar power initiative than today, July 3rd — only hours away from Independence Day.

The president labeled his weekly radio address “A Solar Recovery,” reflecting the emphasis on pocket-book voting in this election year. Personally, I wish Obama would have gone with “Energy Independence Day,” putting the spotlight on the larger, long-term prize. But I guess that explains why I’m a journalist and he’s The President of the United States of America.

“We’re accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy and doubling our use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power…” the president said and then announced a new commitment to solar power of $2 billion.

Solana Solar Generating Station

The bulk of the money will be used to build the world’s largest solar power plant, a 280-MW station in southwestern Arizona. The Solana generating plant, said Obama, “will be the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. to actually store the energy it generates for later use — even at night.”

Solana (Spanish for “sunny place”) will be built and operated by Abengoa, headquartered in Seville, Spain. The plant will use concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, which uses heat generated by sunlight to produce electricity. Most Americans are more familiar with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels used mostly on rooftops to generate electricity.

Electricity generated by Solana will be purchased by Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility, and used to supply electric power to an estimated 70,000 homes.

“This is very encouraging news,” Pat Dinkel, VP for power marketing and resource planning at APS, told The Sun today. “We know there are a lot of steps remaining before our customers can benefit from Solana’s generation but this action brings that goal a step closer.”

Abengoa’s Fred Morse thanked Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson), a leading solar advocate in Washington.

“Congresswoman Giffords played an instrumental role to make this project a reality,” said Morse. “She understands the importance of creating jobs in Arizona and the ripple effects that this project will create throughout the Arizona economy. Solana will bring Arizona one step closer to becoming the solar capital of the nation.”

The Solana project has been in the works for at least three years. With the federal loan guarantee, construction on the plant may begin yet this year.

Secretary Chu: U.S. leadership in the global green economy

Abound Solar's PV Panel

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu touted the second part of today’s announcement — $400 million to Abound Solar Manufacturing to produce a new form of PV cells. Plants in Longmont, Colorado, and Tipton, Indiana will manufacture Cadmium-Telluride panels, a technology developed at Colorado State University, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the National Science Foundation.

The Indiana plant was originally built for a Chrysler auto parts supplier, but because of the recession, it had never been occupied. By 2013, Abound hopes to be manufacturing 840 MW worth of solar panels a year at the two plants.

“By supporting new cutting-edge solar manufacturing technologies,” said Chu, “we are advancing a diverse renewable energy portfolio while helping to position the U.S. at the forefront of the global green economy.”

Jobs for Arizona & New Mexico, too

The Solana plant will need nearly a million specially-made mirrors to reflect and concentrate the Arizona sunlight, and miles of tubing to carry the super-heated liquid used in the CSP process. A mirror factory is planned for the Phoenix area, and the tubes will come from neighboring New Mexico, where a factory owned by Schott Solar is currently operating well-below capacity.

Solana Solar Generating Station

The Solana plant will cover 3,000 acres of former farmland. While CSP that uses water for cooling is controversial, especially in the desert, the power plant will use less water than the farm that had been at the same location. According to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords office, Solana will use slightly more than 10 percent of the water drawn by the farm.

Solana generates electricity without producing greenhouse gasses — eliminating an estimated 470,000 tons of GHG a year.

Some 3,200 giant parabolic collectors will track the sun throughout the day at Solana. Each collector is 25-feet wide, 20-feet high and the length of 1.5 football fields. Some of the heat generated by the collectors will be stored as molten salt, allowing the plant to generate electricity for six hours after sunset.