Solar Power Recap: March 22nd
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Happy Monday, everyone. We’ll spare you the clever introduction andsarcastic side comments today, and get right to the solar energy news and renewable energy news:
Rosemont Copper, a miner with operations in Arizona, may solar panels at its headquarters in Tucson, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The company will spend half a milliondollars testing solar prototypes on its property, a few miles south ofthe site of a proposed open pit mine. Depending on how plans turn out,the mining company’s could be the largest commercial solarinstallation in the Tucson area.
With the first of several LADWP rate hikes on its way, some LosAngeles residents are turning to solar electric systems as a way toshield themselves from rising prices, reports the L.A. Times: “‘I call it my green hedge on energyinflation,’ says Ray Wyman Jr., 54, of his decision to install a 4.2-kilowatt photovoltaic solar system on the roof of his2,000-square-foot home in Orange in June 2009.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday ran a superbstory profiling the challenges facing large commercialinstallations in Pennsylvania. Not surprisingly, many of thepotential snags center on solar project financing. The state’s solarrenewable energy credit (SREC) market — to take one example — is stillin its infancy. This, apparently, can give banks the jitters. The bottom line is an optimistic one, however: “Despite all theimpediments, we’re just going to push for this.”
The Honolulu Star Bulletin profiles solar open houses, which provide a great opportunity for interested individuals to see a home solar power system in action.
Egypt will host a facility that will process the rawmaterials used to make solar panels, via The Africa Report. An unnamed Dutch company will own and operatethe plant, which is expected to produce 3,000 metric tons of polysilicon a year.
Known best for its petroleum assets and know how, Chevron isplanning to install 7,700 solar panels near Bakersfield, California,via Reuters. The solar installation will power the pumps and pipelinesat the company’s Kern River oil field facility, with any excesselectricity returning to the grid under a net-metering agreement withPacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).
That’s all for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.
Solar Power Rundown for Monday, March 22
