Renewable Energy News

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who drew criticism from Republicans over his support for loans to Solyndra LLC before the solar-panel maker went bankrupt, will leave his Cabinet post in President Barack Obama's second term, according to two people familiar with the matter.

On Wednesday, January 16th, the U.S. Army dedicated its largest solar photovoltaic system at White Sands Missile Range, in a ceremony led by Brig. Gen. Gwen Bingham, White Sands commander. Bingham was joined by Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment for the ceremony and Judy Marks, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies. (see photo at the end of the article.)

Biogen Ltd., a U.K. developer of plants that generate electricity from food waste, plans to start building four to five facilities this year as rising landfill taxes increases the costs of burying waste underground.

The U.S. consumer wants food to be fresh, local and organic. But that means larger grocery bills in an economy where most people need them to be smaller. As the New York Times tells it, 20-somethings, just out of college, feel the squeeze the most. They are more intent on Whole Foods-style eating than their predecessors, but less able to afford it.

The recently approved feed-in tariff program in Los Angeles, voted on by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Board of Commissioners on January 11th, has sparked a good deal of coverage over both questions and concerns – mostly surrounding how well the program will perform. Those interested in the incentive won’t have to wait long

I think we can proclaim that 2012 was the year we turned the corner and caught a glimpse of what high-penetration solar looks like. Defined from an engineering perspective, a circuit has reached “high penetration” when utility engineers determine that upgrades need to be made to the circuit before additional generation can be installed.  If we look

Trina Solar Ltd., the world's third- biggest maker of solar panels, and JinkoSolar Holding Co. expect to deliver more products this year as China's efforts to promote its domestic solar industry take hold.

Miss our 2013 solar energy outlook? The folks at RENVU were kind enough to summarize our report into an animated video of what to expect in the coming year. Five minutes of your time will give you a great look at the entire year in solar. Check it out below!

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed changes to a rule that will speed up the process and reduce the costs to interconnect smaller-sized solar power projects to the grid while maintaining system reliability and safety. The changes were necessary, the organization claims, because of market changes that were due to state renewable energy goals and policies.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) accounted for 49.10% of all new domestic electrical generating capacity installed in the twelve months of 2012 for a total of 12,956 MW. More than a quarter of that new capacity (25.29% - 3,276 MW) came online in the month of December 2012 alone.

Developers and financiers will invest $1.9 trillion building clean-energy power plants worldwide from 2012 through 2018 as demand for electricity increases, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.

A consortium of renewable energy developers led by Canadian firms Solexica Energy Corp., JCM Capital, and Radical Energy Inc. has signed a 20-year concession agreement with CONELEC (Consejo Nacional de Electricidad) to purchase electricity generated by solar power plants in the Republic of Ecuador. Power from the plants, a combined generation of 62.5-megawatt-peak (50-MW AC), will be purchased at US 40.03 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and distributed to the national electric grid.

Africa is lagging the rest of the world in obtaining funds for renewable energy projects because development banks aren't assuming enough of the political risk of working there, United Nations officials said.

Mitsubishi Corp., Japan's largest trading house by market value, is investing $765 million to aid Germany's renewable energy shift by helping TenneT Holding BV connect sea-based wind farms to the power grid.

Between the residential and utility sized RE projects, there are more and more distributed generation projects in the $100,000 to $1 million range. Rather than paying cash, many customers would prefer monthly lease payments as this reduces the capital requirement and often increases the return on their investment. As an example, a $500,000 rooftop solar PV install for $500,000 would have monthly payments between $4,000 and $6,000 over a 7- to 10-year lease term.

On October 25, 2012, the world watched as Hurricane Sandy swept up the east coast. Over these past few years, we have seen storm after storm leave our homes battered, our possessions ruined, and our towns and cities without power for weeks on end. Most of us in the renewable energy world take it for granted that man-made climate change contributes to the increased intensity of these major weather events, and that renewable energy will reduce the already adverse effects of climate change. But the recent barrage of natural disasters has also revealed something else: the utility company model – based on the centralized delivery of a commodity product – leaves something to be desired, and solar power can help there, too.

The U.K. Green Investment Bank may allocate all of the 3 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) provided by the government to stimulate investment in clean technology by as early as 2015, Chief Executive Officer Shaun Kingsbury said.

For years, we've been making the case that in addition to the environmental benefits, solar also adds value to the grid. How much value? This week, we released a commissioned report to look at both the costs and benefits of net metering in California.

It’s no longer breaking news that on-site solar has grown sharply over the past few years, both in the number of programs and participants. Today, 43 states and Washington, D.C. have adopted net metering policies, which let individuals and businesses offset their electricity bills with self-generated energy. Participation more than doubled each of

President Barack Obama's administration played favorites on clean-energy loans while improperly blocking a carmaker and a related technology company from receiving millions in aid, according to two lawsuits.