Renewable Energy News

Silicon wafers destined to become photovoltaic (PV) cells can take a bruising through assembly lines, as they are oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered to reach their destinies as efficient converters of the sun's rays into useful electricity.

We're thrilled to see that the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has adopted a Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program this week.

Sungevity is starting the year off with a new, $85 million round to finance solar panel installations and expand its presence in the nine states it already is serving, said the startup's CEO, Andrew Birch.

As the Northeastern coastline is still busy cleaning up after damages from Hurricane Sandy months after its landfall, offshore wind proponents are moving ahead with plans that they hope will help mitigate future storm impacts.

In 2012, the U.S. solar industry installed roughly 3.2 GW of capacity.  This was more solar power capacity than had ever been installed before. Falling PV module prices and large-scale solar PV farms coming online during the year are what drove it. Most analysts agree that 2013 will be another record year in the U.S. for installed solar capacity. 

A new report from GTM Research and the Emirates Solar Industry Association (ESIA) examines which countries in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region expect the most growth for solar energy.

One of my Solar Fred marketing wishes for 2013 was for solar marketers to be more visual. In that post, I was narrowly referring to internet related marketing, but that’s my mistake. I meant be more visual with everything, including your vehicles. I was reminded of how important vehicle marketing is over the holidays when I came across this marketi

Private equity companies and venture capitalists including Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Braemar Energy Ventures reduced renewable-energy investment to the lowest since 2006 as once-promising companies failed or were sold at a loss.

Some of the new numbers for 2012 are out and they add emphatically to Germany’s clean energy resume. In fact, they’re a critical affirmation of the doability of the Energiewende, which came under unprecedented attack last year — not least from the ranks of Germany’s own officialdom. An incredible blow to Energiewende nay-sayers – Germany’s export o

French president Francois Hollande has made an outspoken call for investment in renewable energy.

Norway needs new power cables to allow it to double installed capacity in its hydropower plants, Europe's largest, and boost electricity exports to the region, according to Statkraft SF.

Jackson Kiloku, a 26-year-old Masai who herds animals and raises vegetables, stood at the far end of Inkoiriento village, a panoply of wooden and rusted tin-roofed buildings in Kenya's Nakuru County, and pointed to cables in the sky. "I hope electricity will flow through them soon," he said. "Electricity will be good for our local school and good for our businesses." Daniel Parsitau, a fellow villager added that electricity would make life at home easier as well.

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It's been a busy few days for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as the UN-sponsored organization released several announcements at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Within a decade, 300,000 megawatts of unsubsidized local solar power could compete with utility electricity prices in almost every state, enough clean energy to produce 10% of U.S. electricity.  Grid parity is building like a relentless wave, but how much solar is at parity today?  In 2016?  In 2020?  On homes or businesses?  With incentives or wit

The "fiscal cliff" deal passed by Congress over the holidays preserved the federal production tax credits (PTC) for wind-powered energy generation projects that begin construction during 2013 (a key tweak of the language).

Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Sanabil and the nation's pension agency acquired 19 percent of ACWA Power International, a company that invests in power and water projects in the kingdom and regionally.

Scotland's planned offshore tidal, wave and wind power plants face risks from delays in building links to transfer electricity between the nation's islands and the mainland, according to renewable energy developers.

Pumped hydro has been the gold standard of renewable energy storage for decades. Its combination of efficiency (70-85%) and ubiquity (perhaps as much as 99% bulk storage capacity worldwide) have made it the go-to technology for energy storage.

Greece's energy regulator approved higher renewable-power taxes for consumers, backing a second increase in five months to bolster funds at market operator Lagie SA.