On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the imposition of antidumping tariffs of more than 31 percent on solar panels from China. The preliminary ruling, if affirmed by the DOC this fall, is expected to have significant implications on the solar industry, creating presumably both winners and losers. Yet, although it might be too early to evaluate the impact of the new ruling, we have a feeling there’s a good chance no one will benefit from this tariff. Is it possible?

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The German government is close to slashing subsidies for solar energy by 20 to 40 percent despite solar’s success in reaching up to 25 gw in capacity.

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Saudi Arabia will seek investors interested in a $109 billion plan to generate power from solar energy. The ambitious plan calls for a long term goal of generating an entire third of the nation’s electricity from solar power by the year 2032.

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McKinsey says solar is will be highly cost-competitive by 2020.

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SolarCity, the California-based installation giant, revealed yesterday it started filing documents with the SEC for its IPO. Could solar be turning a corner after all?

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Greece hopes that its ambitious Project Helios, centering around solar energy will pave way towards its economic recovery.

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GE’s interest in solar energy began during the space age and over 50 years later, has an impact on everything from transportation to modern electricity grids.

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$10 billion. That is the annual dollar size of the proposal-flow for roof top solar systems being created by Clean Power Finance’s national network of 1,550 installers.

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US company, Mera Gao Power’s low energy solar panels provide electricity in remote Indian villages. They aim to electrify 100,000 by 2016.

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Levels of solar radiation vary dramatically between countries, as do the various subsidies available. Where in the world is the best place to live to benefit from solar panels when these two factors are combined, and should there be more funding for solar power in sunnier countries?

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AORA Solar, an Israeli developer of concentrated solar power, will be opening its second-ever gas-turbine solar thermal power station in Spain. The plant will answer the electricity needs of the local population and provide additional heat energy for an adjacent desalination facility.

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Renewable energy still has a long way to go to be our de facto utility energy source, especially in a state like California. What bottlenecks are keeping us from a renewable energy future?

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When the U.S. military and the sport of golf take on solar power, that’s a certain indication that solar is crossing over from a fringe curiosity to a solid pillar of the U.S. energy community.

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Eight19 announced Kickstart, a program that funds pay-as-you go solar energy in poor dual areas, this week at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

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Renewable energy is getting off to a good 2012 start in California with the approval of 5 renewable energy projects that will bring more than 1-GW of clean electrical power and more than 2,900-GWh per year of clean energy on-line. California’s Public Utilities Commission approved investor-owned utility contracts for three SunPower solar, one NextEra Energy wind and one Pattern Energy wind energy project with Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric.

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India is poised to become a solar powerhouse, a possibility on its way to becoming a reality, with sunny prospects for the awakening subcontinent’s economic future. The Indian government has recognized the opportunity they have in a land where the sun shines more than 80 percent of all possible hours, and has set a goal [...]

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Fremont, CA-based GreenVolts has emerged publicly with a first of its kind turnkey concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar power system and a strategic partnership with ABB.

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3p is proud to partner with the Presidio Graduate School’s Managerial Marketing course on a blogging series about “sustainable marketing.” This post is part of that series. To follow along, please click here. By Emily Alt The marketers of today are focusing much of their time and effort on new-age marketing, especially social media. These [...]

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A sense of optimism pervaded the atmosphere in Durban on the penultimate day and final morning of the UNFCCC’s 17th annual climate change treaty talks, according to one solar industry observer. Rumor was that an agreement to commit to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol and also extend it beyond its 2020 expiration date were within reach.

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Bottleneck was the word of the day at the recently held Distributed Solar Summit. The good news is that solar panel prices are at historically low levels. The increasing price competitiveness of solar is attracting a growing number of customers. However, the potential for explosive growth in solar installations is bottlenecked by regulation, rule-making and [...]

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The Green Energy Park is where energy storage, solar power and smart grid technologies will provide the next level of not only innovation, but revenue streams as well.

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LA’s solar power and green jobs potential remains largely untapped, due in large part to lack of action by local government, according to a UCLA-USC study presented at the Los Angeles Business Council Institute on Tuesday. The report’s authors found that the city and region lags the rest of the state when it comes to solar power and green jobs. Enacting a solar power feed-in tariff, they add, could create $2 billion in local investment and create 16,000 job-years with a minimal impact on ratepayers.

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Times remain hard across the country, but solar power is a bright spot in Tennessee’s economy. The Volunteer State is Hemlock Semiconductor and Wacker Chemie polysilicon and Sharp Solar plants, and solar power projects are cropping up around the Tennessee Valley despite the state’s lack of a Renewable Power Standards (RPS).

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Canadian Solar will introduce their new line of “intelligrated” solar panels at the Solar Power International conference that kicks off today in Dallas. Starting with the CommercialAC three-phase AC version for commercial installations, the new grid-ready solar panels offer inverter integration and performance monitoring. The “intelligrated” design combines Canadian Solar’s ELPS high-efficiency panels with integrated new sequenced [...]

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One of Dubai’s latest goals is to launch a large solar plant as part of the emirate’s grand plan is to net five percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.

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National Solar Power will invest $1.5 billion to build the Southeast’s largest solar power farm, a 400MW solar power farm in Florida’s Gadsden County capable of supplying clean, renewable power to some 32,000 homes. Around 400 construction phase and 120 permanent jobs are expected to be created.

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These are tough times for the solar industry. Companies such as Evergreen solar and SpectraWatt have filed for bankruptcy, while most famously, Solyndra, a recipient of tax dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, closed up shop this month. On top of this, an excess supply of photovoltaic (PV) panels, especially from China, is [...]

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The St. Louis Housing Authority has installed solar power systems on its administrative headquarters and four affordable housing complexes. Real Goods Solar designed, installed and engineered the solar PV systems, which will produce 617 kilowatts of electrical power, reducing average common area electricity use at the residential complexes by 75% and the Authority’s by 15%.

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The border city of Mexicali will be home to Mexico’s first integrated solar power system and manufacturing plant, Baja Sun Energy SRL announced Monday The company will invest more than $500 million over the next four years to build a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) manufacturing plant, itself powered by a 10-megawatt (MW) solar farm.

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Getting an education in America isn’t getting any easier. Battling steadily declining budgets, cut programs, and teacher layoffs, public school districts need any advantage they can find to offset many challenges. The absolute imperative of basic education is beyond dispute. Providing the tools, policies, and money to achieve it are far from assured. Here comes the [...]

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