USA

Origis Energy will install 149 MW of solar for Florida municipal utilities
Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), in partnership with 12 municipal electric utilities and Origis Energy, announced plans to expand the Florida Municipal Solar Project by adding 149 megawatts to what was already one of the largest municipal-backed solar projects in the nation.
Dec 13, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, Florida, North America, Origis Energy, Johan Vanhee, FMPA, Jacob Williams
Greenbacker acquires 19-MW intended Michigan solar project
Greenbacker Renewable Energy has reached an agreement with Prism Power Partners to obtain Electric City Solar, a 19-MW construction-ready solar project in Michigan using a 25-year municipal offtake agreement. The transaction marks yet another successful purchase of a contracted utility-scale solar endeavor for Greenbacker.
Dec 12, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, Michigan, Greenbacker Renewable Energy, North America, Prism Power Partners
Hormel Foods plant provides solar array to offset 15 percent of energy
Hormel Foods Corporation and IGS Solar have declared the completion of the solar energy project in the Hormel Foods Swiss American Sausage Company facility in Lathrop, California. The completion was celebrated in a Flip the Switch Event at the production facility, which produces an assortment of pepperoni and salami for foodservice pizza toppings.
Dec 12, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, California, USA, North America, igs solar, Hormel Foods Corporation, HOLT Renewables
Elon Musk is talking about powering all of America with solar
Elon Musk is talking, again, about his idea to turn 10,000 square miles in the U.S. desert into a solar farm that can power the entire nation.
Dec 12, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, TESLA, Elon Musk, North America, Bill Gates, Andrew Smith
American scientists find way for efficiently conversion of photons by silicon
A scientific group from two U.S.-based universities has discovered how to transfer the energy between the molecules of silicon and organic material. So far, this phenomenon was only theoretical. The discovery has vast prospects for medical, solar power, and quantum computing applications.
Dec 12, 2019 // Technology, USA, silicon, North America, photons
Crystallographic defects can improve battery performance
A group of researchers from Rice University of Texas have found out that introducing antisite defects into lithium iron phosphate lattice makes the roads for lithium ion broader.
Dec 12, 2019 // Technology, Storage, USA, North America, Rice University of Texas
100% renewables means 95% less water consumption for conventional power generation
According to a new study by Finland’s LUT University, solar PV consumes between 2% and 15% of the water that coal and nuclear power plants use to produce just 1 MWh of output; for wind, this percentage ranges from 0.1% to 14%. Under the researchers’ best policy scenario, water consumption could be reduced by 75.1% by 2030, compared to 2015 levels.
Dec 12, 2019 // Market Research, USA, China, Europe, Asia, North America, Christian Breyer, Finland, LUT University
AI-driven robots are making new materials, improving solar cells and other technologies
Ada, an AI-driven robot, searches for new solar cell designs at the University of British Columbia.
Dec 12, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, solar cell, North America, University of British Columbia, Curtis Berlinguette, Benji Maruyama, Apurva Mehta, Kristin Persson, Keith Brown, Joshua Schrier, John Gregoire
US research laboratory rewires solar cell raising efficiency to 27.3%, sees path to greater than 32 percent
NREL has released a paper showing an experimental solar cell, using a unique method for wiring two different solar cells to a single, that raised the cell's efficiency by 4 percent. As well the document provides a respectable review of different technologies being developed.
Dec 11, 2019 // Technology, USA, NREL, solar cell, North America
Innovative Solar introduces two solar projects with total capacity of 425MW
Innovative Solar Systems offers 2 Texas-based utility-scale solar projects for immediate acquisition. The first array is located in Fisher County and has a generation capacity of 125 megawatts. The second project with a 300-megawatt capacity is in Jones County.
Dec 11, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, USA, Texas, Engie, North America, innovative solar systems
RPCS has installed 1 gigawatt of solar capacity
RP Construction Services, a Californian solar developer and installer, has completed over 1 gigawatt of photovoltaic projects.
Dec 11, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, California, USA, North America, RP Construction Services, PV pipeline
Colorado Springs Utilities launches largest solar field to date
It wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch but, when Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) brought it’s newest and largest solar panel field online, it quadrupled how much energy it generates from the sun.
Dec 10, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Grids, USA, Colorado, North America, Colorado Springs Utilities, Aram Benyamin, Jared Polis
U.S. senators replicate call for ban on Huawei solar inverters
A group of ten bipartisan senators such as Marco Rubio (R-FL), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), calling on it to take action to fight the national security threat introduced by Huawei's entrance to the U.S. solar sector.
Dec 10, 2019 // Inverters, Policy, USA, FERC, Huawei, North America, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Joe Manchin
Auction convened to offload PV generators of bankrupt DC Solar
A sizeable batch of DC Solar stock is to go under the hammer this week in a bid to liquidate assets from the now-defunct Californian PV firm, undone by a high-profile FBI investigation.
Dec 9, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, California, USA, North America, bankruptcy, dc solar, legal affairs
BlackRock invests $2.5bn in renewables
BlackRock, the global biggest fund managing company, has closed 1bn USD of a 2.5bn USD fund aimed at wind, solar and storage. However, this is only a small part of the financial giant’s 6.96tn USD balance and nothing in comparison with 17.5bn invested in coal projects.
Dec 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Storage, USA, BlackRock, investment, North America