Tag Archive for: solarpanels

Almost one-third of homes have panels in Australia, the highest in the world, says SunWiz, and will soon outpace capacity from coal.

Solar to soon offer grid more capacity than coal in Australia

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Australia’s rooftops now boast 20 gigawatts of solar panels and will soon have the capacity to produce more electricity than the country’s entire coal industry, according to the industry consultancy SunWiz.

Almost one in three Australian households have solar photovoltaics – or solar panels – the highest penetration in the world. Queensland had the highest share of solar panels installed on dwellings deemed suitable for the technology with an 82% penetration, ahead of South Australia’s 78%, New South Wales’ 51% and Victoria’s 43%.

The take-up of solar PV has quickened. It took about 11 years for Australia to reach its first 10GW of capacity, while the second 10GW took just four years, according to SunWiz.

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Source: The Guardian

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The first US pilot that will site solar panels over irrigation canals is going to deploy long-duration iron flow battery storage.

US’s first solar panels over canals pilot will deploy iron flow batteries

Project Nexus is a $20 million pilot in California’s Turlock Irrigation District that launched in October of last year. The project team is exploring solar over canal design, deployment, and co-benefits using canal infrastructure and the electrical grid.

India already has solar panels over canals, but Project Nexus is the first of its kind in the US.

The Turlock Irrigation District was the first irrigation district formed in California in 1887. It provides irrigation water to 4,700 growers who farm around 150,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley.

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Source: electrek

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Solar panels can provide valuable habitat for wildlife – and potentially benefit both the land and farmers.

Win-win: how solar farms can double as havens for our wildlife

Australia’s renewable energy transition has prompted the construction of dozens of large-scale solar farms. The boom helps reduce Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels, but requires large areas of land to be converted to host solar infrastructure.

Solar farms are mostly built in rural areas. This has raised concerns about a potential decline in both agricultural production – as arable land is used for solar energy production – and wildlife habitat.

But there are ways to expand solar infrastructure so both nature and people win. We’ve already seen this in so called “agrivoltaics”, where land under and around solar panels is used to grow crops and graze livestock. But what about “conservoltaics”, combing conservation and solar energy?

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Source: The Conversation

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Scientists at Stanford University created a solar panel that works in the dark, and discovered how to modify the installed solar panels generate power at night.

Groundbreaking new solar panels can generate electricity in the dark

Solar power is a promising avenue for clean energy. Unfortunately, solar panels have one major weakness – they can’t generate electricity in the dark. However, this weakness could soon change as scientists at Stanford University have now created a solar panel that works in the dark.

The researchers published their findings on the new type of solar panel in the journal Applied Physics Letters back in April of 2022. While they discovered a way to make solar panels work in the dark, they also discovered that already erected solar panels could be modified to generate power at night, too, saving businesses and homes from having to upgrade to new panels.

The process used to make older solar panels work in the dark is called radiative cooling. When the sun sets, the Earth cools down, releasing heat into the air. This helps to create a temperature difference between the air and the surface of the panels. Then, researchers say that we can install thermoelectric generators onto the panels, allowing us to harness the power generated by radiative cooling.

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Source: BGR

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Los Angeles is the nation's leading city for installed solar capacity. Solar energy is the city's most abundant renewable power source.

All you need to know about solar panels in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the nation’s leading city for installed solar capacity, with almost 650 megawatts of solar power in 2021, according to the Environment California Research & Policy Center’s Shining Cities 2022 report. If you live in Los Angeles, you can lower your home’s carbon footprint and save on energy costs by switching to solar.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, solar energy is the city’s most abundant renewable power source. The LADWP has extensive plans to continue expanding solar energy across the city.

The average California energy bill tends to be higher than the national average, according to CNET’s corporate partner, SaveOnEnergy. Rising electricity costs are a primary reason why many Angelenos invest in solar panels for their homes. Based on data from the Energy Information Administration, California electricity rates in June 2022 were 25% higher than in June 2021.

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Source: CNET

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Solar panels over parking lots produce clean electricity without wasting space and provide shade in sunny, warm weather for drivers.

Why not cover ugly parking lots with solar panels?

A BACKLASH AGAINST industrial-size solar farms is brewing. At least 75 big solar projects were vetoed across the United States last year, compared to 19 in 2021. And between January 2021 and July 2022, planning permission for 23 new solar farms was rejected across England, Wales, and Scotland, when only four projects were refused between 2017 and 2020—representing the highest rejection rate in five years. Decarbonization, to some extent, risks getting bogged down by planning objections. People very often don’t want solar farms in their backyard.

France, though, appears to have a solution: transforming its parking lots into solar farms nationwide. The French Senate has approved a bill requiring new and existing lots with more than 80 spaces to be at least half covered with canopies of solar panels that sit over the parking spaces. Assuming the bill comes into effect later this year, parking lots with more than 400 spaces must be compliant by 2026; smaller ones with 80 to 400 spaces will be given until 2028.

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Source: WIRED

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The Athos III solar project (also known as Blythe Mesa Solar II) generates 224 MWAC/310 MWDC of solar energy, enough to power 94,000 homes.

Union-built 310-MW solar + storage project comes online in California

Intersect Power started the commercial operation of its Athos III solar project in Riverside County, California, on December 22, 2022. The Athos III solar project was built by union labor, with American-made solar panels, batteries and steel piles, and it is expected to meet the domestic content and prevailing wage requirements for tax credit incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The Athos III solar project (also known as Blythe Mesa Solar II) generates 224 MWAC/310 MWDC of solar energy, enough to power approximately 94,000 homes, and features 448 MWh of co-located storage.

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Source: Solar Power World

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New research is being conducted to develop methods for keeping solar panels operative in the high seas.

Scientists developing floating solar farms that can withstand rough oceans

Floating solar farms are solar panels that are installed on the surface of bodies of water — such as lakes and reservoirs — to save space on land or provide electricity to remote locations.

Now, engineers and scientists are beginning to develop ways to put solar farms on the surface of the ocean to bring electricity to isolated places, such as the island nation of Indonesia, where more than a million people are without access to electricity, reported BBC News.

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Source: Eco Watch

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Mitrex is now an approved manufacturer on CEC PV module listing and boasts verified bankability testing for PV modules

Mitrex announces the world’s first colored solar panels with CEC Listing

Mitrex, a North American manufacturer of solar panels and integrated solar technology, is the world’s first and only solar manufacturer to receive California Energy Commission’s (CEC) listing for colored solar panels. Mitrex products are not only CEC, NY-Sun, and FSEC listed but boast bankability testing that evaluates the long-term performance of PV modules.

Mitrex’s complete product line of standard and colored photovoltaic modules are now available on CEC’s PV module listing. In addition to the state of California, Mitrex products are also qualified in Florida and are eligible for New York’s incentive and financing programs through NYSERDA’s NY-Sun program.

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Source: CISION

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Eichten’s solar purchase 10yrs ago was similarly the start of something big. Neighbors and clean energy companies began to see opportunities.

One farmer set off a solar energy boom in rural Minnesota; 10 years later, here’s how it worked out

It sounded absurd, the idea of spending a large sum of money to install solar panels in a Minnesota farm field that is covered in snow for much of the year.

But Ed Eichten’s family had gotten used to his wild ideas that turned out to work, like raising bison to sell or turning a small cheese-making business into a retail operation.

His solar purchase 10 years ago was similarly the start of something big. Neighbors and clean energy companies began to see opportunities that led to Chisago County, Minnesota, becoming a hub for solar power development, with dozens of projects including the largest one in the state, North Star Solar.

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Source: Inside Climate News

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