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Solar India and its Parallel Universe

By Braham Singh, CEO, The Red Snapper (M) Sdn.Bhd., November, 04, 2009 - One can be driven to distraction trying to reconcile the buzz around Indian pronouncements on things solar, with a parallel universe of ground realities. more...
Article Viewed 829 Times | 9 Comments

BLM: The Colossal Snafu of the 21st Century

By Fred Kesinger, Senior Executive, Everest Consulting Partners, October, 23, 2009 - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has come under harsh criticism during the last part of 2008 and the early part of 2009 for creating a monstrous backlog of solar energy applications. In July 2008, the BLM put all solar applications on hold ostensibly because these projects are: (1) large scale commercial facilities with a large foot print and most likely will be used exclusively for solar energy generation; (2) most likely to occupy the land for a long period of time, perhaps as long as 30 years; (3) these projects will require changes to the land use plan; and (4) the BLM will be required to conduct a detailed environmental review under NEPA. more...
Article Viewed 1225 Times | 2 Comments

Solar Energy After Spain

By Braham Singh, CEO, The Red Snapper (M) Sdn.Bhd., October, 19, 2009 - As a businessman, politician, student, media person or homemaker you don't do yourself any favors ignoring solar energy and related events. An earlier article of mine spelled out why. This one looks at how turbo-charged photovoltaic (PV) sales peaked in 2008, stumbled at year-end and nose-dived. And at what's to become of us as a consequence. more...
Article Viewed 1249 Times | 9 Comments

True Cost of A Solar PV

By Warren Reynolds, Consultant, , October, 14, 2009 - In the rush to get the solar energy systems up and running, we are throwing low-efficiency PV cells on prime solar land. This does not make for a good investment. Subsequently, there are three major cost factors that include PV efficiency which make for a good solar PV farm. I will discuss these factors later. But, let us divert for a moment to delve into some other PV areas. more...
Article Viewed 2540 Times | 42 Comments

A Case For Muni-Solar

By Braham Singh, CEO, The Red Snapper (M) Sdn.Bhd., September, 25, 2009 - The argument covered in this article recently convinced a Malaysian state government to present Muni-Wireless type solar facilities as an option to its city and town administrations. I am opening it up here for others to digest believing this to be a practical solution for power generation in Asia and Africa especially along the equatorial belt. If sunny Germany can become the world's largest PV (photovoltaic cells/panels/arrays) installed base, then Malaysia and India have little excuse to procrastinate. more...
Article Viewed 1574 Times | 10 Comments

PV Manufacturing: Where Will New Plants be Built?

By Shyam Mehta, Senior Analyst, GTM Research, August, 19, 2009 - A major trend over the last eight months has been the announcement of new PV manufacturing facilities in the U.S. A few of these, such as Solarworld's giant cell and wafer production facility in Oregon and Schott Solar's module plant in New Mexico, have already been constructed and have commenced operation. Besides these, there are at least 10 major manufacturing facilities in the pipeline that are scheduled to begin production by the end of 2010, as displayed in Figure 1. more...
Article Viewed 1798 Times | 2 Comments

U.S. and India Renewable Energy Partnership Can Ameliorate Global 'Climate Change' Issues

By Ramanathan Menon, Editor and Publisher, Sun Power, July, 27, 2009 - The world's two largest democracies -- the U.S. and India -- share one thing in common, the SUN. And, both countries are blessed with lots of sunshine. more...
Article Viewed 1840 Times | 6 Comments

Public-Private Partnerships Move Solar Energy Forward

By David Kunhardt, Vice President, Partnership Finance, Solar Power Partners, July, 15, 2009 - When revenues are lean, public agencies need to control operating expenses and insulate themselves against energy shocks so they can focus on delivering essential services. Schools would rather pay teachers than utilities; water districts would rather deliver water than pay for pumping power. Forward-thinking public agencies, who are also large electricity consumers, want to be part of a solution to global climate change by adopting clean and renewable power. However, the upfront costs required for on-site clean power generation, such as solar energy, can be unpalatable. more...
Article Viewed 1718 Times | 6 Comments

Utility Solar Power Grew 25 Percent in 2008

By Bill Opalka, Editor-in-Chief, Topic Centers, Energy Central, June, 17, 2009 - Utility scale solar installations grew by about 25 percent last year according to an annual survey conducted by an industry trade association. The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) "2008 Top Ten Utility Solar Integration Rankings" report identified U.S utilities that have the most significant amounts of solar electricity integrated into their portfolio. more...
Article Viewed 2000 Times | 9 Comments

Solar Makes Sense Now

By Charles Gay, President, Applied Materials, Inc., May, 20, 2009 - Solar photovoltaic electricity has historically suffered from a troika of complaints that limited its deployment to niche markets: "Solar is too expensive," "Solar is not reliable" and "Solar is not scalable enough to solve major energy needs." The newest wave of technologies, equipment makers, module manufacturers and installers are putting an end to those misperceptions once and for all. more...
Article Viewed 3149 Times | 20 Comments

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