California Heading For 500,000 Clean Energy Jobs
California’s booming clean energy industry currently employs nearly 450,000 people and is tipped to reach the half million mark within a year, according to a first-of-its-kind survey of America’s advanced energy sector. The current number is more than the film, TV, radio, semiconductors and aerospace industries. The survey, released by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute, […]
Lismore Community Solar Project Gains Council Nod
Lismore Council has decided to steam ahead with plans to build the first council- community partnership solar farm project in Australia under the Farming The Sun initiative. Originally intended to be a large single project, Lismore Community Solar will instead consist of two 99kW solar farms constructed at Goonellabah Sports & Aquatic Centre and East […]
RET Impasse Costing Australian Renewables Millions
The Federal Government’s drawn-out review of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target is costing the sector between $400 and $500 million a year in lost investment, according to the Clean Energy Council. An analysis by the CEC says the ongoing impasse will continue to wreak more than $400 million of damage every year to renewable energy projects […]
US Solar Capacity Reached 17.5GW In Q3
The USA installed 1,354 megawatts of solar PV in Q3 2014, up 41 percent on the same period last year. According to the quarterly SEIA/GTM Research U.S. Solar Market Insight report, Q3 was the second biggest quarter for solar installations in the history of the US solar sector. “Every three minutes of every single day, […]
Battery Powered Ferry Completes 4,000 Trips
Lithium ion batteries are increasingly transforming energy storage and transport – even in heavy marine applications. Canadian company Electrovaya has announced that the KF Hisarøy electric cable ferry, which has been operating between Mjånes and Hisarøy in Norway, has racked up a full year of flawless operation. The ferry features a prototype 100kWh rechargeable battery […]
Australia Reaches 4GW Solar Capacity
Australia has reached an impressive milestone – 4GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity according to the Australian PV Institute (APVI); with the vast majority of this figure small scale solar panel installations. Installed capacity has quadrupled since 2011 says APVI and Australia’s systems are generating an estimated 5,250 gigawatt hours of solar electricity per year. […]
First Zero Emissions Electric Car To Compete In Dakar Rally
Renewable energy company Acciona has unveiled what will be the first zero emissions electric vehicle to participate in the grueling Dakar Rally. In late November, Acciona 100% EcoPowered passed the technical and administrative checks made by the rally organisers. The vehicle features a 220 kW (300HP) synchronous electric motor that weighs only 80 kilograms. An […]
Researchers Achieve Record Sunlight To Electricity Conversion
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have reported converting over 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar panel system into electricity, the highest efficiency ever recorded. The result has been independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States. “We used commercial solar cells, […]
Sundrop Farms Inks Agreements With KKR And Coles
A farm near Port Augusta in South Australia that uses concentrated solar power to generate the heat, electricity, and desalinated water needed for its growing operations has announced two major deals in the last week. Last Thursday, Sundrop Farms announced global investment firm KKR has provided growth capital to expand Sundrop Farms’ glasshouse facility and […]
UK Solar Can Thrive Without Subsidies By 2020
Solar power in the UK will thrive without subsidies by 2020 as plummeting hardware costs and a mature supply chain transform the British solar industry says a new report from Berlin-based think tank THEMA1. Using evidence based on price signals and business activity in the German solar market, the report found all three technologies in […]