Tag Archive for: solarpanels

US farmers are turning to solar power as a buffer against volatile crop prices, and Biden's clean-energy tax incentives are set to boost the trend.

Solar panels spread across America’s heartland as farmers chase stable returns

For Stuart Woolf, who grows wine grapes, almonds and other specialty crops in California, solar power is a necessary compromise as farming gets more challenging.

Woolf, who has 1,200 acres of panels on his farm in the state’s Central Valley, says individual growers like him are turning to solar to survive. He began leasing land to solar developers about a decade ago, an arrangement that provides him with a much-needed new profit stream.

“We would prefer not to have any solar, but if we don’t have it, we won’t have the ability to keep this farm going,” he said.

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Source: Bloomberg

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TerrePower's new facility will have the capacity to recycle over 125,000 modules per year, and it could ultimately result in lower costs.

Ambitious new recycling facility in Tennessee could reduce cost of solar

Many solar panels and electric vehicle batteries are about to be refurbished and recycled in Tennessee, as TerrePower, a division of automotive aftermarket company BBB Industries, has set up a 20,000-square-foot facility in the Volunteer State.

As detailed by PV Magazine, TerrePower’s new facility will have the capacity to recycle over 125,000 modules per year, and it could ultimately result in lower costs.

The plant will focus first on remanufacturing solar panels and batteries that can be salvaged, replacing any weak or used-up components. Any panels or batteries too far gone to be refurbished will be recycled. TerrePower said that it expects its panel remanufacturing processes to reduce carbon pollution 35% over original production.

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Source: The Cool Down

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CAG has commenced work on installing solar panels, and once completed, it will become Singapore’s largest single-site solar PV system.

Changi starts work on country’s largest solar photovoltaic system

Changi Airport Group (CAG) has commenced work on installing solar panels on its buildings, and once completed by 2025 it will become Singapore’s largest single-site solar photovoltaic (PV) system. Designed, owned and operated by Keppel Ltd for a period of 25 years.

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Source: Aviation Week

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3 senior housing sites at Sage Lane have activated solar paired battery storage systems valued at $100,000 to power critical facility needs.

West Marin Senior Housing “loves” its new battery storage and solar

This Valentine’s Day, West Marin residents living in select affordable housing sites in San Geronimo will power up with more than just love from local partners – but with new battery storage and solar panels too.

Three senior housing sites at Sage Lane, owned by Two Valleys Community Land Trust, have activated solar paired battery storage systems valued at $100,000 to power critical facility needs. One of the sites without existing solar also received new solar panels.

MCE led the joint effort to fund the project with no out-of-pocket costs to the Land Trust. This includes a direct contribution of more than $36,000 from MCE, $32,000 from a Marin Community Foundation grant awarded to MCE, and $24,000 from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Self Generation Incentive Program, secured by MCE’s project partners.

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Source: CALCCA

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PV installations increased 30% on farms in the latest US Census of Agriculture. Some 116,758 farms had solar panels in 2022, compared with 90,142 in 2017.

Solar use on US farms jumps 30% in five years

Solar is in on the American farm, while the uptake for wind power is slowing.

Photovoltaic installations increased 30% on farms in the latest US Census of Agriculture released Tuesday. Some 116,758 farms had solar panels in 2022, compared with 90,142 in 2017. Wind turbine installation, meanwhile, grew by only 2.7% during the same period, to 14,511 farms.

The slight increase for wind follows a 56% jump in the previous census, which covered the five years to 2017.

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Source: Bloomberg

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Many hands have been trying to make space solar happen for many years, and now the US Space Force may be helicoptering in to lend a hand.

The US Space Force is catching space solar fever

The idea of beaming clean energy down to Earth from orbiting arrays of solar panels seemed pretty wacky when it first crossed the CleanTechnica radar. However, the technology building blocks are already at hand. It’s just a matter of scaling, systems integration, and adjustments for space-hardiness. That sounds simple enough, but many hands have been trying to make space solar happen for many years, and now the US Space Force may be helicoptering in to lend a hand.

The Space Solar Race Is For Real

Research teams from the US, China, and the UK are among those chasing the space solar rainbow. The attraction of space solar is the potential for 24/7 solar power at the multi-gigawatt scale, all year long. That has implications for military use as well as civilian life.

The US Department of Defense has already begun using solar arrays and energy storage to build more resilience and security into its facilities and operations. Access to solar energy from space would kick that effort into high gear.

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Source: Clean Technica

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If you want to take advantage of solar energy but you can’t (or don’t want to) put solar panels on your roof, you do have other options.

Everywhere else you can install solar panels

If you want to take advantage of solar energy but you can’t (or don’t want to) put solar panels on your roof, you do have other options. As solar panels become more advanced and the technology develops, gathering energy from the sun is growing ever easier and more unobtrusive than ever. Here are some great options for installing solar panels in places other than your roof.

Solar siding

If you have a south-facing wall on your home with about eight feet by eight feet of space, you can install solar panel siding. These solar cells will work best in unshaded areas, of course, but they can still collect energy even in they are in southeast or southwest facing areas. The advantage of this installation method is that you can choose the color of your panels to match your home’s exterior and blend in with the architecture. The disadvantage is that the solar panels won’t be at an optimal angle to absorb sunlight, as they will be perfectly vertical.

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Source: Life Hacker

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If successful, Sweetwater could be the first drinking water reservoir in the United States to host renewable energy of this kind.

San Diego could be first to float solar on drinking water

A south San Diego water district is thinking about powering itself with energy from the sun.

Leaders at Sweetwater Authority, which serves National City, western Chula Vista and Bonita, hired a contractor to study how floating solar panels on its namesake reservoir could reduce its budget. If successful, Sweetwater could be the first drinking water reservoir in the United States to host renewable energy of this kind.

Sweetwater’s board hired Noria Energy on June 28 to design a 3.75 megawatt solar array atop 10 acres of the reservoir. Noria has built floating solar arrays on top of a hydroelectric reservoir in Urra, Colombia and on wastewater treatment ponds in Healdsburg, California, both smaller than the solar panel array proposed at Sweetwater.

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Source: Voice of San Diego

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The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy.

The Pentagon will install rooftop solar panels as Biden pushes clean energy in federal buildings

The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy and “reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader.”

The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites that are receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants that are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean-energy capacity while leveraging more than $361 million in private investment, the Energy Department said.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, announced the projects Wednesday at the Pentagon.

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Source: KTLA

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Replacing water-intensive crops with water-efficient and drought-tolerant alternatives can allow farmers to continue working their fields in the face of water shortages and drought.

How farmers and ranchers are innovating in response to a shrinking Colorado River

The Colorado River has been a source of power, growth, and dispute in the southwestern United States since its waters were first diverted by European settlers in the early 1800s. Over the last two decades, increasing temperatures, urban growth, and a lengthy drought have contributed to rising tensions between the river’s stewards and those who hold rights to water withdrawals. The river’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, hit historic lows in 2021 and again in 2022, spurring a decision to renegotiate the Colorado River Compact of 1922 to prevent the reservoirs from reaching “dead pool”—the level at which their waters no longer flow downstream and their dams can no longer produce electricity.

The compact, or agreement, establishes water allotments for the seven “basin” states—Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Arizona—that rely on the river, as well as for 30 federally-recognized tribal nations and Mexico. In May of 2023, the most recent round of negotiations concluded with guidelines for water management through 2026. The resulting agreement saw the river’s Lower Basin states, Arizona, California, and Nevada, volunteer to cut their withdrawals by an aggregate 3 million acre-feet of water. These cuts promise to secure potable water for 40 million people, maintain electricity production in the two reservoirs, and send ripples through the region’s thirstiest industry, agriculture.

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Source: EESI

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