Solar Power World

DPW Solar Introduces the Power Peak Large-Scale Ground Mount System

DPW Solar announces the new Power Peak Mounting System, engineered for larger ground mount PV solar installations. The PV solar mounting system features fewer pre-assembled components resulting in faster build rates. Combining high strength steel components, lightweight module rails and the patent pending RAD clamp, the Power Peak provides a fast and secure mounting structure for... Read More

A Low-Cost Alternative To Silicon Solar

The single-wall nanotube arrays, grown in a process invented at Rice University, are much more electroactive and potentially cheaper than platinum, a common catalyst in DSC’s, says Jun Lou a materials scientist at Rice. In combination with newly developed sulfide electrolytes synthesized at Tsinghua University, Lou believes these could lead to more efficient and robust solar... Read More

Panasonic Solar Panels Installed At New City Nissan in Honolulu

Panasonic announces that New City Nissan in Honolulu, Hawai’i has installed a 305.7-KW Panasonic solar system to generate additional revenue and energy-cost savings for the dealership. The Nissan dealership unveiled the system at a ribbon-cutting event on the new system as part of its “Earth Day Event.” The dealership installation features Panasonic HIT Power 220-watt panels,... Read More

Missouri Baseball Teams Go Solar

UPDATED APRIL 16 to reflect whose panels were used in the St. Louis project — SCHOTT Solar. Missouri’s two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have recently scored renewable energy projects. Both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals have installed solar panels that were up and running when the 2012 season opened. At Busch Stadium in St. Louis, home of the 2011 World... Read More

Project Review: Stimulating Schools With Solar In California

  JMC Steel Group’s Atlas Tube division was able to work through PDM Steel to provide 1,200 tons of large-size HSS squares and rectangles to for use in the steel columns of the solar carports. By leveraging its resources and relationships, JMC Steel delivered the order on time, despite a tight schedule. –photo courtesy of SRVUSD Utilities are often school districts’ second... Read More

Rooftop Solar Program Wins Approval From L.A. City Council

The Los Angeles City Council cleared the way for the launch of an innovative rooftop solar-energy program, approving a measure to allow the Department of Water and Power (DWP) to move forward with the groundbreaking CLEAN LA Solar program. The CLEAN LA Solar program will allow local property owners to sell solar power generated from rooftops and parking lots back to the DWP, using... Read More

GeoPeak Energy Wins Top Awards for Residential Solar Excellence

GeoPeak Energy, a New Jersey solar energy company, received top awards at the annual SunPower conference held in Philadelphia on March 22, 2012. SunPower currently has the highest amount of high-efficiency residential solar installations in the United States, and has a network of over 400 dealers country wide. The Residential Dealer of the Year Award is given to the dealer that... Read More

Research Suggests A Bright Future for Solar Panels

The future of solar panels is looking even brighter. New research by Cambridge University scientists has led to the development of a more efficient solar cell. Currently, solar cells capture part of the sun’s light. Much of the energy of the absorbed light is lost as heat, meaning a maximum of 34% of the sunlight is converted to electrical power. However, Cambridge scientists... Read More

Joule Energy Installs Large 28 KW Solar System on Its Warehouse

Joule Energy, an integrator of high-efficiency solar systems, is installing a large 28 KW solar system on its primary business location. The system illustrates the design of a working installation, serves as a training tool and significantly reduces the operating cost of Joule’s facilities. “As a solar contractor, the choice to put solar on our own roof was a no-brainer,”... Read More

Seattle Mariners Hit Home Run With Panasonic Double Solar Panels

Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Co., in partnership with the Seattle Mariners, announced the installation of a solar panel system comprised of 168 Panasonic HIT Double solar panels at Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners’ home ballpark. HITDouble solar panels are interesting because they are aesthetic and able to absorb and generate electricity from both the top and bottom sides... Read More

Natcore Scientists Create “Absolute Black” Solar Cells

Scientists at Natcore Technology, using simple liquid bath processes, have created a black surface on a silicon wafer with an average reflectance in the visible and near-infrared region of the solar spectrum of 0.3%, making it the “blackest” silicon solar cell surface ever recorded. Compared with standard production cells now available, this represents a tenfold reduction in... Read More

New Capital Area Food Bank to Power Up with Standard Solar

Standard Solar, a national company that does  full-service development, installation and financing of solar electric systems for residential, commercial, government and utility customers, announced it is developing a 241 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system for the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB). The system, which will be installed on the new facility currently under construction in... Read More

Westinghouse Solar Launches Fully Integrated Solar Panels

Westinghouse Solar, a designer and manufacturer of solar power systems, announced the release of Instant Connect, a new line of solar panels that the company says makes rooftop installations faster and easier than ever before. Instant Connect extends Westinghouse Solar’s technology leadership with the first plug-and-play solar panel that completely eliminates cumbersome panel-to-panel... Read More

Natcore Wins $150,000 From NREL For Black Silicon Solar Research

Following the granting of their exclusive licensing agreement with National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Natcore Technology has entered a Cooperative Research & Development Agreement with NREL. Under the terms of the CRADA, Natcore and NREL would work together to reach two goals:Reduce solar cell costs by 2%–3%, and; Increase solar panel energy output from 3% to 10% over... Read More

Solar Inverters: Advanced Energy Inverters Selected For More Than 8 MW of PV Projects

Advanced Energy Industries announced that its inverters have been selected by REgeneration Finance (REgeneration) to power more than 8 MW of U.S. distributed generation photovoltaic (PV) projects. REgeneration has deployed more than 60 of Advanced Energy’s (AE) commercial inverters, ranging in power levels from 35kW to 260kW. AE Solar Energy’s PV inverters were selected... Read More