Ivanpah solar plant has pollution problem

A solar power plant at the center of the Obama administration’s push to reduce America’s carbon footprint by using millions of taxpayer dollars to promote green energy has its own carbon pollution problem. The Ivanpah plant in the Mojave Desert uses natural gas as a supplementary fuel. Data from the California Energy Commission show that the plant burned enough natural gas in 2014 – its first year of operation – to emit more than 46,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s nearly twice the pollution threshold for power plants or factories in California to be required to participate in the state’s cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions.

How Sacramento Kings plan to make arena fully powered by solar

The Golden 1 Center will get essentially all its electricity from solar power, the Sacramento Kings announced Monday. The Kings organization said it entered a 20-year purchase contract with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to buy electricity through SMUD's SolarShares program from a new 10.9-megawatt solar farm near Rancho Seco. That energy purchase agreement represents about 85 percent of the electrical use of the arena. Another 15 percent of the arena's usage will come from a solar array the Kings are installing on the roof of the new arena.

California solar advocates fight proposed utility changes

Anticipating a possible shift in solar energy regulations by the end of the year, solar advocates have stepped up their public lobbying campaign. In Northern and Central California, PG&E has proposed a sweeping change to savings and credit for solar customers returning power to the grid. The stakeholders have been battling intensely for attention since the summer, when the state's three major utilities submitted proposals to the California Public Utilities Commission. The proposals would drive up solar costs for new customers, although existing customers would be grandfathered into existing rates for 20 years.

GTM Research finds opportunities for manufacturing in the U.S. and India

Even leading American PV makers produce the majority of their products overseas, with Malaysia as a prime location for First Solar. However, this trend may be shifting, according to GTM Research's latest report on the geography of global PV manufacturing. The company's Global PV Manufacturing Attractiveness Index 2015 finds that none of the 6.6 gigawatts of new PV module capacity announced in the first three quarters of 2015 was based in China. Instead, half of it will be located in India and Thailand, with another 16 percent in Korea and 9 percent in the United States and Brazil, respectively.