With prices down and incentives still available, more and more individuals and businesses are looking into solar panels as a way to cut down energy costs and protect the environment. According to a poll released this week, support also is growing for solar on the utility scale.

A utility-scale solar plant in Blythe, Calif. Image: First Solar

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) unveiled statistics gathered by Gotham Research Group that show 75 percent of those surveyed advocate the development of solar energy plans on public lands. The survey also determined that solar was the first choice as best use of public land (38 percent).

Asked which energy sources the government should prioritize, respondents picked solar farms and wind (22 percent each), natural gas and nuclear (16 percent each), oil (11 percent) and coal (4 percent). Findings were based on polling conducted February 24-26, involving a sample of 500 American adults 18 years of age or older. The margin of error on the total sample of 500 is +/- 4.4 percent.

“When Americans talk about solar energy, they usually envision rooftop systems, which are great. But it’s important to also realize the significant role that utility-scale solar has to play,” said Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who joined a conference call to announce the results.

“Large solar installations use economies of scale to achieve significant cost savings and help Americans to get the most solar ‘bang for the buck.’ It’s great to confirm that the rest of America is just as excited about utility solar as we are.”

According to the SEIA, five new pilot plants came on line in 2009 and more than 100 utility-scale solar projects are under development. The group estimates that projects represent more than 17 gigawatts of capacity, enough to provide clean power to 3.4 million households and to create more than 100,000 jobs.

Windspire turbines. Image: Mariah Power

From Green Right Now Reports

Adobe Systems, Incorporated has completed installation of 20 Windspire wind turbines at its San Jose, Calif., headquarters.

“With the installation of the Windspires, we’re adding renewable energy to a long list of green measures Adobe has taken to lessen our environmental impact,” said Randall H. Knox, III, senior director, Global Workplace Solutions, Adobe. “We’ll continue to seek innovative green technology solutions to reduce our energy dependence and inspire others to go green.”

Urban Windspire installation. Image: Mariah Power

Each tower is 30 feet tall, 4 feet wide and weighs 650 pounds. The propeller-free, vertical-axis wind turbine is designed to harness wind power in urban, suburban and rural locations.

The new towers are located on Adobe’s sixth–floor patio, which doubles as a rooftop garden and recreational area above an office parking garage. Adobe’s three office towers create a wind tunnel effect from sustained winds off the Pacific Ocean.

Adobe’s green building efforts have earned the company the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest honors for green practices. Adobe is the first commercial office building to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED®-EB Platinum certification for its San Jose headquarters and is the world’s first commercial enterprise to achieve a total of four Platinum certifications under the LEED program.

Since 2001, Adobe estimates it has saved approximately $6.7 million as a result of its energy and sustainability efforts. Those initiatives include energy-efficient lighting, real-time water meters for landscaping and an intelligent control system to help monitor building efficiencies.

Image: Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

While there is no shortage of hot air swirling around various plans to harness wind energy to power our homes and businesses, a group of United States governors has hammered out a plan and is ready to take it all the way to the top.

On Tuesday, Iowa Governor Chet Culver and Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri released Great Expectations: U.S. Wind Energy Development, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition’s 2010 Recommendations. Culver and Carcieri are the chair and vice chair of the 29-state organization, which is attempting to shape a national policy to make wind power both viable and cost-effective.

The group formed over a year ago and began work on recommendations in December. The next step: Lobbying efforts to get a bill into Congress and on to President Barack Obama’s desk as soon as possible.

“We need all the clean and cost-effective resources we can generate. And we will only get there if we work together,” Culver said during a press conference called in conjunction with the report’s release. “Continued uncertainty will potentially cause the nation to surrender the industry to other countries. If China gets the job of supplying the U.S. wind industry, (jobs) could be lost forever.

“The good news is that we have increased wind generation dramatically over the past few years, but continued growth hinges on a more stable market. Given the immense advantages wind power provides to industry, consumers and the environment, it is clear that Congress must pass a strong federal renewable electricity policy so investors, developers and state policy makers are working together to achieve a common goal.”

Among the recommendations in the report:

• Adopt a renewable electricity standard (Known as  a RES, it sets benchmarks for the nation to reach a certain level of clean energy production by specific dates. Many believe that having a strong RES is the only way that clean energy technology can promise lenders and investors a measure of security, to show that the industry will not be buffeted by politics in the coming years.)
• Develop new interstate electric transmission system infrastructure as needed to provide access to premier renewable energy resources both on-shore and offshore
• Fully support coastal, deep water, and offshore wind energy technology and transmission research and development
• Streamline permitting processes for both offshore and on-shore wind energy development projects
• Expand the U.S. Department of Energy’s work with the states and the wind industry to accelerate innovation
• Extend the Treasury Department Grant Program in lieu of the Investment Tax Credit — providing immediate capital, and adopt a long-term renewable energy production tax credit with provisions to broaden the pool of eligible investors

“These recommendations could not be more timely,” Carcieri said. “Congressional action on the energy bill seems to have stalled. It is our hope that these recommendations — and the national bipartisan consensus they represent — will advance the energy deliberations now under way in Congress.”

Image: Chevron Energy Solutions

Difficult times call for innovative ideas, and the San Francisco Bay Area may be a cleaner place as a result. Faced with dwindling revenues and budget cuts, the San Jose Unified School District once again turns to renewable energy, breaking ground March 11 on a 3.7 MW solar project to be installed over six school sites.

When the sites come online later this year, the district anticipates saving more than $1.5 million in electric utility costs the first year, $7.6 million over five years and $36 million over the life of the project. Those figures are based on lower electricity costs, state incentives and sale of renewable energy credits.

The project also is expected to reduce carbon emissions by some 3,100 metric tons per year.

Chevron Energy Solutions will build and maintain the system, which could employ about 100 local union contractors. Previously, Chevron and the district worked together on a 2008 project that produced a 5.5 MW installation at 14 district sites.

“Our schools will all benefit from these savings, especially in these tough economic times when they’re needed most,” East Side Union High School District Interim Superintendent Dan Moser said in a press release. “Also, this project reduces our carbon footprint and allows us to incorporate solar into our teaching curriculum so our teachers and students can learn about renewable energy technologies firsthand.”

The installation also will help students learn about solar energy, as teachers use hands-on solar kits and activity guides in the classroom.

Image: Pike Research

With Americans focusing more and more on streamlining their energy consumption and reducing costs, microgrids may become an increasing part of the solution. Smart integration that can allow communities, companies or institutions to operate “off the grid” is not only attractive, but is rapidly becoming a genuine alternative.

Microgrids are “islanded” power generation and distribution zones that operate autonomously from the larger electrical grid. A new report from Pike Research predicts that more than 3 GW of new microgrid capacity will be come online globally by 2015 at a total investment of $7.8 billion. The firm expects more than 2,000 sites to be operational worldwide by 2015, up from fewer than 100 in 2010.

Pike sees North America as the biggest player, accounting for 74 percent of industry capacity. Researchers anticipate that most of that will come in the form of institutional microgrids, followed by commercial/industrial and community grids.

In Europe and Asia Pacific, community microgrids are forecast as the largest categories.

As the current top-down system becomes increasingly unreliable and insecure and isn’t always friendly to renewable power generation, microgrids may gain appeal, with the potential to be part of a larger effort to create a Smart Grid that can add intelligence and automation while giving customers greater control over consumption.

“The distinguishing feature of a microgrid is the ability to separate and isolate itself from the utility’s distribution system during brownouts and blackouts,” says Pike Research managing director Clint Wheelock. “This degree of localized control is compelling for many microgrid proponents during this time of increasing concern over grid reliability.”

Image: state.pa.us

A combination of federal and private sector funding will be the basis of Pennsylvania’s $48 million Green Energy Revolving Loan Fund, providing money for energy-saving and renewable energy projects in existing, non-residential buildings around the state.

The Recovery Act will contribute $12 million to the fund, while The Reinvestment Fund, TRF, will add $36 million and will serve as the program’s manager. Governor Edward Rendell cited TRF’s track record of investing in green and sustainable energy as key elements in the selection process.

Federal guidelines require any potential manager to contribute at least $18 million to the fund. TRF doubled that commitment.

The $48 million total investment is projected to support 500 jobs on projects designed to reduce energy consumption by nearly 800 billion British Thermal Units — enough to power more than 23,000 average homes in Pennsylvania for one year.

Prior to the new commitment, TRF has financed more than 2,526 projects in the Mid-Atlantic region, delivering $939 million. The Department of Environmental Protection and TRF are in the process of finalizing the fund’s guidelines.

“President Obama and Congress had the foresight to make renewable energy and energy conservation a key part of the federal Recovery Act because these are areas that are critically important to the nation’s future,” Rendell said. “This new revolving loan fund is the latest opportunity to be born of that wise decision and, under TRF’s management, the program will put hundreds of people to work incorporating green technologies into buildings that ultimately, will save consumers millions of dollars each year.”

Photo: Green Right Now

From Green Right Now Reports

Californians got just a little more incentive to think solar late last month when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill raising the cap on solar net metering from 2.5 to five percent.

Net metering is the process that allows solar owners to send surplus solar electricity back to the grid in exchange for credit. Customers are billed only for the net energy they consume.

Currently, more than 50,000 California businesses, schools and homes take part in the program to help lower their utility bills.

The legislation became more critical as Pacific Gas & Electric nears the 2.5% net-metering limit. More than 16,000 of the utility’s customers have installed more than 173 megawatts of solar generation, and several thousand more have applied for rebates to install 80 more megawatts, according to government data.

California Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), author of the bill, said the new law will help promote the growth of the solar industry in the state. California leads the nation in solar energy, accounting for more than 65% of all solar installed in the U.S.

“The Governor’s signature signals to the over one thousand solar contractors and companies doing business in California that our solar market is stable and ready for investment,” Skinner said. “California is continuing to let the sunshine in to produce affordable, local power for our businesses, schools and public facilities and homes.”

As passionate as his father was about civil rights, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is equally so about the environment.

Robert Kennedy Jr.

In a lecture in Fort Worth on Wednesday, the 56-year-old son of the late Senator, advocated for moving the nation to green energy, which he doesn’t see as encompassing nuclear power.

Coal is not the only power-producing industry that needs scrubbing, said the longtime environmentalist, nuclear energy is simply not safe. “Nuclear energy is the most catastrophic form of energy. No bank will finance it…[and] no insurance company will insure it,” he said.

“It’s not just a bunch of hippies saying it’s unsafe. There are spills all the time into the Hudson,” says Kennedy, who serves as chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, whose mission is the restoration of the Hudson River. Three Mile Island was not the last accident despite what nuclear advocates say.

He made it clear that lobbyists for fossil fuel and polluting energy industries are powerful and dangerous. The nuclear industry, for example, managed to find a way to get a Congressional exemption that leaves them free from damage. “All homeowners’ policies in the U.S. exclude radiation from the nuclear industry,” he said.

Kennedy believes greed has taken over the utility companies as well. “Utility companies make money by selling more energy – even if the energy is green. We need to change the rules,” he says. “Don’t reward bad behavior.”

He believes it’s a question of loyalty. “Instead of being loyal to their shareholders, company leaders need to be loyal to our nation,” he says.

Along with serving on the boards of green energy companies, Kennedy, a resident of Mount Kisco, N.Y., has led the efforts to protect New York City’s water supply, both through Riverkeeper and as a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is the president of Waterkeeper Alliance and a professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation clinic. (After getting his undergraduate degree from Harvard and law degree from the University of Virginia, he picked up a masters in environmental law from Pace.)

As a partner with Silicon Valley’s VantagePoint Ventures, he is involved firsthand with green energy. VantagePoint funds an array of emerging clean tech and green energy companies., including solar, algae fuel and energy conservation businesses.

During his lecture at Texas Christian University, Kennedy also addressed the coal industry’s claims that coal is clean and cheap. It is neither, he says.

The problem is that once a coal plant is built, there are many hidden costs such as pollution and healthcare.

“More than 60,000 Americans are killed each year due to ozone particulate pollution,” he says. In addition, every fish in the United States is affected by dangerous levels of mercury, thanks to the coal industry. That mercury level also has grown in humans. Babies being born to women with high mercury levels have a higher percentage of illness ranging from autism to mental retardation.

On the other hand, “Once a solar plant is built, the energy is free forever.” There are no pollution and health costs, and no strings attached, he said.

Using coal to produce electricity is a destructive business from the beginning of the process, says Kennedy, who opposes the mountain-top removal mining in Appalachia in which ancient mountains are sheared off to get to the coal. The practice destroys forests and the resulting debris pollutes area rivers. (Coal companies say they ameliorate the damage by planting new trees, but environmentalists say these saplings cannot replace the mature forests; that erosion, runoff and river pollution are not abated.)

Kennedy recalled his father being against what was then known as strip-mining. “He told me, [the coal industry] is not just destroying the environment, but permanently impoverishing the surrounding communities. They’re doing this so they can break the unions.”

It’s particularly a shame because Appalachia, Kennedy points out, “is the oldest ecosystem on the continent.”

“Today,” he says, “ninety-nine percent of coal in West Virginia is owned by Wall Street bankers such as JP Morgan and Chase.” The reason? Many of the homeowners were tricked into selling their mineral rights because they didn’t know any better. “The coal industry has liquidated the people of West Virginia of their cash,” he says.

Kennedy says he’s not just fighting for ecosystems and halting the destruction of the environment. “It’s about the subversion of American democracy, the public process and transparency in government.

“Government is supposed to protect us,” but because of the influence polluting companies and lobbyists wield in Washington, that’s not happening.

Interestingly enough, he says, “every nation that has attempted ‘de-carbonization’, has prospered afterward. In Iceland, they became scared of global warming and within 15 years, went from being the poorest nation in Europe to the fourth richest. Sweden is another example. After Sweden de-carbonized and closed their nuclear facilities, they prospered. Tons of entrepreneurs came in as clean energy was introduced.”

He named Brazil and Costa Rica as having robust economies after they de-carbonized as well.

Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks at TCU.

Kennedy would like to see an increase in geothermal power, which he uses at his home in New York. “Geothermal,” he says, “is an underutilized resource. It’s been unexploited until now, but it could be a boon, especially in Texas where you already have holes in the ground from gas/oil drilling.” His home also has solar panels and between the two forms of energy, his home generates more power than he can use, which he then sells back to the utility company. “But you can’t do this in all states. This needs to be fixed. We need to reward efficiency; and punish inefficiency. We should be able to turn every home into a power plant.”

Another resource he’d like to see used more is wind. “There’s enough wind in the states of North Dakota, Minnesota and Texas to power the entire country,” he says.

The Obama Administration faces some major obstacles, Kennedy says. “We need to get rid of the subsidies that give breaks to dirty energy. And we have to build an electric grid that can accommodate the entire country.”

Kennedy compares the effort to the interstate highway system that was built during the Eisenhower years. The United States has the technology, Kennedy says. “And we have the resources – wind that blows at night; and sun that shines by day…We can put PVCs on every south-facing roof in the country.” Taking advantage of these green energies should be a no-brainer.

The TCU lecture was part of the Frost Foundation Lectureship for Global Issues, sponsored by the TCU Center for International Studies.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

For most folks, the arrival of the electric bill is not among the month’s highlight moments. Even families who work on conserving energy by turning off lights, unplugging appliances and easing up on heating and cooling, can only do so much. Ultimately, it’s still pretty expensive to keep a household adequately powered up.

How can we avoid sending so much of our monthly income to the local utility company? There are plenty of options, each of which has its good and bad aspects.

Here’s a look at some ways you can take powering your home into your own hands:

Home Wind Generators

Home wind (Photo: Endurance Wind Power)

Having a tower with a whirling rotor in your back yard can take a bite out of your utility costs, but it isn’t for everyone.

For starters, you need a fair amount of space to build a foundation. You’ll also need adequate vertical and lateral clearance. If you don’t live in the country or have a decent-size lot, there very likely are zoning ordinances that would kill your project. Either way, nearby neighbors may not appreciate the addition to the landscape, not to mention the noise turbines make when the wind is up and the rotor is cranking away. (Most aren’t very loud, but “loud” obviously is subject to interpretation.)

And that doesn’t address a basic question: How windy is it where you live? If your breezes are mostly calm, save for the occasional storm, there isn’t much point in going this direction. Also, consider how big an impact the turbine is likely to have on your overall bill.

If, for instance, you live in the South or Southwest, spring storms and wind can keep your turbine humming. Once July and August roll around? Well, they don’t call it “dead of summer” for nothing, and almost nonexistent breezes won’t do much to cool your home on a 100-degree day.

Check this wind map to see where you stand:

This U.S. Wind Map shows that the highest winds, in purple and pink, cut across the nation's midesection (Image: U.S. Department of Energy.)

Assuming other conditions are good, you’ll still have to install a pretty big tower to make it all worthwhile. In Hunt County, Texas, Nancy Riddick went with a 33-footer with 12-foot rotors behind her country home in late 2007. The cost: A little under $12,000. By the following spring, she estimated savings of about 40 percent on her electric bill compared with the same month the previous year.

Last month, Anaba Winery of Sonoma, Calif., installed a 45-foot tower for about $20,000, a figure that should be cut in half by state and federal incentives. The winery anticipates a seven-year return on the investment.

Small wind options for homeowners are expanding quickly, with newer models that are smaller, quieter and in some cases, re-configured. Throughtout 2010, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be testing small wind turbines so that it can make recommendations about what will work best in the  “small wind” sector.

Mariah Power's Windspire

See this NREL web page for information on new small wind equipment, such as Mariah Power’s space-saving, vertical axis Windspire or Gaia-Wind’s mini tower designed for lower wind conditions.

You also can start your research by looking at the manufacturing companies that are working with the NREL to develop successful wind turbine prototypes for home use.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, “The wind turbine typically lowers your electricity bill by 50 to 90 percent. It is not uncommon for wind turbine owners with total-electric homes to have monthly utility bills of only $8 to $15 for nine months of the year. In northern parts of the country where less air conditioning is used, the bills can be very low year-round. The amount of money a small wind turbine saves you in the long run will depend upon its cost, the amount of electricity you use, the average wind speed at your site, and other factors.”

This month the Kodiak Electric Association proved that there’s more to the Alaskan energy landscape than oil wells and pipelines.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association named the co-op the 2009 Wind Cooperative of the Year.

The award, announced the TechAdvantage Conference in Atlanta last week, recognizes the Alaskan cooperative’s Pillar Mountain Wind Project, which is the first utility-scale wind facility. The operation is expected to be a valuable pilot effort at integrating a large wind generation facility into an isolated grid system.

The NRECA and the DOE’s project Wind Powering America program created the award to encourage cooperatives showing leadership in advancing domestic wind power. The judges considered corporate leadership, marketing, customer benefit and creativity of the project in deciding upon winners.

For more information on how the federal government is encouraging the development of renewal wind energy see DOE’s Wind Powering America Web site.

Here’s a cool graphic that shows how wind power has grown in the U.S. in the past decade, from 2,000 MegaWatts to 28,635 MW by April 30, 2009.  See the animated version at the Wind Powering site.

Installed wind power 2009

The energy/electricity generation category garnered $118.5 million in venture investment in Q409.

From Green Right Now Reports

U.S. venture capital investment in cleantech companies in Q4 2009 decreased 45 percent to $564.5 million compared to the prior quarter, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.  The research found that more VC dollars are flowing into the energy efficiency category.

Ernst & Young said the San Francisco Bay Area was the leading region for cleantech investment in 2009, with $1.2 billion invested for the year and $295.6 million in Q4. Southern California came in second place with annual investment of $329.5 million and Q4 investment of $30.5 million. New England was the third-largest regional cleantech center with $283.7 million for the year and $38.0 for Q4.

The number of deals increased 21 percent to 62, according to the report. But investment in 2009 totaled $2.6 billion in 193 financings rounds, a decline of 50 percent in dollars and 16 percent in the number of deals compared to the record investment levels of 2008.

“These results reflect the easing of an investment cycle largely driven by the significant capital demands of solar companies and a shift toward energy efficiency products with lower funding requirements and potentially faster commercialization,” John de Yonge, Ernst & Young LLP’s associate director of Americas Cleantech Network, said in a statement. “Energy efficiency is in the sweet spot of many venture capital investors in terms of skill sets and funding parameters, particularly given its basis in information technology. Consequently, we may see investor participation in cleantech broaden.”

In 2009, the analysis found the number of financing rounds in the energy efficiency category — encompassing technology areas such as smart grid and residential and commercial energy management solutions — grew in absolute terms by 11 percent to 61, making it the number one area of cleantech deal activity. The energy efficiency category share of total financing activity in 2009 rose from 24 percent to 32 percent. At the same time, the share of financing rounds directed to the more capital intensive energy/electricity generation category fell from 30 percent to 18 percent. Similarly, the share of deals going to alternative fuels declined from 13 percent to 8 percent.

Ernst & Young said the energy efficiency category received the most U.S. VC investment in Q409, with $252.8 million and 22 deals, compared to $133.7 million and 14 deals in Q309. This category raised $593.3 million for all of 2009. The largest deal of Q409 in energy efficiency — and across all cleantech segments — was the $105.0 million investment in Silver Spring Networks Inc, a provider of networking infrastructure and services for smart grids, based in Redwood City, Calif.

The energy/electricity generation category garnered $118.5 million with 11 deals in Q409, down from the $316.5 million invested in 8 deals in the prior quarter; $654.6 million was invested in this category in 2009. The largest deal in Q409 was the $38 million raised by Nordic Windpower Holdings Inc., based in Berkley, Calif.

The industry focused products and services category raised $76.7 million in Q409 with 11 deals and $608 million throughout 2009. The funding in this segment was led by the transportation industry, which raised $33.8 million in Q409 and $362.7 million for the year, propelled by investments such as the $82.5 million in the electric car company Tesla based in San Carlos, Calif. According to a recent study conducted by Ernst & Young’s Global Automotive Center, over 10 percent of U.S. drivers — or approximately 20 million people — would consider purchasing a plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle.

The U.S. government continues to serve as an influential cleantech investor, the report said. Under the Section 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $2.3 billion was recently awarded to 183 cleantech manufacturing projects in 43 states. An Ernst & Young analysis of these awards shows that venture-backed projects received $402 million in awards. President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal would provide an additional $5 billion appropriation for the Section 48C program, offering further support for cleantech development.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is supporting government commitments to cleantech solutions by accelerating its examination of certain “green” technology applications to reduce the time required to patent these technologies by an average of one year.

Large corporations are quickly adopting clean technologies to create a competitive advantage through resource efficiency, sustainable growth and cleantech-driven revenue opportunities. In a recent Ernst & Young study of executives at global corporations with revenues in excess of $1 billion, over 50 percent of respondents indicated their companies’ intentions to spend at least $10 million on cleantech products and services by the end of 2010, with 22 percent predicting a cleantech spend of at least $100 million.

U.S. public market investment in clean energy totaled $2.8 billion in 2009, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. With capital markets showing signs of improvement, three cleantech companies recently filed to raise up to $500 million in initial public offerings, according to Thomson Reuters. The largest transaction is expected to be the offering by Solyndra, Inc., which anticipates raising $300 million.

Cleantech merger and acquisition activity reached 53 transactions in the U.S., with a disclosed value of $3.5 billion, according IHS Herold. Nearly half of this activity took place in Q4 2009, which saw 22 transactions with a disclosed value of $1.7 billion. One notable fourth quarter deal is the acquisition of Clipper Windpower by United Technologies Corporation for $327.4 million.

Photo: SunEdison.com

Residents in Davidson County, N.C. will be getting more of their power from the sun after SunEdison activated the first phase of a 16-megawatt solar farm there.

The initial phase is comprised of 14,000 solar panels designed to produce four megawatts of generation capacity. Over six million kilowatt hours of electricity are expected in the first year of operation.

Duke Energy is buying the farm’s entire output with a 20-year contract. Over the length of the agreement, the farm is expected to generate 115 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power 10,000 average homes for a year. That production should offset more than 225 million pounds of carbon dioxide that otherwise would have been introduced into the environment by a traditional coal-burning plant.

“This first phase represents a major milestone in our overall plan to develop 16 megawatts of solar energy at this site,” said SunEdison President Carlos Domenech. “Having financed and completed this initial installation, we have mobilized resources for the next phase of the solar farm.”

The farm is one of several North American utility-scale power plants that SunEdison has financed and developed, and now operates. In all, the company lists 322 operational sites in the U.S., mostly in California and on the East Coast.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media