Google collaborates with SunPower for leasing solar panels to homeowners

Goggle Inc. and solar panel producer Sun Power Corp shaking hands for leasing

The two companies will put $250 million in leasing solar systems to homeowners. The search engine giant is investing nearly $100 million, while the solar panel maker is contributing with $150 million. Google declared that the purpose of this program is to facilitate the procces of going green for thousands of homeowners in the U.S.A.

“Using the fund… we buy the solar panel systems. Then we lease them to homeowners at a cost that’s typically lower than their normal electricity bill”, said Google.

Gooogle supports green energy

Google and SunPower put $250 million in solar panels leasing program

Google invests in solar

The Mountain View technology giant’s plans come after a major boost in financing methodes. The number of homeowners that can benefit from the leasing program is growing and than they buy them outright.

Solar energy based companies are also in search of creative methods of investing in their business.

Solar leasing not for everyone

Solar producers that collaborate with homeowners regularly have difficulties when they are trying to pursue traditional banks to put their money into anything that isn’t a large-scale project, as analysts report. A lot of investment firms do not know the uncertainties that come with solar energy and don’t want to wait out the payout period, that can last many years.

Google seems to be very interested in long term investments in solar energy project in the upcoming years.

The company mentioned has invested in solar leasing before with the help of SolarCity and Clean Power Finance. In November, the company announced its plans to contribute with up tp $80 million for six utility scale solar facilities in two states: California and Arizona.

Apple wants to go 100% green

Apple has plans to embrace green energy

Apple adopts a green policy in order to reduce pollution

Apple goes green

Apple announced initiatives Monday to offer free recycling of its products, as well as plans to use renewable energy sources at its 420 worldwide stores.

Apple is willing to recycle freely all the old products and promises to use green energy for all the stores, offices and data centers in order to bring down the pollution level made by tits devices and online services.

The technology giant gave more details about a greener Apple company in a special section at the section made especially for clean energy launched on Monday. This section’s purpose is to accentuate the iPhone and iPad producer is enlarging confidence in renewable energy and is polluting less with its used electronics.

Apple goes green policy

The electronics company has been rewording its customers from the over 400 stores if they brought iPhones and iPods that could be recycled. They were rewarded with gift card. The company founded by Steve Jobs is now recycle any used Apple device with zero costs.

Taking into account the fact that Apple sold more than 1 billion iPhones, iPods, iPads and Mac computers, this comes as a huge progress. The procedure is valid for electronics that cannot be thrown away as they contain toxins. Their products sand for about 2% of the emissions in 2012 as the statistics from Greenpeace say. Some of the largest electricity demands come from data center that house the stacks of computers that process search requests, store photos and email, and stream video. These services often consume more electricity than China, the U.S., Japan, India and Russia. Being the world’s largest technology company, Apple wants to bring more environmental solutions than problems.

Moreover, the company is not doing this just for good publicity. As a recent review says, Greenpeace is praising Apple and it describes it to be “the most innovative and most aggressive in pursuing its commitment to be 100 percent renewably powered.”

Google to purchase solar based drone company

The search engine giant takes New Mexico – based Titan Aerospace a company that is producing unmanned, solar-powered jets conceived to fly many years at a time.

The new Google purchase was announced this Monday and Titan Aerospace for a confidential amount in a step that brings the technology giant in a race for the unmanned skies.

Solar power drones bought by Google

Titan Aerospace Solar purchased by Google

After Facebook’s $20 million acquisition of U.K. – based aerospace company Ascenta – that was developing the unmanned, solar-powered aerial drones for some time – the search engine giant moved quickly to take over the expected bid for Facebook to purchase the Titan Aerospace too.

The company from New Mexico has also been interested in developing solar powered drones made to fly continuously for many years as, a solar science that Google needs to use mainly to expand its prestige and be available in as many places on earth as possible.

Even if the amount that Google paid to a close source said that the technology giant was willing to pay more than anyone from Facebook for the Titan Aerospace. The purchased company only has a staff of 20 people and its location will remain New Mexico to carry on with its work and help Google provide internet in different corners on earth that are currently without cellphone towers or telephone wires.

Solar-powered drones bring an interesting aspect for companies such as Google and Facebook because of the reliability and stability in all kinds of weather conditions, whereas fossil fuel- or battery-powered unmanned aircraft are way more expensive and less promising.

Google gets better quality images

The two companies will work together to provide the material and to design the drone’s components and also to research algorithms that assure an improved traverse wind patterns and flight routes. The purpose is to gather real-time, high quality images of the earth with a lot more details needed for Google Maps but not only.

“It is still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation”, said a Google statement announcing the acquisition.

PV is celebrating its 60th years anniversary since it’s big boost

Palo Alto, a city from the American state California will be a part of the sponsoring team of the event commemorating solar energy’s big breakthrough.

The City of Palo Alto and Renewables 100 Policy Institute will join forces and to pay tribute to scientists that started today’s booming solar industry.

A nonprofit organization that is responsible for the big breakthrough of solar industry and is aiming to bring it to 100% will cosponsor the PV 60 – History Becoming the Future, a celebration of the solar industry big boost. The event will take place on the 18th this month at the Lucie Stern Community Center.

Solar PV history

Ssolar PV 60th anniversary

In 1954, scientist from an important lab in the U.S proved that the world’s very first solar cell that was able to transform sufficient sunlight onto electricity in order to generate electricity. This happening will celebrate Dr. Mort Prince who is 90 years old and is the last person that is still alive from the team of designers of the of the 1954 original demonstration photovoltaic arrays. Dr. Mort inspected the manufacturing of solar cells for the Vanguard that was the first solar satellite that started the solar industry and later headed the U.S. photovoltaic program under Pres. Jimmy Carter. Eugene Ralph collaborated with Prince on Vanguard’s first solar cells for space will be participating as well.

The hosting city will also be given recognition and will receive an award, the History Becoming the Future Award for using 100% free of carbon electricity for its community.

“Palo Alto is a living demonstration of history becoming the future” said Diane Moss, founding director of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute, organizer of the event, according to pv-magazin. “The City’s commitment to an all renewable energy electricity portfolio is remarkable, and we’re delighted to pay tribute to their bold leaders, along with the visionaries who helped make it all possible by launching the global solar industry back in the 1950s.”

Palo Alto Mayor Nancy Shepherd will accept the award on behalf of the City

“We are honored to be the recipient of this award recognizing the City’s efforts to create a healthy and sustainable community,” Mayor Shepherd said. “The City has long been a leader in pursuing initiatives to increase our community’s environmental sustainability. Committing to using only carbon neutral electric resources is one of many positive steps the City has taken toward combating climate change.”

People who attend will be able to see exhibited artifacts that have never been exposed. This will include things like Bell Laboratories modules, archival photos and films, and former top secret papers that chronicle solar’s remarkable first 60 years.
Solar historian and author John Perlin, that participated in the exhibitions for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the California Energy Commission and will add his observations based on his latest book Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy, which experts are calling the “solar bible,” and “the authoritative background story on the world solar revolution.”

The gorvernment in Poland prepared green energy bills

In Poland, 90% of the electricity is produced from conventional sources, coal to be specific. Still, the country is looking forward to grow the green energy level by 15% by 2020 in order to respect the European Union’s targets.

The parliament in Poland and its president needs to decide on the new draft law.

Solar energy bills to be introduced in Poland

Poland prepares renewable energy bills

The country’s government decided to agree on a bill during this week, a bill regarding green energy projects that have the purpose to help reach the European Union climate targets and bring electricity costs for consumers down.

If the parliament and Bronisław Komorowski, the country’s president, accept the law, it means that planners and holders of recently developed renewable installations can sell the produced electricity at sell-offs for a formerly announced price that will not change for 15 years as a Reuters report says.

Green energy power developers that are already in the business have the freedom to preserve their subsidies or choose to join the auctions.

The new voted laws have been discussed by the government for two years now

The European country produces almost 100% of the electric power from coal and it’s obliged to bring up the level of clean energy to at least 15% of the total until 2020 to be in line with Eu regulations on carbon emissions.

Green energy supporters have been criticizing Poland’s foggy legal environment that has been standing in the way of new investments and preventing a major development in renewable projects.

The country’s former subsidy program did not supply long-term guarantees. European governments have been reducing subsidies and the European Commission this week announced new guidelines, that will be valid starting from July and market-based initiatives will be replacing renewable energy subsidies.

SmartFlex wants to totally change the personalized PV elements

Custom made PV elements

SmartFlex is a European program that wants to help with the development of “a prototype production line capable of manufacturing photovoltaic modules in accordance with architects individual requirements”. The project receives a €2.9 million support from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

The first production line is going to take into account the users preferences for different shapes colors, sizes, and materials, then process the individually personalized PV elements for mass production.

ProTech, Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin, Glassbel, Mondragon Assembly, Via Solis, the Swiss BIPV Competence Centre, Creative Amadeo, and Sunbeam Communications are also a part of the program.

Personalised PV is developing

“What makes the project unique is its aim to produce these remarkable solar elements using an automated process, reducing manual operations to a minimum. Such an approach has never been seen before as, to date, only standard modules have been manufactured in bulk and customized solar products have always been painstakingly produced by hand. SmartFlex is striving to find a way of manufacturing modules on a large scale using an extremely smart and flexible process that makes even tailored solar elements fully affordable” are Paul Grunow’ s words, director of the Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin.

Lithuania is the country where the first tests are being run. To be precise, at Glassbel’s headquarters. There, approximately 20 PV elements are being certified. Those element include modules up to 3.5 meters in length with 750 watts peak output. The mounting systems are ready to use and some of the inverters are also being approved.

Domestic PV in danger because of the Ukraine crisis

Not a good time for domestic PV as the Ukraine crisis moves on

Ukrain PV in times of trouble

The situation in Ukraine is threatening the European country’s incipient PV industry as the necessary changes in Crimea take place. Employees in the PV industry’s is not the greatest position and the people there have been wrecked by the country’s crisis. PV magazine reveals the opinions of two anonymous employees from Activ Solar. As one of them reports, Vienna-based Activ Solar has no future projects and they are cutting people off. “A lot of people were already fired. For me, the last day in this company is known as well,” were his words. The other source said the same thing and he added that “the company is now optimizing costs at all levels with no additional staff, except maintenance for the existing plants.”

The company finished the work on a 69.7 MW PV facility in Crimea. Moreover, Activ Solar was amog the best PV developers in Ukraine as they planted 127 MW of capacity only in Q1 2013.

The most Active domestic PV company in Ukraine has troubles

As far as the future plans are concerned, the company says: “The current political instability and the ensuing tensions have caused a severe disruption of economic activity in Ukraine. We are closely monitoring the ongoing political discussions and developments. We expect the situation to remain difficult for the foreseeable future causing a slowdown in economic activities. In this environment of sustained uncertainty, Activ Solar remains cautious regarding undertaking new projects until the situation in the country stabilizes,” as PV magazine reports.

The ongoing projects are not being stopped but the future ones don’t have the same fate. “The current Crimean government has already commented on solar parks in Crimea, saying that now they are a vital part of the energy infrastructure in the peninsula and will continue to generate power. However, the question is open as to who pays for the solar electricity and at what rate. Most of the solar projects in Crimea were financed by Russian banks so I would assume that very soon we will see a sudden growth of the cumulative solar capacity in Russia.”

PV in Crimees no longer bought

Energorynok’s officially announced this month that they no longer buying energy made in Crimea. The energy company in Ukraine says that the country adopted the draft resolution with 9 out of 9 votes.

The COO at Hamburg-based Enerparc, the company that installed Russia’s biggest power plant says that. “All the power plants in Crimea have been annexed by the Russians so they are not being paid by the Ukrainian government. And there is no discussion as to what will happen with the plants if they degrade, even if the plants are now Russian.”

Southend Airport in Britain planted 496 solar panels as a part of the £10m expantion

London Southern Airport Solar Panels

Clean energy is at home at Southend Airport in Britain as almost 500 panels were installed at the new terminal building. The solar power plant is part of the £10million terminal extension that opened its gates in March and provided the airport with more check-in desks, a bigger departure lounge and a larger variety of shops for travelers. The 496 solar panels are there to provide the airport with green electricity for many years from now.

Clean energy provided by London airport

The airport operations director, David Lister, declared: “We are delighted to add the provision of clean solar electricity to a range of ‘green’ initiatives we’ve introduced as the terminal has developed. Environmentally friendly initiatives are very important to us and the whole building has been designed to incorporate a number of them, including sustainable drainage, specialist coating to improve insulation, extensive glazing to enhance natural lighting and slow start escalators.”

The solar panels are provided by Conergy and planted by Photon Energy on the terminal’s curved roofs. They will help the airport diminish the carbon emissions by approximately around 1,000 tons in the next 20 years.

Solar PV for Britain

The managing director of Photon Energy managing director, says that: “Solar is Britain’s favorite renewable energy and it’s great Southend Airport has shown its commitment to self-generation. You can’t necessarily see the panels from the ground, but millions of people will get a bird’s eye view of them as they take off or come in to land.”

He also believes that airport terminals are a perfect location for solar panels because the space they provide is more than enough for green electricity.

The Stobart Group invested more than £120million into the airport since they purchased it in 2008.

Coloured solar panels for building exterior introduced by Antec Solar

New thin film coloured panels are available for building integration

Colored PV

Antec Solar’s thin-film applications are accessible terracotta, green and blue.

Antec’s new product line is named ATFKrom and it is considered a premiere as it is made of the the first coloured photovoltaic modules for façade integration. This modules are built thanks to the company’s thin-film technology and are ready for use in colours like terracotta, green and blue.

New coloured solar panels

The new photovoltaic modules of the ATFKrom product line are supplied with an exclusive solar glass. The new patented solar glass is responsible for the persistent and aesthetically refined presence. The new basic photovoltaic technology is now close to being invisible. Antec Solar GmbH uses the exclusive Kromatix™ solar glass of SwissINSO, a company founded in Lausanne (Switzerland).

Tailor-made solutions for any facade
Norbert Kreft, CTO of Antec Solar GmbH believes that “It is the first time that a glass technology is available providing coloured solar panels which can be integrated in a way, that they act look like normal cladding. With this innovative solar glass architects, developers, installers and private investors will now receive a high-quality aesthetic solution, which so far did not exist – and that at a high efficiency.This enables us, to deliver tailored solutions for every facade and in virtually any PV technology ” The customers are free to choose the colour, the format, the form and needed amount of panels.

Coloured solar panels for building integration

Moreover, Antec Solar delivers with the product line ATCKrom coloured modules for building integration based on intermediate products found in nearly all PV technology. Taking into account the requirements, favorite appearance and requested design, the user can pick the right technology and achieve the desired energy output.

Europe goes green as solar energy costs the same as conventional power in Germany, Italy and Spain

Solar costs the same as conventional

European PV has reached a point where the green power costs the same as conventional power in countries like Germany, Italy and Spain. This is shown in a report that also says that the fact that stops other countries to be in the same position is the high installation costs.

Solar energy is as profitable as conventional power

The form Eclareon made an analysis made in the interest of international group of sustainable energy interests. The study shows that solar energy joined the energy market. This means that solar is no longer much more expensive than conventional light. On the contrary, clean energy has reached the point where solar energy is at the same price as Italy, Spain and Germany
Still, the report also shows future prospects in Spain are not so good as the poor regulations could constrain the progress.

Solar energy costs in Europe

“In countries such as Italy and Germany, both at grid parity and with proper regulation, PV systems (photovoltaic system) for self-consumption represent a viable, cost-effective, and sustainable power generation alternative,” are David Pérez’s word, partner at Eclareon in charge of the study.

Researchers analyzed a 30 kilowatt solar power system regarding the leveled cost of energy. This includes installation, maintenance, depreciation and investment.

Solar energy cost arround the world

Eclareon also analyzed the LCOE of solar power in Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain. The report says that LCOE is smaller in the past years, even if the drop was less big in well-developed countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain. Progress in Brazil, Chile and Mexico is still impeded by high installation costs.

The rise of solar in Germany is based on the fact that the country stopped its support for nuclear energy since the unfortunate events in Japan. Two years ago the country was producing a record of 22 gigawatts of power that is about 50 percent of the nation’s power quota.

“Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity. Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over,” Norbert Allnoch told Reuters news agency.