Not enough Roof Space for your Solar Energy needs?

KINETIC solar racking and mounting has some great ideas when you don't have enough roof space to generate all of the solar power that you need.

http://kineticsolar.com/wall-mounted/

SolarCity Gigafactory To Spark Manufacturing Revival In Buffalo

To help jump start new industry in the area, the State of New York is investing $485 million into a Gigafactory in Buffalo that will manufacture up to 10,000 solar panels a day. In total, the state will invest as much as $750,000,000 to construct and equip the enormous factory.

http://solarlove.org/solarcity-gigafactory-manufacturing-revival-buffalo/

California Utility to Close State's Last Nuclear Plant, Replace it With Solar and Wind

Pacific Gas & Electric, which owns the Diablo Canyon facility, will allow the operating licenses for the site's two 1,100 megawatt reactors to lapse in 2024 and 2025, rather than seek a costly 20-year extension from regulators.  The utility plans to replace the facility with 100 percent renewable energy: not only wind and solar projects but batteries to store the electricity generated by the solar panels and wind turbines, energy efficiency incentives for customers, and a demand response program that compensates customers to cut back on their consumption during peak hours.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/california-utility-to-close-states-last-nuclear-plant-replace-it-with-solar-and-wind

Coal to solar: Retraining the energy workforce

As more coal-fired power plants are retired, industry workers are left without many options.  "Many of these coal miners have transferable skill sets already," says Christopher Turek, the director of Solar Energy International. "These range from mechanical and electrical expertise, all the way to their confidence in working in a highly technical field with a strong focus on safety."  "Fortunately, the solar energy industry sector is growing at an incredible rate--and they are hiring."

http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Coal_to_solar_Retraining_the_energy_workforce_999.html

Dubai Announces Plans For World's Lowest Cost Solar Plant

Dubai announced June 27 that it would build a massive 800-megawatt solar plant that will produce electricity at an average cost of 2.99 cents a kilowatt hour.  This rock-bottom price offered by the developers doesn’t benefit from any obvious subsidies and is the lowest price offered by any solar plant in the world. PV panels convert sunlight directly into electricity. This project suggest that there is a lot of potential in the tried-and-true PV panel model.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mclifford/2016/06/29/cheaper-than-coal-dubai-to-build-worlds-lowest-cost-solar-plant/#573863bc2a34

Google can tell you if solar roof panels will pay off

Google has got a good look at your roof, and can tell you if it is worth the investment to install solar energy panels. The new tool "uses high-resolution aerial mapping (the same used by Google Earth) to help you calculate your roof's solar energy potential, without having to climb up any ladders," Google engineer Carl Elkin said in a blog post.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-google-solar-roof-panels.html

Keeping The Grid From Overloading

Occasionally, California's grid has reached its maximum carrying potential, usually the result of multiple coincidences. The majority of wind power in California is generated at night, but at times continues blowing in the morning. At the same time, the sun starts powering solar panels. With demand normally light right around dawn, the grid can surge with excess electricity. Those kinds of a surges can fry equipment and cause service to be interrupted.

The grid, theoretically, could instruct the home system to charge the battery. Afterwards, when power is needed, the grid can call on the battery to deliver it.  The solution to wild electrical fluctuations in the grid seems to be a combination of ideas. Solar, batteries ,and software will solve a many of these problems.

http://www.altenergy.org/renewables/grid-overloading.html