Solar Cells Info

by Tanja Bause, Windhoek /23 May 2008
Source: The Namibian (Windhoek) /AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805230840.html

THE Oprah Orphanage Home and Kindergarten in Katutura’s Ongulumbashe informal settlement made history this week when it became the first place in Namibia generating electricity from the energy expended by playing children.  The Desert Research Foundation of Namibia installed a DRFN Energy Merry-Go-Round, which generates enough electricity to power the home’s lights and appliances like a fridge and even a computer.
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By: Donny Rowles, 23 May 2008
Source: KAAL TV, Minnesota
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S454805.shtml?cat=10226

They’re only in high school, but they’re already looking out for future generations.  Students at Mayo High School are leading the way in a lesson on renewable energy. By next fall, the sun will provide power to their school building.

“This project is really going to go somewhere and that we are serious about this,” says Mayo High School Junior, Patrick Allen.  He’s also a project manager of the Olmsted County Solar Initiative, a group and project designed to raise money to put solar panels on Mayo High School.

Allen and a few other students set it up.

“By educating these future generations, we can really show the need for green energy and how it’s easy to implement it in your home,” he says.  Allen and his friends have already raised tens of thousands of dollars and have the attention of local energy experts.  “I’m very surprised at how far they’re taking this project and I’d like to see some solar panels on Mayo High School,” says Chuck Pentek with Rochester Public Utilities.

The panels will generate enough energy to provide almost 1% of the school’s energy.   But the amount of energy is not the point.   “If one of these solar panels was put on a house, it could power the house. There’s community members in town that power their house with 8 kilowatt systems and if someone does that, that’s what we want to see. This is for education of the community to see how it works,” says Allen.

So in the drive toward renewable energy in Rochester, the youth are leading the way.   The goal is to make the student group pushing for solar panels renewable too.   Next year, Allen will train a junior to take over the project and new students will work to put solar panels on other local schools.

by Yvonne Jeffery, For the Calgary Herald, May 24, 2008
Source: Calgary Herald
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/lifeathome/
story.html?id=3db264d7-b479-45df-bd78-669346bfb729

A bank of panels is shining on the rooftop of Enmax’s corporate headquarters in Calgary, lighting the way to the not-so-distant future for city homeowners.  Imagine living in the heart of the city, generating your own heat and electricity from the sun and feeding electricity to the power grid when you’re producing more than you can use.  While a few pioneering souls in Calgary are using solar panels on their homes, Enmax is taking the industry and the city a step toward a distinctly greener future with the launch of its Solar Demonstration Centre. (more…)

by Jahna Berry, The Arizona Republic /May. 24, 2008
Source: The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/
articles/0524biz-phx-solar0524.html

The Phoenix Convention Center began supplementing its power with solar energy this week.  City officials activated 732 peel-and-stick solar panels that were installed in April on the roof of the West Building, convention center spokeswoman Lexie Van Haren said.  The $850,000 solar-power project is expected to produce 150,000-kilowatt hours of electricity annually and should cut the center’s carbon dioxide pollution by 95 metric tons each year, city officials say. (more…)

Solar Industry Leaders Partner to Offer Homeowners Financing and System Innovations
San Francisco & Los Gatos, CA, May 9, 2008
Source: Akeena Solar Inc, press releaese /BusinessWire
http://www.akeena.net/cm/Investor%20Relations/Home.html

Akeena Solar, Inc., a leading designer and installer of solar power systems, and Sun Run, the nation’s first provider of residential solar service, today announced their partnership to provide homeowners with Akeena’s innovative Andalay solar power system and Sun Run’s pioneering solar service. (more…)

Source: ThanhnienNews, Vietnam /May 13, 2008
http://www.thanhniennews.com/education/?catid=4&newsid=38492

Southern Dong Nai is the first province in Vietnam to install a solar powered street lighting system.  Forty light posts in the province have been fitted with solar powered light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs mainly in downtown Bien Hoa Town.  The province has spent VND3 billion (US$187,500) for the solar lighting system since the project started mid last year.

According to the province’s traffic safety committee, each post is installed with a solar panel which can accumulate enough charge to supply the LEDs for 48 hours.  Dong Nai plans to expand the use of the system.

By Michael Hewlett, Sean Mussendenand James Romoser /Journal reporters
Lexinton, May 15, 2008
Source: Winston-Salem Journal  /
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/may/15/
bright-future-new-nc-utilities-law-generates-propo/?news

A proposed 21.5 megawatt solar farm in Davidson County would probably be “the largest in the United States” of its type, said Monique Harris, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.  And such a project wouldn’t even be considered in North Carolina without a landmark state energy law passed last year, state legislators and energy experts said yesterday.
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Thousand Oaks, CA., May 14, 2008
Source: SunPower Corp. press release /PRNewswire
http://investors.sunpowercorp.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=310283
Hill Canyon Water Treatment Plant Will Save $100,000 Annually in Utility Costs
SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR), a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, and MMA Renewable Ventures, owner and operator of renewable energy facilities, today dedicated a 584-kilowatt solar electric power system at the City of Thousand Oaks’ Hill Canyon Water Treatment Plant. (more…)

Source: RedOrbit.com/ 14 May 2008
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1385094/
kohls_to_power_its_stores_with_solar_energy/

Kohl’s Department Stores has announced that it plans to convert more than 50 of its existing New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland locations to solar power, representing nearly 80% of its locations in these three states.  The company said that it currently operates 34 stores in New Jersey, 17 in Connecticut and 16 in Maryland.
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Source: San Francisco Business Times /May 14, 2008
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/05/12/daily39.html

The largest solar project in the San Francisco and the third largest in the country is coming to a city rooftop near you.  San Francisco Public Utilities Commission authorized a new 5 megawatt solar power project that will grace the roofs of the newly retrofitted Sunset Reservoir and the Pier 96 which houses the NorCal Recycling Center. (more…)