Solar Cells Info

A huge increase in contracts to supply the grid means the province may soon be home to some of the planet’s biggest arrays

by Richard Blackwell, Globe and Mail Update / January 22, 2008
source:GlobeandMail.com
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080122.wrsolar22/BNStory/

Ontario is on its way to becoming a major centre for solar power, and will soon see thousands of solar panels spread out over acres of land, feeding clean power into the power grid.  Year-end numbers show an explosion of interest in building solar generating systems, from individuals who want to put a few panels on their roof, to businesses investing in huge solar farms.
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Source: Angola Press Agency (Luanda), 4 January 2008
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801040754.html

The Spanish Fortis Bank will spend this year USD 5.9 million to invest in the installation of solar energy systems, in various localities of the central Huambo Province. This was revealed this Friday to ANGOP by a source of the firm “Saema”, which is in charge of implementing this project.

Initially, the project will cover 23 localities of the mentioned province. The source also informed that this move is part of the province’s social development project, aimed at reducing the costs with electricity, improving sanitary conditions and people’s living standards.

By Cody Kraatz, Bay Area News Group / Jan 2, 2008
Source: San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_7865498?nclick_check=1

A group of residents is trying to put the sun in Sunnyvale and turn the city into a sea of rooftop photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters with a grassroots group-buy program. “The whole purpose for our group is to maximize and accelerate the adoption of solar energy,” said James Tuleya, a Sunnyvale Cool Cities Team leader spearheading the solar program, which is also hosting a series of educational seminars.
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Gloria Spire Solar Installing a 308kW Solar System for The Lee Company; One of the Largest Solar Projects in New England
Bedford, Mass., Jan. 7, 2008
Source: Spire Corp. press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1092245&highlight=

Gloria Spire Solar, LLC, a joint venture company formed by solar industry leaders Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR) and Gloria Solar Co., Ltd., today announced that it has won a contract to design and install a 308-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system at The Lee Company’s manufacturing facility in Westbrook, Connecticut. This is the largest solar electric system to be installed for a manufacturing company in Connecticut, and one of the largest in New England.

The system, consisting of 1,760 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the newly constructed facility, is approximately half the size of a football field, covering nearly 29,000 square feet of roof space. At peak power, the system will generate enough electricity to cleanly provide 17 percent of the manufacturing facility’s power consumption. This is equivalent to the power usage of 34 homes for one full year. In addition, this installation will eliminate the emission of 282 tons of carbon dioxide associated with combusting conventional fossil fuels.
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by Eric Beauchemin, Jan 7, 2008
Source: Radio Netherlands
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radioprogrammes/earthbeat/080107-solar-energy-africa

If there’s one thing Africa has an abundance of, it’s sunlight. And if there’s one thing it really lacks it’s electricity: at night, when you fly over Africa, all you see during most of the flight is darkness.  Solar energy would appear to be the ideal solution, but it’s still barely used in Africa. A Dutch organisation is planning to help change that. It is already providing solar energy to over 100,000 people in the continent.
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Salt Lake City Tribune Editorial, Jan 3, 2008
Source: The Salt Lake City Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7875236

Free pollution-free electricity, compliments of the sun! It sounds like an offer you can’t refuse. But who can afford it? While residential solar-energy systems eventually pay for themselves, it takes years, make that decades.  A 1-kilowatt solar-powered system utilizing silicon panels and connected directly to the electrical grid will cost $8,000-$10,000 installed. And despite the hefty investment, it will only reduce your electric bill. A 5-kilowatt system, enough to power the average home, can cost $35,000 or more, a prohibitive sum for most households.

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By David C. Henley, Publisher Emeritus, January 4, 2008
Source: LahontonValleyNews.com
http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20080104/Opinion/754277291

Gasoline, natural gas and electricity costs have risen to stratospheric levels. Americans also are showing mounting concern about our dependence on foreign oil and the degrading of the environment.  In desperate efforts to find substitute fuels, scientists are experimenting with alternative sources such as ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells, biodiesel, geothermal, wind power and the sun.
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By Joan Wilder, Boston Globe Correspondent / December 30, 2007
Surce. Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/12/30/
hingham_schools_harness_suns_power___for_education/

As Hingham Middle School science teacher Andrea Stuart fiddles with the software that collects data from the high school’s new solar voltaic roof panels, she sees a simple way to introduce solar power to her students.  “We’re studying photosynthesis,” said Stuart. “We see how plants do this; now we can see how the panels do this – use the sun for fuel.” Seeing how the sun can make electricity is what officials from the town’s lighting plant and schools had in mind when they installed a small array of solar panels on the high school roof in late summer.  (more…)

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service,
Vatican City, Jan 4, 2008
Source. Catholic News Service
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0800072.htm

A German solar company has given Pope Benedict XVI something special for Christmas: an electricity-generating solar rooftop for the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall.  The Bonn-based SolarWorld is donating approximately 2,000 solar modules to be installed on the audience hall roof to provide “the very first solar power ever generated in the Vatican,” said a company press release.
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Increased visibility will make it safer for seniors
By Emilie Crofton, Bay Area News Group, Jan 4, 2008
Source: MercuryNews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7883859?nclick_check=1

The Valley Transportation Authority’s bright idea to light up bus shelters with solar panels will make waiting for a bus safer for Almaden Valley seniors.   Several residents of Le Mirador senior housing, including Edith Keep and Essie Barador, were concerned with safety issues caused by changes to the bus routes after the approval of the VTA January 2008 Service Plan.  Those changes, as of Jan. 14, will force nearby residents and seniors at Le Mirador Senior Housing to switch from Bus 65 to Bus 64.
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