Colorado Solar Power

Colorado-Solar-Power offers information and news on on solar power and solar energy firms and activities in Colorado.

Solar Power is the new energy darling for power and energy in Colorado. Americans who are tired of being robbed by OPEC and the oil typcoons the high cost of oil has spurred renewed interest in Solar Power. With Colorado averaging over 300 sunny days a year, Colorado has the 5th-greatest solar potential of any state in the US. Colorado’s sunny skies offer the potential to supply clean clean energy to meet growing demand for pollution free power and move us closer to energy independence. This country spends, in a typical year, $350 billion importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other foreign countries. While this is profitable to the Saudi royal family, one of the richest in the world, it is bad news for the average American. Solar Power has great potential yet faces great challenges to make it a reliable power source.

US Solar PV to Double in 2011; Grow 47% a year to 2015

The US solar photovoltaic (PV) market will double in 2011, this despite current economic weakness, according to research from Solarbuzz. With a current project pipeline of more than 17 gigawatts (GW), the Port Washington, NY-based research firm foresees the US solar PV market growing to reach as high as 6.4 GW by 2015 depending on the scenario, a constant annual growth rate of 47%.

California continued to be the dominant US state in terms of solar PV demand, though its share of the market dropped from 50% in 2009 to 30% in 2010. New Jersey, Arizona and Colorado ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

> Read more about US Solar Photovoltaic market growth

Colorado PUC Approves Black Hills Energy's 29 MW Wind Project to Meet the State's Renewable Energy Standard

UEBLO, Colo., Aug. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Black Hills Corp. BKH -1.46% utility subsidiary Black Hills Energy - Colorado Electric today announced it has received approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission regarding the utility's proposed 29 megawatt wind project. The Colorado PUC approved a settlement which allows Black Hills Energy to construct and own 50 percent of the wind project, an investment of $26.5 million, and authorized Black Hills Energy to conduct a competitive solicitation for ownership of the other 50 percent of the project.

This new project will include 16 Vestas wind turbines, components of which will be manufactured in Pueblo and at other Vestas facilities in Colorado. On-site construction for the project, which will serve the 94,000 customers of Black Hills Energy in southern Colorado, will create approximately 55 construction jobs for southern Colorado.

US market in Solar Energy to surge thanks to price declines, utility-scale installs

Growth in the US solar market will double in 2011 -- it'll be third largest globally, trailing only Germany and Italy, and on track to increase from 5% of the global PV market to 12% by 2015. The US PV market has support at all government levels. The federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Treasury Cash Grants are stimulating investments, while state policies such as the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) push expansion among utilities, which increased from 17% of on-grid PV to 31% just in 2010.

Among top states to benefit California, New Jersey, Arizona, and Colorado...

Abound Solar: Jobs and a Million Dollar Sq. Ft. Manufacturing Plant

Abound Solar is a Colorado solar energy company who is expected to create 1,200 new jobs within the next couple of years. Abound Solar, based in Longmont, Colorado, and founded in 2007, makes cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic solar modules.

Residents in Tipton, Indiana, stand to gain the most in terms of new job openings; Abound has purchased a million-square-foot building in the state that is being built to their specifications. "The reason we're going to Indiana, we looked all over the U.S. for manufacturing facilities capable of supporting what we want to do long term," Grier said. "We we're going to build a plant for a lack of a better term, kind of a bomber plant, large scale manufacturing facility."

> Read More about solar energy jobs

PlanetSolar: World's largest solar-powered boat revealed

Not exactly a Colorado product - it's still worth noting that the world's largest solar-powered boat is about to set sail. PlanetSolar is a multlihull vessel topped by a large array of photovoltaic solar panels, constructed by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany. Recently unveiled at the HDW shipyard in Kiel, the world's largest solar-powered boat is 31 metres long, 15 metres wide and 7.5 metres high with a radical multi-hull design that incorporates a massive photovoltaic solar panel array covering 500m2. Built by Knierim Yachtbau, the PlanetSolar boat aims to navigate around the globe at an average speed of 8 knots. The planned voyage is expected to get underway in the Mediterranean in Spring 2011.

http://www.planetsolar.org/index.en.php

Solar Panels Installed at CU Produce Energy for Campus

Solar panels installed at the University of Colorado at Boulder on the roofs of the Coors Events/Conference Center, Housing System Maintenance Center and Wolf Law Building will produce 140,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year -- enough to power 20 medium-sized houses.

The Coors Events/Conference Center and the Housing System Maintenance Center each received 210 solar panels while the Wolf Law Building received 52 solar panels. Tabrizi is working toward solar panel installations on every flat roof on campus, but Xcel Energy limits the amount of incentives accrued by one property. CU-Boulder is negotiating more installations on buildings located off the main campus.

Read more: Solar panels Installed at CU

Solar Panels Installed at CU Produce Energy for Campus

The Solar Shingle

The 50 Best Inventions of 2009
The Dow Chemical Co. has developed a new roof shingle that doubles as a solar panel. The shingles, which can be incorporated into rooftops alongside traditional asphalt shingles, use low-cost thin-film cells of copper indium gallium diselenide. While Dow expects to profit greatly from the Powerhouse Solar Shingle — the company predicts it will bring in as much as $10 billion in revenue by 2020 — there will be significant benefits for consumers too. The innovative shingle is expected to cost 10% to 15% less than traditional solar panels and will be cheaper and quicker to install.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933958,00.html#ixzz0Wh1hEnMq

TheGoSolarCo - Residential Solar Power for Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Monument, Colorado

The Go Solar Co is a Colorado based company that designs and installs residential solar powered electric systems as well as commercial solar power systems for buildings. The Go Solar Co team of knowledgeable professionals will design a solar power system and have it engineered to your specifications. The Go Solar Co uses the highest quality materials and installation methods to deliver a solar powered system that looks great and stays reliable for decades. The Go Solar Co covers our clients electric company's rebates and credits (residence), instantly reducing out-of-pocket cost.

Visit: www.thegosolarco.com for residential and commercial solar power systems in Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Monument Colorado.

Ritter Green Energy Jobs Takes a Hit

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has a lot of political capital invested in "Green Energy Jobs". Ritter said frequently said that his new energy economy is “creating new jobs, attracting new companies and leading the way to a new energy future for America.” But right now one of the "stars" in his crown is fading at the Windsor wind turbine plant in Colorado they are laying off people.

Vestas plans to “furlough” its 500 employees in Windsor, Vestas' two-year-old blade manufacturing plant.
In 2008, Vestas received 54 orders for multiple wind turbines worldwide; 509 wind turbine units were ordered in the United States, representing 995 megawatts of electricity; across the rest of the world, Vestas received orders representing 3,542 megawatts of electricity. In 2009, 19 orders have trickled in so far, representing 1,583 megawatts of electricity across the world — not one order has come from the United States. Source: Vestas

"We're slowing down and temporarily closing down the facility in Colorado. We'll use our time not to produce blades but to retool, retrain and help our service guys. ... We're trying to do whatever we can to keep people busy. We're retooling, retraining and introducing new ways” of doing things."

“Due to the slowdown in the economy, suddenly the price of gas is holding back the wind power market,” Kruse added. “Suddenly the alternate (gas) looks very cheap. This is upside down, the alternative now being gas.”

Ritter also has issued a “Green Job” handbook that outlines the curriculum and degrees required for green jobs and listing green jobs available in Colorado.

“Energy independence is not a pipe dream,” Ritter said in his written testimony to the Senate committee. Only the number of "Green Energy Jobs" thanks to wind turbines looks to be turning into nothing more than a lot of political hot air.

How Solar Cells Work

The sun's light (and all light) contains energy. Usually, when light hits an object the energy turns into heat, like the warmth you feel while sitting in the sun. But when light hits certain materials the energy turns into an electrical current instead, which we can then harness for power.

Old-school solar technology uses large crystals made out of silicon, which produces an electrical current when struck by light. Silicon can do this because the electrons in the crystal get up and move when exposed to light instead of just jiggling in place to make heat. The silicon turns a good portion of light energy into electricity, but it is expensive because big crystals are hard to grow.

Newer materials use smaller, cheaper crystals, such as copper-indium-gallium-selenide, that can be shaped into flexible films. This "thin-film" solar technology, however, is not as good as silicon at turning light into electricity

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-does-solar-power-work

Beam Solar Power from Space using Lasers

Beaming Solar Power from Space using lasers is more than a dream...it's about to become a reality thanks to the best and the brightest of Japanese industries and universities which has created the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer and includes industry giants such as Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp. Because the Japanese are dependant for most of their power on foreign counties they have devised an ambitious plan that aims to insert a giant array of solar panel and then beam that power back to earth via lasers. This plan is called the involves an array of photovoltaic dishes, reaching across several square miles, that hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

There is currently a working committee that is researching the technical aspects and challenges involved. The Working Committee has investigated a simple, technically feasible, and practical configuration of the Space solar power system (SSPS) which consists of a large power generation/transmission panel suspended by multi-tether wires from a bus system above the panel. The upper surface of the generation/transmission panel is covered with solar cells, and the lower surface mounts transmitting phased array antenna elements and solar cells.

Perhaps one day our power will come from lasers in space....welcome to the future! Beam it down Scottie!

NEW SOLAR POWER PLANT in San Luis Valley

Gov. Ritter today congratulated Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. for agreeing to build North America' second-largest high-efficiency photovoltaic solar plant in the San Luis Valley.

The 17-megawatt power plant will be built in Alamosa County, next to the 8.22-megawatt solar plant built by Xcel and SunEdison in 2007. It is expected to create 200 jobs during construction and will come online next year.

"Congratulations to Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. for continuing to grow Colorado's New Energy Economy," Gov. Ritter said. "The New Energy Economy is leading Colorado forward by creating jobs all across the state, diversifying our mix of energy sources, and positioning Colorado for strong and sustainable economic growth in the years ahead.

"This project once again demonstrates why Colorado has become a national and international model for how to develop a new energy future."

Colorado currently produces 40 megawatts of solar generation. With the addition of this 17-megawatt Xcel Energy/SunPower Corp. facility, Colorado will move from sixth to among the top five states for solar energy generation.

Xcel Energy is the fifth-largest utility for solar power and first for wind power in the nation.

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovRitter/GOVR/1239108781373

New Low Cost Solar Panels

http://www.industryweek.com/articles/new_low_cost_solar_panels_ready_for_mass_production_14932.aspx

Colorado State University's method for manufacturing low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels is nearing mass production. AVA Solar Inc. will start production by the end of next year on the technology developed by mechanical engineering Professor W.S. Sampath at Colorado State. The new 200-megawatt factory is expected to employ up to 500 people. Based on the average household usage, 200 megawatts will power 40,000 U.S. homes.

Produced at less than $1 per watt, the panels will dramatically reduce the cost of generating solar electricity and could power homes and businesses around the globe with clean energy for roughly the same cost as traditionally generated electricity.

The process is a low waste process with less than 2% of the materials used in production needing to be recycled. It also makes better use of raw materials since the process converts solar energy into electricity more efficiently. Cadmium telluride solar panels require 100 times less semiconductor material than high-cost crystalline silicon panels.

By 2010, solar cell manufacturing is expected to be a $25 billion-plus industry.

Xcel Energy To Add More Solar Power In Colorado

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Xcel.Energy.plans.2.1274840.html

DENVER (AP) ― Xcel Energy has added more than 257 megawatts of solar power to its plan for meeting Colorado's renewable energy standard by 2020.

The utility filed its plan Tuesday for meeting the standard, which requires 20 percent of its energy to come from renewable resources by 2020. The solar power would be added through a program in which Xcel buys renewable energy credits from customers who install solar power systems.

Xcel Energy's plan also includes about 700 megawatts of new wind power and about 350 megawatts of utility-scale solar power plants in Colorado.

Gov. Bill Ritter praised Xcel for planning to add more than three times the amount of solar photovoltaic resources than the law requires.

CSU Adds Solar Power Plant to Foothills Campus

http://coloradoenergynews.com/2009/08/csu-adds-solar-power-plant-to-foothills-campus/

FORT COLLINS - This fall Colorado State University will install a two-megawatt solar power plant on its Foothills Campus as part of Xcel Energy Solar*Rewards program – enough solar power to meet more than 10 percent of the university’s electric energy needs on the Foothills Campus.

The 15-acre solar array is expected to be one of the largest at a U.S. university when it’s finished, likely at the end of 2009. In exchange for hosting the solar panels, Colorado State locked in a 20-year contract for solar power to keep costs low during volatile energy markets with rising electricity costs.

It’s the second solar project to be announced within the Colorado State University System. CSU-Pueblo dedicated a new 1.2 MW solar array in 2008.

Colorado State University is working with Xcel Energy and renewable energy developer, Renewable Ventures, (A SPANISH company

http://www.renewableventures.com/

German Solar Power company to open in Denver

DENVER - A Germany-based solar company plans to open its first North American manufacturing site in Denver.

Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper joined officials from SMA Solar Technology for the announcement Monday. The company plans to start production next year with 300 employees and a capacity to expand the work force to 700.

The plant will be in east Denver with access to Interstate 70 and a rail line.

SMA produces solar inverters, which convert the direct current generated by residential solar panels into alternating current for the electrical grid.

Ritter has made Colorado's renewable energy industry a priority of his administration. Companies that have opened plants in the state include Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems

Xcel Energy Targets San Luis Valley for Solar Power

Helios Energy Partners proposal for a 200-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) installation (solar farm) got a thumbs down recently from Xcel Energy.

Xcel, which invites bidding on an annual list of Request for Proposals (RFPs) for renewable energy, turned down the PV farm, slated for Pueblo, Colorado, about 150 miles due south of Denver.

Xcel, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serves 3.4 million electricity consumers and 1.9 million natural gas consumers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North and South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Once listed as one of the “dirty dozen” for its coal-fired generation (largely for mercury emissions in Minnesota), today Xcel Energy is ranked first in wind energy, and fifth in solar capacity among U.S. power companies.

Instead of the Helios project, Xcel Energy officials are eyeing the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado for a 330-plus-megawatt solar thermal installation, depending on approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. One megawatt of solar thermal energy has been shown capable (by the Solar Electricity Generating Station, 1991, in California’s Mojave Desert) of powering about 290 homes.

Solar thermal plants often require cooling systems, many of which rely on water, so their siting in areas where water supplies are limited, or even precarious, is a tough proposition.

This is particularly true in the San Luis Valley, where the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) is still working out policy on water remaining for development. The problem is complicated by old water rulings and allocations, which leaves reserves in doubt. They could be as much as 1.4 acre-feet, or as little as 400,000 acre-feet, and few San Luis Valley residents – whose main occupations is growing potatoes, and whose wells are now metered – are willing to part with enough to cool a solar thermal installation.

Local officials are hoping for an air-cooled plant, for which the area – with its low daytime temperatures – is ideally suited. This is good news, because Xcel Energy has reportedly already spent $100,000 to purchase 82 acres in the Valley.

Kent Scholl, a senior analyst for Xcel Energy, said the company is not looking to build water-cooled plants, and said the proposed installation would require, at most, about 300 acre-feet of water per year, leaving lots for potatoes and other Valley crops.

Meanwhile, Pueblo County and the Depot Reuse Authority will continue their efforts to get some land from the U.S. Department of Defense in hopes of attracting future solar projects, including a pending RFP (2010) from Colorado’s other major utility, Tri-State Generation.

Cost of Solar Panels - Why are they Expensive

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/when-is-the-right-time-to-buy-solar-5997/

Solar Panel Information

Solar panels work off of photovoltaic principles inherent in most semiconductors. In photovoltaic energy transfer, sunlight strikes the surface of a crystallized semiconductor. The one used in commercially sold panels is silicon. When the light strikes the crystal, it causes the crystal to emit an electric current. The crystals are backed by wiring to channel the current, and a series of panels can be set up as an array to further boost the amount of current they produce.

There are several varieties of panels available on the market. The most common is a third generation silicon crystal panel.
http://www.solarhome.org/