Arizona Solar Center - Your Guide to Solar and Other Renewable Energy Sources in Arizona

California will soon be home to the world's two largest solar towers through an ambitious project known as The Palen Solar Electrical Generating System. The announcement was made shortly after the US Department of Interior announced the country was to add 1.1 gigawatts to its clean energy capacity. California has also committed to have a third of their power must be derived from renewable sources by the year 2030.

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Abu Dhabi, the most oil-rich of the United Arab Emirates, is now home to the world's single-largest concentrated solar power plant. The 100-megawatt Shams 1 plant cost an estimated $750 million and is expected to provide electricity to 20,000 homes, according to the BBC.

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As India prepares to enter Phase II of its National Solar Mission (NSM), one of the world's more promising solar markets finds itself at a critical juncture. Much uncertainty lingers in this young market: financing is still challenging, a trade dispute looms, and policy decisions now being hashed out at both national and state levels could swell the country's market to its lofty goals - or just as easily undercut that momentum, according to a report from Mercom Capital Group's Raj Prabhu.

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Renewable Energy World network editors announced the project of the year winners at an Awards Gala during Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo, North America, which is co-located with Power-Gen International. Below, find our winners and runners up.

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The renewable energy industry is at a tipping point as the developed markets start to close the door on generous subsidy programs and emerging markets develop cost strategies to compete with fossil fuels, according to Ernst & Young's latest quarterly global renewable energy country attractiveness indices report released today.

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(First published 11/6/2012)

Far to the north of the coast of New Zealand, the teeny tiny island nation of Tokelau just finished making a full switch to solar power-a renewable investment that will help the nation's roughly 1,400 people kick their $825,000 per year reliance on imported diesel.

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Mexico's Sonora state, which has the highest insolation rate in North America, is working steadfastly to foster photovoltaic power research, generation and transmission lines for demand within the state and for export, say several state leaders. Last week in Hermosillo, Sonora State Governor Guillermo Padrés Elias announced that Sonora would host a new national solar research center, the Centro Mexicano de Innovación en Energía Solar, which would receive $25 million in funding.

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In the final ruling in a highly politicized trade case, the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday dramatically raised tariffs on imports of solar panels by Chinese companies, citing the illegal subsidies they got from their government. At the same time, it cut the duties it planned to charge some Chinese companies for illegal dumping of panels on the U.S. market.

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Speaking at The Europe-Asia PV Forum at the 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC), Minh Le, acting programme manager of the Solar Program for the US Department of Energy, highlighted that US PV policymakers should look to streamline local PV policies and adopt common nationwide practices to ensure stability in the PV market.

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(Originally published 7/13/2012)
The United Kingdom is first for energy efficiency - followed closely by Germany, Italy, Japan and France - in a ranking of the world's major economies from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The US, which is ranked ninth by the ACEEE out of the 12 economies, has made "limited or little progress toward greater efficiency at the national level," according to the report, "The ACEEE 2012 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard."

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Spain and the United States currently dominate the global solar thermal market thanks to the continued soaring of fossil fuels and supporting government policies, according to a new report by GBI Research, a market-leading provider of business intelligence reports. The report showed that in 2011 Spain was the primary stakeholder in the global CSP market with a commanding 65 percent of the total installed capacity.

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After months of deliberation and heated disputes, the German government and its federal states have reached an agreement on controversial changes to the country's solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) plan. When drastic cuts to Germany's solar incentives were announced in February, many in the industry feared the world's largest solar market could be in imminent danger.

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Not this year. Or even next year.

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Ask any six-year-old in a Chinese street, 'What's a solar water heater and what's it for?' Without hesitation they will tell you: 'A solar water heater is on the roof ?????? ?????? online gaming casino of a building online casino list to make hot water for the shower'. This casino uk story is told by Hongzhi Cheng, vice secretary-general of the Beijing-based Chinese Solar Thermal Industry Federation (CSTIF) and head of The Sun's Vision, a company based in the city of Dezhou in Shandong province.

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According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), interest in Photovoltaic systems has remained relatively high in recent years, with the first quarter of 2012 at the second highest for installations ever. Photovoltaic systems (PV), which convert sunlight directly to electricity, have faced some complex ups and downs in the U.S. in regards to financing, tariffs, and state-level demands. However, the bottom line for PV currently is growth.

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German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.

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Rumors of massive solar plant auctions in Brazil set for 2013 raced through U.S. renewable energy headlines last week to no avail. Brazil's federal government quashed the rumor that it might auction off multiple solar plant construction concessions, saying instead, that installed solar kilowatt costs in the country are still too high - by three to four times - to compete with other renewable energy sources. Government officials did express hope, however, that as solar material costs continue to decline, the government could begin solar auctions in a few years' time.

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On March 26th, 2012 the PHOTON Group (Aachen, Germany) released the results of an annual survey which estimates that solar photovoltaic (PV) cell production grew to 37.2 GW in 2011, a 36% increase over 2010 levels.

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The complete 2011 report can be found here: www.photongroup.com/PhotonLibraries/Annual_Reports/Photon_Group_Annual_Report_2011.sflb.pdf

As widely expected, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has ruled in favor of American solar manufacturers, who accused Chinese rivals of benefiting unfairly from their own export subsidies. Unexpectedly, though, are the modest numbers - just 3 to almost 5 percent countervailing duties (CVD). We've read through the decision and asked a handful of industry watchers what the main takeaways should be.

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The emirate of Dubai on Monday unveiled plans to build a 12 billion dirham solar energy park, with potential capacity of 1,000 megawatts as part of its efforts to reduce its energy reliance. Under Dubai's Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, it plans to reduce energy imports and climate warming carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

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