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1. Solar energy is the most abundant energy source on earth with 173,000 terawatts of solar energy striking the earth continuously!!
2. the space industry was an early adopter of solar technology. In the 1950s, the space industry began to use solar technology to provide power aboard spacecraft.
3. In california, Mojave desert is home to the largest solar thermal energy plant in the world!

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The solar industry is changing rapidly as it experiences unprecedented growth. Here are 6 facts that may surprise you about this increasingly popular source of power.
6. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource on earth -- 173,000 terawatts of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That's more than 10,000 times the world's total energy use.

5. The first silicon solar cell, the precursor of all solar-powered devices, was built by Bell Laboratories in 1954. On the first page of its April 26, 1954 issue, The New York Times proclaimed the milestone, "the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind's most cherished dreams -- the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization."

4. The space industry was an early adopter of solar technology. In the 1950s, the space industry began to use solar technology to provide power aboard spacecraft. The Vanguard 1 -- the first artificial earth satellite powered by solar cells -- remains the oldest manmade satellite in orbit -- logging more than 6 billion miles.

3. Today, demand for solar in the United States is at an all-time high. The amount of solar power installed in the U.S. has increased more than 23 times over the past eight years -- from 1.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2008 to an estimated 27.4 GW at the end of 2015. That's enough energy to power the equivalent of 5.4 million average American homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The U.S. is currently the third-largest solar market in the world and is positioned to become the second.

2. As prices continue to fall, solar energy is increasingly becoming an economical energy choice for American homeowners and businesses. Still, the biggest hurdle to affordable solar energy remains the soft costs -- like permitting, zoning and hooking a solar system up to the power gird. On average, local permitting and inspection processes add more than $2,500 to the total cost of a solar energy system and can take up to six months to complete. The SunShot Initiative's soft costs program works to make it faster and cheaper for families and businesses to go solar.

1. California's Mojave Desert is home to Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, the world's largest operating solar thermal energy plant. It uses concentrating solar power (CSP) technology to focus 173,500 heliostats, each containing two mirrors, onto boilers located in three power towers. The plant, which came online in 2014, has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts (MW). CSP technology is unique in that it allows for solar energy to be stored for use after the sun sets -- a key focus for our recent research and development efforts -- which addresses some of the concerns over delivering solar power when and where it is needed most.

Explore our projects in solar energy on the Sunshot Initiative's project map and study up on Solar Energy Basics.

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Top 6 Things You Didn't Know About Solar Energy

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The solar industry is changing rapidly as it experiences unprecedented growth. Here are 6 facts that may surprise you about this increasingly popular source of power. 6. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource on earth -- 173,000 terawatts of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously.

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One of the reasons why solar energy matters so much is because it is a natural and clean type of energy source. Solar energy is created by nuclear fusions that takes place in the sun and its energy. Not only that, but it is cheaper and better.

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Earth Science, Engineering, Physics

Solar energy is any type of energy generated by the sun.

Solar energy is created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. Fusion occurs when protons of hydrogen atoms violently collide in the sun's core and fuse to create a helium atom.

This process, known as a PP (proton-proton) chain reaction, emits an enormous amount of energy. In its core, the sun fuses about 620 million metric tons of hydrogen every second. The PP chain reaction occurs in other stars that are about the size of our sun, and provides them with continuous energy and heat. The temperature for these stars is around 4 million degrees on the Kelvin scale (about 4 million degrees Celsius, 7 million degrees Fahrenheit).

In stars that are about 1.3 times bigger than the sun, the CNO cycle drives the creation of energy. The CNO cycle also converts hydrogen to helium, but relies on carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (C, N, and O) to do so. Currently, less than two percent of the sun's energy is created by the CNO cycle.

Nuclear fusion by the PP chain reaction or CNO cycle releases tremendous amounts of energy in the form of waves and particles. Solar energy is constantly flowing away from the sun and throughout the solar system. Solar energy warms Earth, causes wind and weather, and sustains plant and animal life.

The energy, heat, and light from the sun flow away in the form of electromagnetic radiation (EMR).

The electromagnetic spectrum exists as waves of different frequencies and wavelengths. The frequency of a wave represents how many times the wave repeats itself in a certain unit of time. Waves with very short wavelengths repeat themselves several times in a given unit of time, so they are high-frequency. In contrast, low-frequency waves have much longer wavelengths.

The vast majority of electromagnetic waves are invisible to us. The most high-frequency waves emitted by the sun are gamma rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet radiation (UV rays). The most harmful UV rays are almost completely absorbed by Earth's atmosphere. Less potent UV rays travel through the atmosphere, and can cause sunburn.

The sun also emits infrared radiation, whose waves are much lower-frequency. Most heat from the sun arrives as infrared energy.

Sandwiched between infrared and UV is the visible spectrum, which contains all the colors we see on Earth. The color red has the longest wavelengths (closest to infrared), and violet (closest to UV) the shortest.

Natural Solar Energy

The infrared, visible, and UV waves that reach Earth take part in a process of warming the planet and making life possible-the so-called "greenhouse effect."

About 30 percent of the solar energy that reaches Earth is reflected back into space. The rest is absorbed into Earth's atmosphere. The radiation warms Earth's surface, and the surface radiates some of the energy back out in the form of infrared waves. As they rise through the atmosphere, they are intercepted by greenhouse gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide.
Greenhouse Effect

Greenhouse gases trap the heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. In this way, they act like the glass walls of a greenhouse. This greenhouse effect keeps Earth warm enough to sustain life.

Photosynthesis
Almost all life on Earth relies on solar energy for food, either directly or indirectly.

Producers rely directly on solar energy. They absorb sunlight and convert it into nutrients through a process called photosynthesis. Producers, also called autotrophs, include plants, algae, bacteria, and fungi. Autotrophs are the foundation of the food web.

Consumers rely on producers for nutrients. Herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores rely on solar energy indirectly. Herbivores eat plants and other producers. Carnivores and omnivores eat both producers and herbivores. Detritivores decompose plant and animal matter by consuming it.

Photosynthesis is also responsible for all of the fossil fuels on Earth. Scientists estimate that about three billion years ago, the first autotrophs evolved in aquatic settings. Sunlight allowed plant life to thrive and evolve. After the autotrophs died, they decomposed and shifted deeper into the Earth, sometimes thousands of meters. This process continued for millions of years.

Under intense pressure and high temperatures, these remains became what we know as fossil fuels. Microorganisms became petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Fossil Fuels

People have developed processes for extracting these fossil fuels and using them for energy. However, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource. They take millions of years to form.

Harnessing Solar Energy

Solar energy is a renewable resource, and many technologies can harvest it directly for use in homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals. Some solar energy technologies include photovoltaic cells and panels, concentrated solar energy, and solar architecture.

There are different ways of capturing solar radiation and converting it into usable energy. The methods use either active solar energy or passive solar energy.

Active solar technologies use electrical or mechanical devices to actively convert solar energy into another form of energy, most often heat or electricity. Passive solar technologies do not use any external devices. Instead, they take advantage of the local climate to heat structures during the winter, and reflect heat during the summer.

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is a form of active solar technology that was discovered in 1839 by 19-year-old French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel. Becquerel discovered that when he placed silver-chloride in an acidic solution and exposed it to sunlight, the platinum electrodes attached to it generated an electric current. This process of generating electricity directly from solar radiation is called the photovoltaic effect, or photovoltaics.

Today, photovoltaics is probably the most familiar way to harness solar energy. Photovoltaic arrays usually involve solar panels, a collection of dozens or even hundreds of solar cells.

Each solar cell contains a semiconductor, usually made of silicon. When the semiconductor absorbs sunlight, it knocks electrons loose. An electrical field directs these loose electrons into an electric current, flowing in one direction. Metal contacts at the top and bottom of a solar cell direct that current to an external object. The external object can be as small as a solar-powered calculator or as large as a power station.

Photovoltaics was first widely used on spacecraft. Many satellites, including the International Space Station (ISS), feature wide, reflective "wings" of solar panels. The ISS has two solar array wings (SAWs), each using about 33,000 solar cells. These photovoltaic cells supply all electricity to the ISS, allowing astronauts to operate the station, safely live in space for months at a time, and conduct scientific and engineering experiments.

Photovoltaic power stations have been built all over the world. The largest stations are in the United States, India, and China. These power stations emit hundreds of megawatts of electricity, used to supply homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals.

Photovoltaic technology can also be installed on a smaller scale. Solar panels and cells can be fixed to the roofs or exterior walls of buildings, supplying electricity for the structure. They can be placed along roads to light highways. Solar cells are small enough to power even smaller devices, such as calculators, parking meters, trash compactors, and water pumps.

Concentrated Solar Energy

Another type of active solar technology is concentrated solar energy or concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP technology uses lenses and mirrors to focus (concentrate) sunlight from a large area into a much smaller area. This intense area of radiation heats a fluid, which in turn generates electricity or fuels another process.

Solar furnaces are an example of concentrated solar power. There are many different types of solar furnaces, including solar power towers, parabolic troughs, and Fresnel reflectors. They use the same general method to capture and convert energy.

Solar power towers use heliostats, flat mirrors that turn to follow the sun's arc through the sky. The mirrors are arranged around a central "collector tower," and reflect sunlight into a concentrated ray of light that shines on a focal point on the tower.

In previous designs of solar power towers, the concentrated sunlight heated a container of water, which produced steam that powered a turbine. More recently, some solar power towers use liquid sodium, which has a higher heat capacity and retains heat for a longer period of time. This means that the fluid not only reaches temperatures of 773 to 1,273K (500° to 1,000° C or 932° to 1,832° F), but it can continue to boil water and generate power even when the sun is not shining.

Parabolic troughs and Fresnel reflectors also use CSP, but their mirrors are shaped differently. Parabolic mirrors are curved, with a shape similar to a saddle. Fresnel reflectors use flat, thin strips of mirror to capture sunlight and direct it onto a tube of liquid. Fresnel reflectors have more surface area than parabolic troughs and can concentrate the sun's energy to about 30 times its normal intensity.

Concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The largest facility in the world is a series of plants in Mojave Desert in the U.S. state of California. This Solar Energy Generating System (SEGS) generates more than 650 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year. Other large and effective plants have been developed in Spain and India.

Concentrated solar power can also be used on a smaller scale. It can generate heat for solar cookers, for instance. People in villages all over the world use solar cookers to boil water for sanitation and to cook food.

Solar cookers provide many advantages over wood-burning stoves: They are not a fire hazard, do not produce smoke, do not require fuel, and reduce habitat loss in forests where trees would be harvested for fuel. Solar cookers also allow villagers to pursue time for education, business, health, or family during time that was previously used for gathering firewood. Solar cookers are used in areas as diverse as Chad, Israel, India, and Peru.

Solar Architecture

Throughout the course of a day, solar energy is part of the process of thermal convection, or the movement of heat from a warmer space to a cooler one. When the sun rises, it begins to warm objects and material on Earth. Throughout the day, these materials absorb heat from solar radiation. At night, when the sun sets and the atmosphere has cooled, the materials release their heat back into the atmosphere.

Passive solar energy techniques take advantage of this natural heating and cooling process.

Homes and other buildings use passive solar energy to distribute heat efficiently and inexpensively. Calculating a building's "thermal mass" is an example of this. A building's thermal mass is the bulk of material heated throughout the day. Examples of a building's thermal mass are wood, metal, concrete, clay, stone, or mud. At night, the thermal mass releases its heat back into the room. Effective ventilation systems-hallways, windows, and air ducts-distribute the warmed air and maintain a moderate, consistent indoor temperature.

Passive solar technology is often involved in the design of a building. For example, in the planning stage of construction, the engineer or architect may align the building with the sun's daily path to receive desirable amounts of sunlight. This method takes into account the latitude, altitude, and typical cloud cover of a specific area. In addition, buildings can be constructed or retrofitted to have thermal insulation, thermal mass, or extra shading.

Other examples of passive solar architecture are cool roofs, radiant barriers, and green roofs. Cool roofs are painted white, and reflect the sun's radiation instead of absorbing it. The white surface reduces the amount of heat that reaches the interior of the building, which in turn reduces the amount of energy that is needed to cool the building.

Radiant barriers work similarly to cool roofs. They provide insulation with highly reflective materials, such as aluminum foil. The foil reflects, instead of absorbs, heat, and can reduce cooling costs up to 10 percent. In addition to roofs and attics, radiant barriers may also be installed beneath floors.

Green roofs are roofs that are completely covered with vegetation. They require soil and irrigation to support the plants, and a waterproof layer beneath. Green roofs not only reduce the amount of heat that is absorbed or lost, but also provide vegetation. Through photosynthesis, the plants on green roofs absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. They filter pollutants out of rainwater and air, and offset some of the effects of energy use in that space.

Green roofs have been a tradition in Scandinavia for centuries, and have recently become popular in Australia, Western Europe, Canada, and the United States. For example, the Ford Motor Company covered 42,000 square meters (450,000 square feet) of its assembly plant roofs in Dearborn, Michigan, with vegetation. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the roofs reduce stormwater runoff by absorbing several centimeters of rainfall.

Green roofs and cool roofs can also counteract the "urban heat island" effect. In busy cities, the temperature can be consistently higher than the surrounding areas. Many factors contribute to this: Cities are constructed of materials such as asphalt and concrete that absorb heat; tall buildings block wind and its cooling effects; and high amounts of waste heat is generated by industry, traffic, and high populations. Using the available space on the roof to plant trees, or reflecting heat with white roofs, can partially alleviate local temperature increases in urban areas.

Solar Energy and People

Since sunlight only shines for about half of the day in most parts of the world, solar energy technologies have to include methods of storing the energy during dark hours.

Thermal mass systems use paraffin wax or various forms of salt to store the energy in the form of heat. Photovoltaic systems can send excess electricity to the local power grid, or store the energy in rechargeable batteries.

There are many pros and cons to using solar energy.

Advantages
A major advantage to using solar energy is that it is a renewable resource. We will have a steady, limitless supply of sunlight for another five billion years. In one hour, Earth's atmosphere receives enough sunlight to power the electricity needs of every human being on Earth for a year.

Solar energy is clean. After the solar technology equipment is constructed and put in place, solar energy does not need fuel to work. It also does not emit greenhouse gases or toxic materials. Using solar energy can drastically reduce the impact we have on the environment.

There are locations where solar energy is practical. Homes and buildings in areas with high amounts of sunlight and low cloud cover have the opportunity to harness the sun's abundant energy.

Solar cookers provide an excellent alternative to cooking with wood-fired stoves-on which two billion people still rely. Solar cookers provide a cleaner and safer way to sanitize water and cook food.

Solar energy complements other renewable sources of energy, such as wind or hydroelectric energy.

Homes or businesses that install successful solar panels can actually produce excess electricity. These homeowners or businessowners can sell energy back to the electric provider, reducing or even eliminating power bills.

Disadvantages
The main deterrent to using solar energy is the required equipment. Solar technology equipment is expensive. Purchasing and installing the equipment can cost tens of thousands of dollars for individual homes. Although the government often offers reduced taxes to people and businesses using solar energy, and the technology can eliminate electricity bills, the initial cost is too steep for many to consider.

Solar energy equipment is also heavy. In order to retrofit or install solar panels on the roof of a building, the roof must be strong, large, and oriented toward the sun's path.

Both active and passive solar technology depend on factors that are out of our control, such as climate and cloud cover. Local areas must be studied to determine whether or not solar power would be effective in that area.

Sunlight must be abundant and consistent for solar energy to be an efficient choice. In most places on Earth, sunlight's variability makes it difficult to implement as the only source of energy.

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Solar energy is created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. It is necessary for life on Earth, and can be harvested for human uses such as electricity.

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Researchers are making transparent solar cells that can turn products and things like electronics into power generators but how?  Their new solar cells absorb only infrared and ultraviolet light, visible light passes through the cells unimpeded. By using temperatures as well, researchers have deposited coatings of their solar cells on various materials and have used them to run electronic displays using ambient light.

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When the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow. the amount of energy that strikes the earth for only an hour and a half is enough energy for the earth's comsumption for a full year!!

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The amount of sunlight that strikes the earth's surface in an hour and a half is enough to handle the entire world's energy consumption for a full year. Solar technologies convert sunlight into electrical energy either through photovoltaic (PV) panels or through mirrors that concentrate solar radiation. This energy can be used to generate electricity or be stored in batteries or thermal storage.

Below, you can find resources and information on the basics of solar radiation, photovoltaic and concentrating solar-thermal power technologies, electrical grid systems integration, and the non-hardware aspects ( soft costs) of solar energy. You can also learn more about how to go solar and the solar energy industry. In addition, you can dive deeper into solar energy and learn about how the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office is driving innovative research and development in these areas.

Solar Energy 101

Solar radiation is light - also known as electromagnetic radiation - that is emitted by the sun. While every location on Earth receives some sunlight over a year, the amount of solar radiation that reaches any one spot on the Earth's surface varies. Solar technologies capture this radiation and turn it into useful forms of energy.

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Learn solar energy technology basics: solar radiation, photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), grid integration, and soft costs.

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who and where uses solar energy? solar energy is used all over the world, with panels installed on top of houses, fields, and buildings all over. in 2021 in fact, the US installed a total of 113.5GW of solar power across the US, 1GW of which was residential only! although the US installations are on the rise, China continues to dominate the world stage.

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Solar power is a renewable and clean energy source that is expanding exponentially throughout the United States and the world. In 2020, the world installed 260 GW of solar power, and the 2021 numbers are expected to be even more exciting (they are not available yet as of this writing, January 2022).

In 2021, the U.S. installed a total of 113.5GW of solar power, 1GW of which was residential only. Although U.S. installations are on the rise, China continues to dominate the world stage.

Read on to dig a little deeper into solar power use around the globe.

What countries have the highest installed capacity of solar PV power?

China leads the way in installed PV with the United States and Japan in second and third place for installed solar capacity, respectively.

The table below is based on data from the International Renewable Energy Agency 2019 country ranking report.

Where are solar energy resources located?
Image source: Global Solar Atlas
Solar radiation produced from the sun's energy is in abundance all over the globe, but some locations are more suitable for solar PV panels than others.

For example, it makes more sense to utilize the sun's power in places where the sun shines all year long, such as in deserts.

Where there is more sun, there is better potential for adding solar technologies within the utility energy mix. Some of the countries with the most sunlight are on the top 10 solar capacity list, such as Australia and India, but there is certainly untapped potential in Africa and South America.

Solar incentives play a huge part in market development

Many of the countries in the world that have the highest per capita of installed solar power do not necessarily have high levels of insolation from the sun.

Government and state incentives play a major role in making solar power affordable. For solar to succeed, governments need to support the power industry's shift to renewables.

A great example of this is the state of New Jersey. It is not the sunniest state in the U.S., especially compared to sunnier locations like Nevada or Hawaii, but it boasts a huge market for solar because of the generous state incentives coupled with federal incentives that make solar more affordable.

China is the largest solar energy producer in the world

Over the past few years, the Chinese capacity of solar panels has increased exponentially. It has grown to be the largest solar market in the world and it is estimated that by 2024, China will have 370GW of solar power installed, double that of what the U.S. is expected to have.

While this growth is impressive and admirable, China will have to continue to ease off their coal power generation dependence to be seen as a true leader in renewable energy.

Other key players

Europe has been incentivising renewable growth for years and plans to boost renewables to enhance their post-COVID-19 economic recovery. Additionally, Germany, Italy, the UK, and France are currently at the top in terms of solar farm capacity, or agrivoltaics.

To reduce CO2 emissions, the European Union countries are planning to draw most of their electricity from renewables by 2050, with solar power as the leading power source.

The solar photovoltaic industry is increasing in the U.S.

In addition to the federal solar tax credit, individual states offer local incentives for installing residential solar systems.

Energy companies within the U.S. are also starting to embrace solar for its low-cost energy production and job creation - and are beginning to incorporate solar power plants into their energy mix.

California remains at the forefront for solar PV system growth in the U.S. and is one of the best states for installing solar. But now, other states are catching up, including Texas, Utah, Florida, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

It is projected that by 2024, there will be an average of 1 solar installation per minute in the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The global trend for embracing and increasing solar pv capacity is catching on. Governments are beginning to see huge benefits for electricity production by utilizing solar panels. Solar thermal plants are the power source of the future and should be incorporated on a large-scale in every country.

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Solar power is a renewable and clean energy source that is expanding exponentially throughout the United States and the world. In 2020, the world installed 260 GW of solar power, and the 2021 numbers are expected to be even more exciting (they are not available yet as of this writing, January 2022).

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In the graph above, it breaks down and shows how solar energy works from the sun as it shines down on earths surface.

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The Sion is the first solar vehicle to be made. The link above has all sorts of information about the car and how it works!

Solar cars are being invented but are not quite on the market yet. The reason is because people still cannot drive a solar car because it's not entirely convenient or an efficient travel option yet. Many companies have manufactured solar cars, but solar cars are limited by energy efficiency, storage, cost, and the slow development of charging batteries. Another thing is that solar cars need the sunlight to be able to get energy and it would be a problem at night but solar cars are still in research.

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The Sion Is the First Solar Electric Vehicle | Sono Motors

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The Sion is the first series-ready solar electric vehicle that is able to charge the battery via the power of the sun. All this for just €28,500

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California pulls the plug on rooftop solar

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California pulls the plug on rooftop solar

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Recently, 13 GW of distributed solar capacity has been installed across the state of California. CPUC voted to cut the average export rate in California from $0.30 per kWh to $0.08 per kWh, making the cuts effective on April 15, 2023. This would be sustainable because more people would want to switch over to solar energy because it would be cheaper, much more better for our environment and a great source of energy.

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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously voted to approve Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM), slashing payments for excess solar production sent to the grid by 75%.

CPUC voted cut the average export rate in California from $0.30 per kWh to $0.08 per kWh, making the cuts effective on April 15, 2023. Customers who have new systems installed and approved for grid interconnection before the effective date in April will be grandfathered in to NEM 2.0 rates.

During the vote, the Commission said the balancing of costs and benefits continue to be "quite generous" under the decision.

Currently, average net metering rates range from $0.23 per kWh to $0.35 per kWh, and the new proposed decision cuts those rates to an average of $0.05 per kWh to $0.08 per kWh. This is set to be the largest cut of export rates in U.S. history, in a market that represents roughly 50% of the nation's residential solar market.

Payments were cut as a result of a reported cost shift where non-solar owners cross-subsidize solar owners for maintaining the grid. The utility-backed concept suggests poorer Californians are paying higher utility rates to pay for lost profits that utilities endure in order to pay solar owner for delivering clean energy to the grid.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studied the effect, and found that for the vast majority of states and utilities, the effects of distributed solar on retail electricity prices will likely remain negligible for the foreseeable future." The study found that distributed solar "likely entails no more than a 0.03 cent/kWh long-run increase in U.S. average retail electricity prices, and far smaller than that for most utilities."

As exported power loses its value, Californians now have their hand forced to adopt batteries with their solar installations if they want a reasonable return on investment. Return on investment periods are estimated to move from an average of about 4.5 years to 6.5 years to 14.5 years, said Centrica Business Solutions.

"We believe this would represent a potential 70-85% drop in economic value for solar-only systems, which would suggest California would effectively become a 100% solar and storage end market, which ultimately makes solar much less accessible and affordable," wrote Phil Shen, managing director, ROTH Capital Partners.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said the decision is "too abrupt" and will slow rooftop solar deployment in the state. "The failure to adopt a more gradual transition to net billing risks putting solar out of reach for millions of residents across the state," said SEIA.

In 2016 to 2018, the state of Nevada went through massive oscillations in rooftop solar deployment after a similar net metering value reduction was approved. A $35 solar penalty fee, and a 75% drop in fees led to a nearly 90% drop in rooftop deployment growth in the state.

"California's residential solar segment could be down 30% year-over-year in the 12 months after this becomes effective," wrote Shen.

The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) said the state is currently installing roughly 30,000 batteries compared to 200,000 solar systems. High costs, supply chain constraints, inflation and permitting and interconnection delays and challenges means it could take years for storage to catch up to solar, said CALSSA.

Currently roughly 1.5 million consumers in California use net metering , including thousands of churches, farms, and affordable housing units. In total, 13 GW of distributed solar capacity has been installed across the state, the size of six Diablo Canyon nuclear sites.

Rooftop solar is valued for its ability to efficiently deliver clean power, limit the amount of transmission infrastructure needed to support generation, provide backup power and grid services, support small business, and more.

The CPUC found that California must triple the amount of local, distributed solar to reach the clean energy mandate laid out by the state's Senate Bill 100. The California Solar and Storage Association forecast rooftop solar could save California ratepayers $120 billion by 2050, or $300 per person per year.

(Read: " Coalition received $1.7 million from three California utilities to push NEM 3.0, a rooftop solar 'killer' ")

Environment California found that, based on a state regulator estimated deployment of 28.5 GW of rooftop solar through 2045, rooftop solar could prevent the development of 148,000 acres of land versus a centralized utility-scale-only model. That is an area about half the size of Los Angeles that could be preserved.

"[The decision] comes as climate-related disasters continue to intensify and the electric grid remains vulnerable to aging infrastructure and volatile global energy markets," said SEIA. "Distributed solar and storage helps strengthen the grid and boost our resilience to these threats."

Mark Jacobson, fellow and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, said rooftop solar is important in protecting human health and minimizing risks. Replacing overhead wiring, overloaded transformers, and natural gas piping, rooftop solar replaces harmful and dangerous infrastructure from the built environment.

"The argument this proposal will help disadvantages communities is wrong... it will disproportionately kill them," said Jacobson.

In 2017, electric utility PG&E's downed transmission wires were found to be the cause of massive wildfires and leaving many Californians without homes. The company was stuck with a $7.5 billion bill as it was found at fault for negligence in maintaining vegetation around its centralized transmission wires. These costs incurred by the utilities are harmful to all Californians, as the financial fallout from these disasters is picked up by ratepayers in the form of a higher bill.

CALSSA called the new decision a "loser" for California. "For the solar industry, it will result in business closures and the loss of green jobs. For middle class and working class neighborhoods where solar is growing fastest, it puts clean energy further out of reach. For our grid reliability needs, it fails to promise robust growth in battery storage. And for California's race to clean energy, it puts us behind our goals and out of step with the national pro-solar agenda," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director, CALSSA.

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California pulls the plug on rooftop solar

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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously voted to approve Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM), slashing payments for excess solar production sent to the grid by 75%. CPUC voted cut the average export rate in California from $0.30 per kWh to $0.08 per kWh, making the cuts effective on April 15, 2023.

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National grid places order for 1.6 GW of first solar modules

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National grid places order for 1.6 GW of first solar modules

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This latest order expands First Solar’s relationship with National Grid Renewables to over 4 GW DC. This would be sustainable because more of our energy source would come from solar energy from the sun.

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First Solar Inc. has entered into an agreement to supply 1.6 GW DC of its Series 7 thin-film solar modules to National Grid Renewables. The modules are scheduled to be delivered in 2026 and 2027.

This latest order expands First Solar's relationship with National Grid Renewables to over 4 GW DC, with an earlier agreement for 2 GW DC of modules announced in June. National Grid Renewables and First Solar have also partnered on multiple projects over a decade-long relationship that includes the 200 MW Prairie Wolf Solar Project in Illinois and the Noble Solar (275 MW) and Storage (125 MWh) Project in Texas.

A Minneapolis-headquartered business, National Grid Renewables is part of the Ventures division of National Grid plc and has a portfolio of solar, wind and energy storage projects located throughout the U.S. in various stages of development, construction, and operation.

"We are pleased to further expand both our partnership with First Solar and our commitment to using responsibly produced solar technology to power our near-term project pipeline," says Andy Cukurs, COO at National Grid Renewables. "These modules will be deployed in projects throughout the United States, bringing clean energy and economic benefits to communities across the country."

Developed in close collaboration with engineering, procurement and construction companies, and structure and component providers, First Solar's Series 7 modules combine the company's thin-film cadmium telluride technology with a larger form factor and a new back rail mounting system to deliver improved efficiency, enhanced installation velocity, and superior lifetime energy performance for U.S. utility-scale PV projects.

"National Grid Renewables is an experienced developer and operator of large-scale solar projects and its decision to invest in Series 7 is a testament to the track record of our CadTel platform, and its ability to enhance the competitiveness of solar assets," states Georges Antoun, COO at First Solar. "It is also a testament to our value proposition of providing our customers and partners with long-term supply certainty and lower political and compliance risks. This critical point of differentiation separates us from many of our competitors."

Additionally, First Solar's differentiated thin-film semiconductor, integrated manufacturing process and tightly controlled supply chain helps eliminate the risk of exposure to solar supply chains identified by the U.S. Department of Labor's 2022 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor as being tainted by forced labor. First Solar is the only company among the 10 largest solar manufacturers globally to be a member of the Responsible Business Alliance, an industry coalition dedicated to supporting the rights and well-being of workers and communities in the global supply chain. The company is also the first PV manufacturer to have its product included in the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool global registry for sustainable electronics.

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National Grid Places Order for 1.6 GW of First Solar Modules - Solar Industry

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First Solar Inc. has entered into an agreement to supply 1.6 GW DC of its Series 7 thin-film solar modules to National Grid Renewables. The modules are scheduled to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. This latest order expands First Solar's relationship with National Grid Renewables to over 4 GW DC, with an earlier agreement [...]

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Scientists announced a breakthrough that can turn sci-fi vision into reality!! Scientists for the first time carried out a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than went into it. Behind that technical description is a simple but important breakthrough. Humans can tap into the process that powers stars to produce energy on Earth!!

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Scientists announced a nuclear fusion breakthrough.

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Floatovoltaics is solar panels mounted on a body of water that floats, typically on reservoirs or lakes. they work by sunlight being captured by solar panels and transformed into DC electricity, which is collected using combiner boxes and turned in AC electricity with inverters. They are also much more cheaper and efficient as well.

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As they've become cheaper and more efficient, electricity-generating solar panels have popped up all over the United States. But some experts say it would be better if new photovoltaic panels were placed not only on parcels of land and rooftops but also on reservoirs and other bodies of water.

Floating photovoltaic panels - or "floatovoltaics," as some call the devices - could generate large amounts of electricity without taking up valuable real estate, experts say.

Solar panels generate about 1 percent of the nation's energy needs. New research by scientists at the federal government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that floatovoltaics installed on just one-fourth of the nation's manmade reservoirs would be able to generate about 10 percent of U.S. energy needs.

"This is a strong tool in the toolbox that we can utilize for expanding our photovoltaic portfolio in the U.S.," said Robert Spencer, a data scientist at the lab and the leader of the research.

The 10-percent figure may be a conservative one. The study only included reservoirs with nearby electric transmission lines and those used primarily for irrigation or hydroelectric power, and excluded all naturally occurring bodies of water.

"What this shows is that there's an enormous potential for floating photovoltaics," Joshua Pearce, an engineer at the Michigan Technological University in Houghton who wasn't involved in the work, said of the study. "And that's with [NREL's] absurdly conservative assumptions."

The world's first floating photovoltaic system was installed at a California winery in 2008, but the U.S. now lags other nations in the implementation of floatovoltaics.

Of the 100 or so floatovoltaic installations now in existence, only seven are in the U.S., mostly at wineries in California and water treatment facilities, including the Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Millburn, New Jersey. Roughly 80 percent are in Japan, where limited land and roof space make water-based solar panels especially attractive.

Untapped potential

Floatovoltaics cost less to install than traditional land-based solar panels, Spencer said, in part because there's no need to clear land or treat soil. And research shows that the natural cooling effect of the water below can boost the solar panels' power production by up to 22 percent.

Floatovoltaics offer benefits beyond more efficient power generation.

By limiting air circulation and blocking sunlight that would otherwise reach the surfaces of reservoirs, the study noted, they can dramatically limit the amount of water lost to evaporation. In addition, they can help prevent harmful algae blooms, which produce toxins that can sicken people and animals and raise drinking water treatment costs.

"The biggest benefits to installing floatovoltaics would be seen in the arid southwestern states that are dealing with scarce water resources," Spencer said.

Many unknowns

But floatovoltaics come with potential downsides. Given the world's limited experience with them, it's hard to know just how well panels would perform over the long term. Nor is it clear how floatovoltaic installations affect local wildlife.

"This gap in our understanding is important to reconcile as floatovoltaics have enormous technical potential," said Rebecca Hernandez, an assistant professor of earth system science and ecology at the University of California, Davis, who wasn't involved in the study.

Spencer agrees. "The biggest barrier to floatovoltaics are all the unknowns," he said, adding that having floatovoltaics' huge potential now quantified will help motivate scientists to try to tackle these research questions.

But Pearce isn't so sure such concerns will stop the quick adoption of floatovoltaics. "The dam will break, and when you have fairly decent-sized companies that have installed two to three floatovoltaic systems, that will pull in other companies," he said. "I think it'll only be a couple years before floatovolatics are commonplace."

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Floating solar farms: How 'floatovoltaics' could provide power without taking up valuable real estate

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As they've become cheaper and more efficient, electricity-generating solar panels have popped up all over the United States. But some experts say it would be better if new photovoltaic panels were placed not only on parcels of land and rooftops but also on reservoirs and other bodies of water.

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Solar energy is a much better, cleaner, renewable, and emission free energy source!! unlike fossil fuels such as gases or coal, solar energy does not release harmful chemicals or emissions into our environment, causing pollution in our air or any carbon dioxide. It is also a much cheaper energy source and does not cost as much as others and will save you money in the long term as well.