Renewable Energy Resources

Frederick, MD, November 16, 2006: BP Solar today unveiled its plans for $70 million expansion project at its North American headquarters in Frederick, MD. The expansion will result in nearly doubling the facility's current casting and sizing capacity to approximately 150 MW. The company projects that 70 new jobs will be created. Other plans include an upgrade of the interior of the facility by employing sustainable design components.

Google Going Solar

Google has recently announced plans to convert a portion of their energy needs to solar power. The company plans to install over 9,200 solar panels around the 1 million-square-foot campus known as the Googleplex.

Experts believe the project should pay for itself within 5 to 10 years though Google is thus far hush on the projected costs of the solar project.

California company El Solutions has been to design and lead the project. The company claims that this solar job will be the largest corporate solar installation in the United States. The company claims that energy saving will likely exceed $393,000 a year.

The Google Blog makes the comment that "if the business community continues to increase investments and focus on energy efficient and renewable power generation technologies, we have a good feeling that our future will be bright." More from the Google Blog.

More Solar News

Applied Material to Enter Solar Market

Applied Materials, Inc., a worldwide leader in equipment and services for manufacturing semiconductors and flat panel displays, today launched its strategy to enter the rapidly growing solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment market as announced in a recent press release from the company.

Applied Materials will work towards building both tools and technology in an effort to improve the efficiency of PV panels while reducing the cost for consumers utilizing solar energy. "The solar industry has reached the inflection point that Applied Materials has been waiting for, as solar customers seek economies of scale with suppliers who can better meet their needs for global support and who can provide advanced systems that meet technology, throughput, quality and yield goals," said Mike Splinter, president and CEO. "We plan to change the cost equation for solar power through adaptation of our existing technology and new innovation in order to help make solar a more meaningful contributor to the global energy supply."

Wind Energy at over 10,000 Megawatts

A recent report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) claims that wind energy in the U.S. is now over 10,000MW. This level of production creates enough energy to power around 2.5 million households. The number is expected to rise to 15,000MW by the end of 2007 and 25,000 megawatts by 2010.

Additionally, the cost of producing wind energy, coupled with Federal tax credits, has made this renewable resource more attractive. The cost of wind production varies from 4-7 cents/kWh and is couples with a 1.9 cents/kWh federal production tax credit (PTC). This price is slighter greater than coal at around 3 cents/kWh, but comparable to gas powered plants. The PTC expires in 2007, but proponents of wind energy are hoping to convince Congress to extend the useful credit.

GE Energy Researches Wind Power

Partnering with the University of California, GE Energy is set to investigate the impact higher levels of intermittent renewable power generation, such as wind energy, will have on California's power grid.

Financing the project will be the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program (PIER). The goals in the study include ensuring grid reliability and quality and accommodating emerging markets for renewable generation, including both wind and solar energy.

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