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Electrek green energy brief: Jimmy Carter installing solar, Solarworld laying off 900, Conservative argument for solar, more

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) – Nation’s largest being built: Tesla’s solar shingle is BIPV, and everything ONYX Solar does is BIPV. If our structures contain the solar panels, instead of us having to build them on later – 1. We’ll design more with solar integrated and 2. It might get even cheaper.

Arizona implements new rates, voluntary demand charge – This state pushes back hard against solar power, very conservative, but because of its sunlight still has to deal with the attack on the grid by solar power. As such, the laws on the right side of the political spectrum that drive solar originate here – while laws from the left side of the political spectrum are driven by Arizona’s large neighbor to the west. I like to watch – – what happens in Arizona sometimes happens in Nevada a year or two later, and then Florida.

Good PR for the solar world – Jimmy Carter leasing land for solar plant – Add this to putting solar power on his former residence and I’d say Carter is a pretty consistent guy.

Solar panels next to useless at peak energy usage time – 6PM : I’m glad that this ‘issue’ is being raised again, because soon it will be a challenge that it will make sense for solar power to attack – and attacking this issue will make solar power more powerful. Peak energy usage is at 6 PM for a lot of places – for others it is 12-2 PM during summer time. For the large chunk of the world that has a 6 PM bump – solar panels facing due west would be great. However, solar panels facing due west produce less energy than those facing due south. Economics will solve this challenge – the power companies will increase the price for energy at that time, and solar power will start following. In time – we’ll have a certain percentage of our panels within unique various load zones facing different directions to maximize energy needs.

Solarworld laying off 900 employees – Through 2019, Solarworld will slowly be focusing its work. They’re a great brand name, but they’re not keeping up with the free money going to the Chinese firms. One note – Solarworld’s Oregon production facility is all PERC cells now.

The key part of this article, “For too long it has allowed the Left to claim ownership of the environment, despite its own achievements in the area. For the Left, being pro-environment and anti-business are one and the same: its approach to environmental protection is based mainly on controlling or blocking enterprise. The mistake of the Right has been implicitly to accept that protecting our environment is in opposition to achieving a prosperous and free society.” – Economic sense now drives renewables. That’s why 2017 is going to see massive volume installed, with enormous amounts of future development signed.

India solar power bids at 4.5¢/kWh – No incentives, no tax breaks, etc. The power companies are being pushed to add renewable energy – and the power companies, many state owned, are having serious economic issues, nonetheless – 4.5¢/kWh is a great number.

65% of America was alternative energy, and 65% of new electricity in 2016 happened to be clean – hrmmm…

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