A trio of companies — CarbonFree Technology, Integrys Energy Services, Inc., and SunPower Corp. — today announced the completion of Harvard University’s first large rooftop solar energy system. Installed atop one of the historic buildings that make up the Arsenal on the Charles complex in Watertown, MA, the 500-kilowatt (kW) system is expected to generate [...]

It doesn’t take a solar industry wonk to know that New Mexico gets a lot of sunshine. In addition to this bountiful solar resource, the state also has a renewable energy standard on the books mandating that, by 2020, all investor-owned utilities must generate at least 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources. Of [...]

Interested in installing a solar energy system but not quite sure how to best finance it? In this white paper, we introduce five common approaches: low-interest loans; energy efficient mortgages (EEMs); power purchase agreements (PPAs); leasing; and collective purchasing.
Here it is, available for download (PDF): “Getting Solar: 5 Things Buyers Should Know About Financing a [...]

(1) Cash. This is how P. Diddy rolls. If you can swing it, paying cash for your solar PV system is the best way to go, especially in times (like these) when credit is tight. Added bonus: you may get to share rank with America’s brightest stars, like Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and [...]

Whoa. As of this afternoon, Atlantic City will officially be home to the largest PV panel array in the entire United States. In partnership with Pepco Energy Services, the city’s convention center has installed 13,321 panels — enough to produce an amount of electricity equal to about a quarter of the center’s demand. In place [...]

The research firm AltaTerra has released a report that provides the first hard data on PPA-funded solar installations in 2008.