The California Energy Commission has approved has approved Tessera Solar’s 663.5-megawatt (MW) solar thermal plant to be built in southern California’s San Bernardino County.

Like many other plants being built on California desert land, the Calico Plant has raised questions its potential impact on wildlife in the area. This time, environmentalists are worried about the bighorn sheep that live in the mountains just above the 4,600 acres on which the plant will be built.

But in the end, the powers that be decided the benefits of the plant outweigh the negatives. According to the U.S. Department of Interior, the Calico Plant will cost over $2 billion to build and will be able to power anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 homes every year when it’s fully functional in the late 2011 calendar year. Calico is one of four plants that the CEC and Department of Interior have recently approved. The others are being developed by Abengoa, NextEra Energy and Solar Millennium.

The Calico plant will use the SunCatcher — a type of solar thermal technology that uses mirrored dishes to turn sunlight into electricity. Since the plant will rest on public land, Tessera also needed to gain approval from federal officials. That approval came on October 20th. Including this latest plant, exactly 3,492.5 MW of solar capacity have been approved for construction in the California desert.

The pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has begun installing what it says is North America’s largest photovoltaic (PV) rooftop solar energy system at its 500,000 square-foot Northeast Regional Distribution Center in York, Pennsylvania. According to the USA Today, the mammoth system, when complete, will be the size of seven American football fields.

The 11,000-panel, 3-megawatt (MW) system will be capable of generating 3.4 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar energy each year – enough to power nearly 400 average-sized American homes for a full year. It will make GSK’s York facility the first fully solar-powered GSK building in the world.

A slew of incentives are being used to make the solar energy system a reality and help American Capital Energy, solar design and engineering company, install the system at a steady pace of 500 panels each day. In addition to using renewable energy credits (REC’s) to help alleviate some of the initial cost burden, GSK earned a $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority and $4.1 million in federal tax credits.

For GSK — which ranked 5th overall in Newsweek’s “2010 Green Ranking” — the Pennsylvania installation is part of a plan that also seeks to reduce its energy use by 45 percent by 2015, compared to its 2006 levels. Toward that cause, GSK will  install solar energy at each of its North American facilities. If all goes well, the York installation will be completed during spring 2011. It’s second North American facility in Fresno, California should have solar within the next two years. Combined, the two facilities will account for 60 percent of GSK’s North American energy use.

A plan is in the works to transform a 216-acre chunk of empty private land in Colorado’s Alamosa County into a 30-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant that would be producing power by the end of 2012.

SunPower Corp. — a California-based solar power company that has installed or contracted over 600 MW of solar energy around the globe — has reached an agreement with Iberdrola Renewables, a Spain-based firm, to make the plant a reality. SunPower will supply the plant with its E19 solar panels, the most efficient panels on the market. They will be mounted on trackers that follow the sun to ensure maximum energy production.

Executive Vice President of Iberdrola Renewables Martin Mugica is looking forward to partnering with SunPower:

“Partnering with skilled performers like SunPower is always vital when developing successful renewable energy projects. Proven construction experience and established technology make for an excellent choice and allow Iberdrola Renewables to deliver reliable products to our customers.”

Iberdrola will develop, own and operate the solar plant, and will sell the energy to Xcel Energy, a utility supplier of electric power and natural gas in several states, including Colorado. During construction, the project is expected to create 100 jobs in Colorado.

FedEx got on the express track to environmental sustainability this week, both in the United States and abroad.

The company’s overseas solar energy venture was completed yesterday, as the company opened a solar-powered hub at the Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany that covers 16,000 square meters. The solar energy system is expected to produce 800,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. It is the largest solar energy system at any of the five FedEx solar-powered hubs and can process approximately 18,000 packages and documents in one hour, according to Greenbiz.

But FedEx had other green-related news. Today it celebrated the completion of a major distribution facility in Troutdale, Oregon — a the site of a former brownfield that for 60 years was polluted by aluminum reduction activities.

For its efforts, the company received the 2010 Brownfield Award. Here’s FedEx Ground western region vice president John Hiltz:

“This new facility will help us meet the growing demand of local shippers, improve service on packages coming into the area for final delivery and serve as one of just two gateways for shipments destined to Canada.”

FedEx’s new $130 million Oregon facility will be able to process 60,000 packages an hour once the upcoming expansion of the project is complete and operating at full force. For now, the Oregon center will process 22,500 packages an hour using advanced handling technology and about 15 miles of conveyor belts.

Eastern Arizona residents got a crash course in renewable energy on Friday Oct. 22, courtesy of the Arizona Cooperative Extension and Arizona Land and Water Trust.

The Energy Options Workshop at the Graham County Cooperative Extension in Solomon, Arizona covered everything from the basics of how wind energy works to how to install — or find someone qualified to install — those Arizona solar panels that have become so prevalent. One featured speaker was Chuck Smith, a renewable energy expert who currently teaches at Eastern Arizona College. Smith discussed, among other topics, his school’s own renewable energy program, the curriculum of which covers renewable energy technology, solar photovoltaics (PV), solar heating and cooking, and wind generation.

But the hot topic of the workshop was (you guessed it) cost. The presenters tackled questions concerning upfront cost for solar installations on homes, businesses and even ranches. Chuck Lines of SunPumps — a manufacturer of solar powered water pumping equipment — drove home what was arguably the most important message of the night: you don’t have to completely convert your property to renewable energy to make a big environmental impact and save money on your monthly utility bill. Therefore, paying for the installation of a smaller, less expensive system will still be helpful.

Other topics discussed during the workshop included maintaining your panels so that they perform optimally, the importance of battery back-up systems and battery cost. We aren’t aware of any other similar workshops being hosted in the area, but we’ll keep you updated if one pops up.

You may have heard recently about this thing called solar power. You may have heard, for example, that a solar home energy system can cut your electric bill. You may have seen offers to go solar for zero down. Or maybe a friend told you that solar rebates, tax credits and other incentives can combine to significantly reduce the cost of installing solar panels. There’s even a chance you’ve heard that solar panels are dishwasher-safe.

All this sounds great, to be sure. And rest assured that everything you just read about solar power is true (save that bit about panels being dishwasher-safe…). But we understand that it’s sometimes difficult to make sense of what, exactly, a solar home energy system can do for you.

To shed some light on the matter, we’re sharing the following map, courtesy of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

As you may be able to guess from the title of this post, the map offers a general overview of how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) will be generated over the course of a year by one kilowatt (kW) worth of solar panels. Got that? A homeowner who installs a 1-kW system in New Jersey, for example, could expect to generate 1,600 kWh over the course of a year. According to the map, that same 1 kW of solar could generate as many as 2100 kWh annually in parts of Arizona, or as few as 900 kWh if installed on Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

Big deal. Chances are that you use WAAAY more than 2100 kWh over the course of the year. For reference, the average American household uses about 11,000 kWh each year. (Hint: you should take this opportunity to dig up a recent electricity bill to see how many kWh you’ve used over the past 12 months.) Putting the map in context, even that impressive output figure from Arizona — 2100 kWh/year — would meet just 19 percent of the average American household’s electricity needs. The corresponding figure in New Jersey figure would be just over 14 percent. Not that interesting — you don’t see many ads for solar energy screaming, “Install solar power and cut your bills by 14 percent!”

So why is everyone acting like solar energy systems are the best thing since sliced bread? Well, as you may have guessed, no one installs just one kilowatt of solar panels. You install as many as you can, taking in consideration a number of constraints: (1) your average annual electricity usage, (2) your budget, and (3) the amount of usable roof space, if you’re thinking about installing a rooftop solar system. Solar installers will weigh these factors, along with a number of others, when they design, propose and (ultimately) install your home solar power system.

Please note that the above map provides general overview; there are always small, site- and system-specific factors that will influence the performance of a given solar energy system. A good solar energy installation proposal will clearly present post-solar savings, cash flow, payback and return on investment.

To review: when all goes well, a solar home solution will provide fairly compelling electricity savings. In New Jersey, a 5-kW solar panel system — a size that’s much closer to the U.S. national average — would generate roughly 8000 kWh, enough to offset the typical U.S. electric bill by 72 percent! Assuming an average cost of electricity of 17 cents/kWh, that represents an annual savings of $1,360 — serious moola.

If you’ve got questions, please post them below — or feel free to contact us at (800) 265-3646. And, if you’re just starting to look into solar power for your home, be sure to check out this post.

You always remember your first… solar energy plant. And in the case of the people of Pittsfield in western Massachusetts, they will remember the roughly $10-million, eight-acre, 6,500 solar-panel power plant that is now the largest of its kind in New England. It is both the first plant in Pittsfield and first plant in all of western Massachusetts.

According to CBS 3 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the plant will go live at the end of the 2010 calendar year. At 1.8 megawatts (MW) of solar generating capacity, the plant will serve 300 homes in the service area of the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO).

It was built on marginal land at an abandoned brownfield. Area workers, along with local contractors in western Massachusetts, built the entire plant over the course of four months. Here’s Massachusetts Senator and Pittsfield native Benjamin Downing’s statement from the newly constructed solar site:

“We’re standing on a site that was dumped on with PCBs for the last quarter century and for the next quarter century it’s going to produce clean local renewable energy. That’s exactly the kind of thing we ought to be doing.”

Aside from the benefits associated with clean, predictably priced power, Pittsfield will receive an additional $150,000 in tax revenue each year.

The Hawaiian Hospitality Group, Inc. (HHGI), a tourism-focused property developer, may soon be incorporating solar energy systems into some of its projects.

Yesterday, the group announced it has acquired a submarine tour business to offer visitors “undersea adventures using quiet, electric-powered submersible vehicles with near-zero environmental impact.” Hidden at the bottom of that press release was a reference to Nabisolar, a solar installation company with which HHGI has partnered to introduce solar power to a number of the developer’s properties.

While the size and scope of the soon-t0-be installed solar energy systems has not been disclosed, HHGI apparently already offers design and installation services to other eco-tourism business in Hawaii through its relationship with Nabisolar. With their high electricity prices and strong solar incentives, Hawaii is an excellent place to install a solar energy system for a home or business.

Del Mar Farms — supplier of produce to Californians up and down the state, has some good news: it will now use solar power to meet meet over 90 percent of its annual electricity needs.

The three-roof, 354-kilowatt (kW) solar electric system was installed and designed by Cenergy Power, a California solar installation company specializing commercial solar projects. Expected to produce over 660,000- kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar energy each year, the system should break even in just four years, according to the company. Given that a typical solar energy system has a useful live of 25 years or more, it’s clear this particular agricultural solar project will yield many years of gains.

Located in northern California’s Stanislaus County, Del Mar Farms grows almonds and apricots, among other products, and joins a growing list of agricultural facilities in California that have made the switch to solar energy. For example, southern California’s Long Life Farms — one of the largest vegetable farms in the United States — is working to install an 804-kW solar energy system that should be operational by early 2011. The system is expected to produce 1.5-million kWh hours annually. And last February, California’s oldest winery went solar as well.

We’ve been talking a bit about solar manufacturing processes at GetSolar lately, since most (if not all) of the innovation in solar energy generation occurs at that stage. Most discussion of solar manufacturing revolves around how to best reduce cost. But the amount of energy used to manufacture solar photovoltaic (PV) panels — also called solar “modules” — often merits attention as well. It takes effort and energy, after all, to fabricate the various parts of a solar module, like the solar cells, backsheets, frame and wires.

So, do solar panels generate more electricity than the amount of energy that goes into them? In other words, are they energy net positive? We’ll use a simple payback period to take a look at this question.

Energy Used in Manufacturing / Energy Generated per Year in Use = Energy Payback Period.

The energy payback periods for solar panels have come down significantly over time, with most recouping their energy consumption in two to five years. Since solar PV panels typically have a useful life of 25 to 30 years — and sometimes even longer — solar offers a very good long term energy generation option.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory publishes some detailed information on this topic; in addition, you may find this overview from the U.S. Department of Energy helpful. Because no two types of solar panels are exactly alike, the authors draw distinctions between the energy payback periods for individual solar technologies, including current multicrystalline, current thin-film, projections for multicrystalline, and projections for thin-film.

With improving technology, thin-film solar panels could reach a one year energy payback period! That’s impressive — especially given the lifecycle costs of other energy sources. Solar has a great energy payback already, and it’s only getting better. Keep your eyes peeled for improvements in solar technology and manufacturing to follow how this metric improves over time.