Good news for Arizona residents who are customers of Salt River Project (SRP): the Arizona utility recently relaunched its popular solar rebate program after a months-long hiatus during which an interim rebate was available. As of May 1, SRP customers who install a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) energy system will be eligible to receive a [...]

We commonly think of this globalized economy of ours in terms of American companies shifting production overseas. It turns out the reverse occurs, too, even if at a much smaller scale. Suntech Power, a leading China-based manufacturer of solar panels, said it has hired 30 workers at its Arizona plant in a push to expand [...]

The most efficient solar photovoltaic (PV) panel on the market today is capable of turning about 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. This number is slowly but surely increasing, as technology continually improves. But in an ideal world, solar panels would convert a larger portion of the sun ray’s into useful energy. On [...]

Generally speaking, solar energy installations come in two flavors: small- and medium-scale systems that are installed atop roofs and in empty lots (broadly referred to a “distributed generation”); and large, utility-scale solar power plants that sit on acres and acres of land. A common critique of distributed generation is that, thanks to trees and other [...]

It’s a sign of the times: the site of a former General Motors vehicle testing facility will soon house a manufacturing plant dedicated to making clean-energy-producing solar panels. First Solar, the Tempe, Arizona-based maker of advanced thin-film solar modules, today announced it will build a its new U.S. manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona. The company [...]

Earlier this week, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) — the utility service provider for nearly 400,000 customers in southern Arizona — completed its new, 1.6-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) project at the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park in southeast Tucson. Today, the utility is using its new solar source as an opportunity to offer its customers a new way to purchase solar power.

In preparation for the massive solar energy expansion that the U.S. Federal Government is planning in six western states, U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu have announced plans for a host of public meetings in the areas that will be most affected by the projects.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York: Residents of these states can expect prime opportunities to go solar in 2011 as these five state’s governors’ have made solar energy production and solar technology development a top priority for the new year and beyond.

Arizona Public Service (APS) has allocated $6 million per quarter for solar rebates in 2011. Homeowners interested in installing solar panels should act now in order to lock in a higher rebate.

You can read about solar energy all you want, (and please continue to do so) but there is no substitute for an up-close look at a working solar energy system in order to fully understand how beneficial a system can be for your home.