On Valentines Day, the University of Maryland, College Park agreed to install one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) rooftop solar energy systems in the entire state atop its Severn Building — a building that stands roughly one mile away from the main College Park campus

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.

After announcing in October 2010 that it plans to power eight of its stores and warehouses throughout California with solar energy, the Swedish furniture and home product retailer Ikea made it known last week that it isn’t done yet.

Less than four months after proposing the construction of a solar farm to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation, Solarflair Energy and Westboro 21 South Street Inc. are jut about finished building the Milk Street solar farm — a 240-kilowatt (KW) photovoltaic (PV) solar farm in Westboro Massachusetts.

The proposed Crossroads Solar Energy Project in Mariposa County, Arizona is one step closer to construction today after SolarReserve — the Los Angeles, Califoornia-based utility-scale solar project developer — earned two Certificates of Environmental Compatability (CEC) from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmition Line Siting Committee.

Today, India’s Renewable Energy Secretary Deepak Gupta announced that India will soon reach an important benchmark on its way to meeting its 2020 solar energy target.

Big news came out of San Francisco this morning, as Mayor Gavin Newsom announced the completion of the Sunset Reservoir Solar Project, which the city claims is the largest municipal solar installation in the great state of California. Recurrent Energy, the solar project developer that installed the 24,000-panel system and will own and operate it, took things a step further by calling it one of the largest such projects in the entire country.

The worldwide leader in solar power is set to add a little more energy capacity to its resume this week courtesy of its most recognizable car brand, as Audi announced yesterday that it plans to expand the solar photovoltaic (PV) system that currently sits atop the car maker’s manufacturing facility in Ingolstadt, Germany.

The largest photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the United States was completed this week, as Arizona-based PV module-maker First Solar finished building the Copper Mountain Solar Facility in Boulder City, Nevada, just 40 miles east of Las Vegas.

A new report released yesterday by the Solar Energy Industries Association predicts that, by 2020, global solar capacity could reach 980 gigawatts (GW).