Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell kicked off September by unveiling a new, $20.5 million, 40-project energy plan for his state, with the aim of creating jobs, increasing clean energy use and cutting back on overall energy use throughout Pennsylvania.

After recently receiving approval from a local planning board, the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based solar development company Community Energy is one step closer to constructing the first solar farm in Quinton Township, New Jersey.

Battery storage backup for renewable energy systems — like solar and wind — is not widely used in residential applications. But when it comes to larger systems, a number of recent projects have featured batteries. Two years ago, for instance, a BIG energy storage system was hooked up to an 11-megawatt wind farm in Minnesota.
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NASCAR’s Pocono Raceway has recently installed a 3-megwatt solar energy system expected to produce 72 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy over the next 20 years. That would be enough energy to cover all of the track’s electricity needs, as well as the needs of 1,000 local homes over that time span. The 25-acre photovoltaic (PV) solar farm made up of 40,000 solar panels is the largest solar installation at any sporting venue in the world.

Yesterday, Envision Solar announced that they would be venturing into the Pennsylvania solar market to unveil what architect and Envision Solar Founder and CEO Robert Noble is calling, “Solar Forestation.”

With the help of a solar energy grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA), Allentown, Pennsylvania has installed a $517,000, 420-panel solar array atop the city’s Bridgework Industrial complex that city officials hope will be the model for future installations throughout Lehigh County in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The panels were activated in early March of this year, but the entire [...]

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) building in Philadelphia is now home to Pennsylvania’s largest solar energy system. Able to generate approximately 555,160 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar electricity, the system will power nearly five percent of all of the building’s electricity needs.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell announced 13 new solar energy projects in the state today. The projects were made possible by more than $5 million from the Alternative Energy Investment Fund, in turn made possible by federal ARRA funds earmarked for renewable energy. Rendell has helped push Pennsylvania to the forefront of the solar industry, overseeing [...]

Constellation Energy Group Inc. (http://www.constellation.com/portal/site/constellation/), a Baltimore, Maryland-based provider of energy products and services, has committed $90 million to help finance solar panel installations on commercial and government buildings. (http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2010/02/15/daily10.html) In order to be eligible for Constellation’s financial support, the project must be 500 kilowatts or larger, and must begin construction before mid-year 2010–which is [...]

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell yesterday announced that a Greek solar-panel maker will open a manufacturing facility in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard. The planned project — which is to be owned and operated by Heliosphera US — is expected to create 400 jobs and attract hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. As Governor Rendell noted in [...]