NREL’s figures show the state as having close to 2,500 operating projects within its borders, which puts it behind only California and New Jersey in the entire country. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger says the number is likely higher given that the NREL’s data is based on voluntary numbers. Hanger estimates the state has over 3,000 operating projects.

As it stands, the 2,434 projects accounted for a total of 38.5 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity. Together, at maximum output, the solar energy systems produce enough power for 5,800 average American homes each year. That puts Pennsylvania in the top five in the nation for solar. Governor Ed Rendell’s goal was to reach this point by 2011.

There are several reasons why Pennsylvania has been successful in its solar push. One of those is the PA Sunshine Rebate Program, an incentive program that began in 2009 and has a lifetime budget of $100 million. The program aims provides per-watt solar rebates to Pennsylvania homeowners — and businesses — who install solar panels. To date, the state has dispersed some $94 million in solar incentives through the Sunshine Rebate, funding 4,855 solar electric and hot water projects.

All of these projects need workers to complete them, and Pennsylvania is seeing high returns in this area as well. The Keystone State has 6,700 of its residents working in the solar jobs sector, second only to California. With 600 state businesses currently working on installing solar energy systems — with and a total of 130 MW of solar energy set to be installed in Pennsylvania by the end of 2011 — expect that number to rise.

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One such is International Battery (IB), an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company that in 2008 opened the first large format rechargeable lithium-ion cell and battery manufacturing facility in the United States. The battery maker recently revealed a new, 24-volt, 4.1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) storage system that comes ready for integration with various renewable energy systems, including solar. The company came to this conclusion after testing the battery in several evaluation projects.

As it turns out, International Battery will test some of its new product line at the headquarters of Princeton Power, another company working on renewable energy battery development. Princeton Power has agreed to install one of IB’s batteries to the $1.5 million solar energy system atop Princeton’s headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.

Finally, A123Systems in Watertown, Massachusetts, is using nanotechnology to create lithium-ion storage batteries. While most solar energy systems installed these days are so called grid-tied systems — and don’t come with batteries — energy storage technologies are expected to play an increasing role in helping regulate how energy is dispatched from renewable energy systems, which are generally viewed as a variable source of electricity.

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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.

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We’ll start with the textbook definition: An SREC is a certificate representing the “green attributes” of one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated from solar energy.

What does this mean in practice? If you install solar panels on your home, you roof will, in effect, start generating kilowatt-hours (kWh). As these kWhs add up, you’ll be on your way to making one SREC — which, as noted above, is the equivalent of one MWh, or 1,000 kWh.

How many SRECs does a system produce? It depends generally on the size of the system and the amount of sunshine available. By way of example, a 7-kW home solar energy system in Somerset County, New Jersey, would, according to our solar cost calculator, produce roughly eight SRECs over the course of a given year.

Now comes the good part. Once you’ve accumulated an SREC (or two or three), you’ll be able to sell your credits. Exact SREC prices vary from state to state, but the highest price recorded so far has been around $680 in New Jersey. At this price, SRECs would generate $5,440 in annual revenue for our hypothetical 7-kW solar array in Somerset County. Put differently, we would earn $0.68 for every kWh that our system produces — this in a state where the average residential price of electricity is around 16 cents. Clearly, SRECs in New Jersey provide a generous incentive!

To be fair, SRECs are traded actively in only a handful of states — but that number is growing. Also, it’s important to note that the going price of an SREC tends to fluctuate, and that $680 levels are likely the exception, not the rule. Finally, in some states, like Colorado, utilities offer an upfront payment for all the SRECs a given system is expected to generate — rather than buying them over time.

How did all this SREC business get started? Many states have passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), legislation requiring them to produce a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable resources by a certain year. For example, New Jersey’s requires the state to produce 22.5 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020. State requirements vary based on their political support, baseline level of renewable electricity in use, and level of public investment. An RPS almost always includes a policy plan to incentivize renewable energy development and installation within their state. In the residential sector, this is most traditionally done though subsidies awarded based on the number of watts of renewable energy installed. California’s solar rebate programs, for example, award a per-watt payment to homeowners who install solar panels.

Many states include a provision specifically for solar energy, requiring a smaller percentage of total renewable energy to be met by solar photovoltaics. Each electricity provider that does not meet this percentage must purchase SRECs to correct their deficit, and non-compliance means a hefty fine. As a result, SRECs are sold for prices determined strictly by the market for RPS compliance. It’s a simple case of supply and demand: fewer solar installations means higher prices for available SRECs, creating an incentive for future solar installations.

So far, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, have funded and implemented SRECs to promote the level of solar energy development that their policies demand. To see how SRECs might affect your solar system, check out our solar cost calculator. Or, if you’ve got burning questions, post them below!

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In New Jersey, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora is the leading sponsor of  Bill A1084, which would require any new school construction plans to include a solar energy system. The Department of Education in Pennsylvania is likewise taking matters into its own hands. This coming Friday, the department will introduce changes to its school construction policies that are said to knock down some of the barriers school districts face when considering green investments.

Solar industry officials largely agree that schools are among the best candidates for both financial and physical reasons. Solar energy systems atop schools still produce power during the summertime when school is out and the power is not being used. That allows schools to sell their excess energy back to the local utility company. The systems provide reliable savings and revenue — a huge draw for New Jersey schools, which badly need financial support, according to state Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes, who supports Guscoria’s bill. Physically, the flat, open rooftops of most schools are well suited for solar energy systems.

That’s not always the case, however. According to Philly.com, New Jersey may have an easier time passing its measure than Pennsylvania. A main sticking point in New Jersey seems to be how to best handle cases in which a given school is not a good candidate for solar panel installation. If a school’s roof is shaded, for instance, the policy would have to allow for exceptions or work around solutions.

While California has established a solar schools program to promote the use of solar power in public schools, New Jersey would be the first state in the country to require solar energy atop its schools.

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The move, according to GIGAom, is one usually seen in developing countries or far-flung locales, where signal towers are few and far between. But T-Mobile’s solar project in the U.S. will allow the company to promote its green credentials. And while it may initially cost more up front to go solar, it may save the company more money in the long run.

T-Mobile has not said how much power will be produced by the 12-panel solar energy system, but we do know that the array has the potential to, at times, feed power back into the electricity grid of PECO, the largest natural gas utility company in the state.

Other cellular providers may soon follow suit. In fact, Pike Research estimates that, if the cost of solar power declines as expected, 4.5 percent of base cell stations in the world will be solar-powered by 2014. Currently, that figure sits at just 0.11 percent.

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The funding is coming from three separate funding sources: $13 million from Growing Greener II, $5 million via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and $2.5 million courtesy of Duquesne Light Co. settlement funds.

According to Rendell, the projects will add 1,400 jobs to the state’s clean energy industry and cancel out nine million tons of carbon emissions. According to the press release, the plan will save and generate a combined 10 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy over the total lifetimes of the projects. That is enough to power one million average U.S. homes for a full year.

The $20.5 million in funds is only a small portion of the money that will be poured into the projects. The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA), which has invested $99 million in 201 differenet energy projects throughout the state since 2005, will leverage over $211 million in private funds.

As it currently stands, the state’s renewable energy portfolio requires one-half percent of Pennsylvania’s electricity to come from solar power. When the standards were implemented in 2004, they were considered one of the nation’s highest; over time, other states have surpassed Pennsylvania’s.

Governor Rendell has a long term vision of increasing Pennsylvania’s AEPS:

“The solar industry has grown at a rapid pace despite the uncertain economy. Investors and developers have proven anxious and eager to invest in clean solar energy projects. Venture capitalists alone poured $1.4 billion into the industry last year. Pennsylvania could attract a larger share of that action if we just increased the solar share of our portfolio standards law.”

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The 1,800-panel Laurel Lake Solar Project is set to span 24 acres and produce enough energy to power 750 households annually. By contrast, the Trenton Solar Farm, which the Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) Company began building earlier this month, will generate enough electricity for roughly 200 homes each year.

The solar panels for the Laurel Lake Solar Project will be mounted as high as eight feet on land owned by Daniel and Mary Ann Pedrick — two local farmers whose farmland, according to Community Energy, is ideal to build on. According to the agreement, the company will lease the land for 30 years under the condition that, should Community Energy decide not to renew the lease at the end of the 30-year period, the land would be reverted back to its original state: farmland. The same promise was made to the local planning board members who on July 2 listened to the company’s site plans before approving the plans on August 10.

Margaret Maxwell-Mood, the board’s chairwoman, said the solar farm is something that Quinton Township is very much looking forward to, and that other municipalities should consider similar projects:

“They [Community Energy] did a very good job presenting the information to us and we truly grilled them about every possible repercussion. We were pretty impressed. One thing we really liked was generating pure, clean energy. We just couldn’t imagine why so many towns are beating clean energy down when, in fact, it’ll benefit our environment so greatly.”

The final step in gaining approval will likely come within the next few weeks, when the Quinton Township Committee will meet and review the plan before deciding whether or not to give it final approval. If the solar farm is built, the energy it produces will run through the Atlantic City Electric grid.

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News came out of Pennsylvania yesterday that Princeton Power Systems will be using battery backup technology as part of a $1.5 million, 200-kilowatt (kW) solar energy installation that will be tied to the electric grid of the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G). The system is set to be installed at Princeton Power’s headquarters in New Jersey.

Arizona, which is fast becoming a national leader in solar energy, has also announced that one of the state’s renewable energy companies will equip a 17-kw photovoltaic (PV) solar energy system in New Mexico with a battery backup. The PV system is used to power the Aperture Center at Mesa del Sol.

All of these battery backup installations have elements in common with a broader national test. Over the next three years, Sandia National Laboratories — a technology research group located in Livermore, California — will monitor the backup systems in order to decide whether they should be used for commercial buildings throughout the country.

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NASCAR’s Pocono Raceway is now home to a newly-installed, 3-megawatt 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 $16 million, 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 and will be online this weekend – just in time for NASCAR’s Pennsylvania 500.

Brian Igdalsky, President of Pocono Raceway, had the following to say about the installation:

“This new system will not only satisfy the Raceway’s energy needs, it will allow us to help power close to one thousand homes and lower carbon dioxide emissions by 5,100 tons every year.”

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