Since the industrial revolution, factories have been among the world’s biggest consumers of energy due to their mass scale and high volume of processes centralized in one location. As a result of the major energy costs associated with manufacturing, many CEOs (such as Tesla’s Elon Musk) have identified solar power as the perfect way to reduce operating costs. In this article, we’ll explain why solar panels are a pragmatic investment for factories.
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Community solar – the concept of leasing or owning a share of a large solar array rather than having a personal solar installation on your rooftop – continues to gain popularity across the continental United States. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), there will be a 1.8 gigawatt (GW) increase in installed photovoltaics from community solar arrays over the next five years. Minnesota, Colorado and California – the undisputed best states for community solar – will drive the majority of that growth. You might wonder, why are these states so ideal for roofless solar compared to the 47 others in the U.S.? Here’s how these community solar leaders rose to the top.
In an industry that has continued to grow at an impressive rate nationwide (4.4x over the past 5 years), details on solar hot spots in the U.S. can be elusive. Though there are a few states that are known for having plentiful sunlight (California, Florida, Arizona), there are many states leading the U.S. solar revolution that are flying under the radar. In this article, we’ll break down the top five solar states to date by cumulative solar capacity as well as the states with the fastest growing solar markets in 2017.
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A controversial debate over solar’s impact on coal, a new report that shows rapidly falling solar prices and a major solar development for the world’s energy capital – these are the stories EnergySage has its eye on in this week’s Solar News Report.
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It was an active week in the solar industry with news of unprecedented solar job growth and the launch of a few sleek new products. A new IRENA report that revealed solar jobs are growing 17 times faster than the U.S. economy, SolarWorld’s newfound support of Suniva’s trade petition and Mercedes Benz’ new home storage product are the big headlines from this week’s Solar News Report.
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When homeowners are considering solar offers on the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, we often hear questions about a solar panel’s manufacturer origin and whether it’s a good idea to choose Chinese panels for an installation. This is a common question as the latest estimates indicate that China is manufacturing roughly 70% of the world’s solar panels today – a dominant market share and a clear indicator of China’s key role in the global solar industry. China has a significant impact over worldwide solar trends like pricing, warranties and manufacturing practices. For example, the 80% decline in worldwide solar prices between 2008 and 2013 occurred largely due to improvements in manufacturing costs in China. And because China is such a major player in solar, many U.S. homeowners are asking “should I choose Chinese solar panels and will it match the quality of other top brands?” In this article we’ll break down pricing, quality and brand influence of Chinese solar panels.
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It was an eventful week in the solar industry with Tesla releasing hotly anticipated pricing information for its new solar roof product. A number of major clean energy initiatives in Virginia, strong solar growth announced in Minnesota and the release of Tesla’s solar roof pricing are the headlines from this week’s Solar News Report.
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It was a week filled with scientific brilliance in the solar industry with a number of inventions and discoveries that could set a faster track for solar power’s future. Spray-on solar cells that could come to market as soon as 2018, chemical conversion from biomass to hydrogen through solar and the success of GE’s solar power venture are the headlines we’re discussing in this week’s Solar News Report.
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When weighing the decision of whether or not going solar makes sense for your roof or location, one of the first questions you may ask is “how many sun hours do I need for solar to be worth it?” The reason this question is important is because there is a significant range across the country for average peak sun hours. In this article, we’ll explain which states offer the best sun hour value and how much sunlight intensity in your state should impact your decision to go solar.
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