by SI Staff, on Tuesday 24 August 2010
Solar microinverters and DC-DC power optimizers are forecast to generate more than $1.5 billion in revenues over the next five years, according to IMS Research’s recently released report on the rapidly emerging market. Shipments of the devices are forecast to grow over 100% per year and will total more than 16 million in the same period.
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You may be considering having solar modules installed on your rooftop to lock in energy rates and cut your carbon footprint. Further, you may already have a digital thermostat on your wall and a central heating and cooling system throughout your home. We believe the ideal situation would be to connect all of them in a cohesive network. And that’s exactly what Arise Energy is able to do for its client, via strategic partner Enphase Energy. Enphase, the leading provider of microinverters for solar systems, recently launched the “Environ” – a smart, “Solar” Thermostat”. Enphase has claimed Environ is the world’s first “solar-integrated smart energy device.”
We at Arise Energy are excited about being able to provide a solution that helps our clients track the energy output of their solar panels, while also allowing them to automatically (or manually) control their heating or air-conditioning. This solution not only allows the average owner/user to have regular everyday engagement with their solar solution, it also can help optimize how electrical energy is utilized in the home.
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Source: USDA Rural Development
The REAP/RES/EEI Grants Program provides grants for energy audits and renewable energy development assistance. It also provides funds to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements.
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As solar energy is increasingly captured and converted into electricity, the solutions being implemented around the word take on many forms….including this fascinating solar wind tower powered solely by solar energy from the sun. The most interesting fact is that this unique power plant generates energy even at night! Watch the video below to learn more. Although this type of solar power generation doesn’t make sense for residential installations, it does offer one more option to consider as mankind seeks renewable energy solutions as alternatives to large fossil-fuel power plants in the future.
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Click here to read the article at YourHub.
By: YourHub.com
05/19/2010
Interview with Tim Meisinger and Jim Bartlett, co-founders
How did you get involved in this business?
We (both founders) have a passion for renewable energy and for good stewardship of our resources. Colorado boasts some of the most favorable conditions in the U.S. for utilizing solar energy, including over 300 sunny days annually, plus lower relative temperatures and higher elevations compared to other sunny states. Those solar positive factors, combined with government incentives and utility rebates, lead us to believe this is the right time and place to help clients reduce their carbon footprints while locking in low energy rates for the next 30 to 40 years. We combined our talents and skills in forming our company, to provide renewable energy solutions to residential and commercial clients in Colorado. We received a considerable amount of photovoltaic system design and integration training in Austin, Tex., and partnered up with industry leading distributors, representing all the major component manufacturers to help our customers with their energy needs.
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March 4, 2010
By Mark Jaffe, Denver Post
The Public Utilities Commission Wednesday approved the two-tiered rate as part of Xcel’s $128.3 million rate increase. The rate increase is mostly designed to pay for the new Unit III coal-fired power plant in Pueblo, CO.
Running central air conditioning or pool pumps could lead to a bigger Xcel Energy bills under new tiered rates that will charge big residential electricity consumers more during the summer.
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By Mark Jaffe
The Denver Post
FOWLER — Like many a town on the Eastern Plains, this farming community has seen better days, but now it has a new plan. It is going to disappear — from the electric grid.
If all the town’s plans — and there are many — come to pass, Fowler will generate its own electricity, biofuel and manure-based gas; and an empty canning plant will turn into a new solar-panel factory.
This new technology isn’t commercially available yet. Even if it were, it might not immediately make sense for residential and small commercial PV solar solutions due to its low efficiency relative to mono/poly crystalline silicon modules we currently use (less than 10% for thin-film “abundant earth materials” versus 17-18% for Crystalline Silicon). With typical client scenarios having limited roof real estate for module installation, we must utilize the highest efficiency PV modules we can afford in order to maximize system power production. That said, this new technology does show great promise for use in the longer term as research yields further enhancements in power efficiency. AES is excited to see continuing research in these areas and will continue to follow ongoing development by IBM and other research leaders.
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For many Coloradoans, installing an energy efficiency or renewable energy device on their home is perhaps the most immediate way that they can participate in the New Energy Economy. Recognizing the burgeoning interest in energy efficiency and renewable energy, we’re providing this information to assist homeowners, commercial property owners, and homeowners’ associations (HOA’s) in implementing House Bill (HB) 08-1270, also known as “The HOA Bill”.
This material is by no means meant to be exhaustive and will not necessarily guarantee that a project will go through smoothly; however it is our hope that it will mitigate the confusion that can arise when projects are not organized or communicated clearly between parties.
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