7 Solar Energy News Stories {Weekly Round-Up}





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Some solar energy news from around from the past week or so….

Infineon Raceway Adds Solar Panels for Power (& Sheep for Lawn Mowers)

Our sister site Gas2 had an interesting story last week on a raceway that is going solar & using sheep to mow the fields. The raceway’s 1,652-solar-panel array will provide it with 41% of it’s power. [Gas2]

How to Continue “Ferocious” Solar Power Cost Reductions

Stephen Lacy of Climate Progress had a great piece last week on the tremendous historical cost reductions of solar PV power, how we have achieved them, and how to continue achieving them. [Climate Progress]

solar power technology costs

Large Solar Farms Planned for Earthquake-Hit Japanese Region

Japan is in the midst of a massive energy turnaround. As a part of that, Mitsui & Co is looking to build two large solar power plants in in northeast Japan’s Tohoku region. The region is threatened by power outages following the catastrophic March 11 earthquake and tsunami and these plants, expected to total about 100MW, could help pick up the slack in a clean and safe way. [Reuters]

1st Solar Power “Mini-Inverter” in World

CyboEnergy’s new CyboInverter, reportedly the world’s first Mini-Inverter for solar power, provides the potential to improve solar power reliability and is reportedly “cost efficient.” [Cooler Planet]

Investment in Solar from venture Capitalists Remains Strong

Venture Capital (VC) investment in solar power continues to be in figures I can’t comprehend. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in 19 solar deals in the past few months. [Greentech Media]

Solar Panel Cleaning Getting a Whole Lot Easier

Solar panels need to be cleaned. The cleaner they are, the more efficient or productive they are. To help make the cleaning process easier, King’s New Energy (KNE) is unveiling an Automatic Cleaning System for solar panels, a “smart self-cleaning solution for solar panels, using a patented, wireless, water and wiper-based technology,” at Intersolar North America 2011. [Cooler Planet]

New Nissan Electric Car Charging System Powered by Solar

You have to love electric car-solar power combos. No matter how many of these I hear about, each new announcement lifts me up. Nissan is the latest to have developed a solar-powered charging system for electric vehicles, for its Leaf electric car in particular. [Yale e360]

More cool solar stories? You can drop a link (or more) in the comments below!


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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