Concentrating Photovoltaic Project Underway at California College

SolFocus, a Silicon Valley startup, is installing a one-megawatt solar power plant at Victor Valley College in California.

The nation’s first big concentrating photovolatic power plant is under construction in the California desert.

SolFocus, a Silicon Valley startup, is building the one-megawatt solar farm for Victor Valley College in Victorville, a desert community northeast of Los Angeles.

The company builds large solar panels that contain small mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto tiny, high-efficiency solar cells. Though more expensive than conventional solar cells, they use a fraction of the silicon and produce more electricity. That means less land is needed for a SolFocus power plant than one deploying conventional photovoltaic panels.

The SolFocus panels are mounted on trackers that follow the sun throughout the day. While SolFocus has built power plants in Europe, the California project is its first solar farm in the United States. Victor Valley College selected SolFocus after receiving competitive bids from several companies that install conventional photovoltaic panels and thin-film solar systems.

“After reviewing several options for a solar provider, SolFocus demonstrated that it could deliver the best value in solar energy for the college,” Robert Silverman, Victor Valley College’s president, said in a statement. The SolFocus power plant will supply about 30 percent of the college’s overall electricity demand.

SolFocus’ technology needs strong, direct sunlight to maximize electricity production. “If this deployment had been in somewhere in Northern California or Washington or Oregon, we probably wouldn’t have won the battle,” said Nancy Hartsoch, a vice president of marketing at SolFocus. Ms. Hartsoch added that in desert regions, the company’s technology generates electricity at prices competitive with traditional photovoltaic panels.

The 122-panel arrays will cover six acres at the college and the project is expected to be completed by early May. Ms. Hartsoch said SolFocus also has two other megawatt-sized power plants undergoing permitting in the desert that have not yet been announced.

Last year the company signed a deal to install 10 megawatts of its solar arrays in Greece.

Alcoa and National Renewable Energy Lab Testing New Innovative Concentrating ...

announced today that it is jointly testing an advanced solar technology with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), with the goal of making Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology competitive in the United States by lowering its cost to generate energy.

NREL and Alcoa recently installed a new Alcoa-designed Concentrating Solar Power parabolic trough at NREL's test facility in Golden, Colo., USA. The series of tests will measure the 20-foot by 46-foot collector's efficiency to generate energy and evaluate its structural performance. This round of validation at NREL follows successful tests at Alcoa Technical Center outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.

"NREL is looking forward to performing outdoor efficiency tests on the innovative new parabolic trough collector developed by Alcoa," said Dr. Chuck Kutscher, Manager, NREL Thermal Systems Group. "We are excited to see a major U.S.-based manufacturer entering the Concentrating Solar Power market through the financial support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Funding Opportunity Announcement Program."

Currently, commercial Concentrating Solar Power systems installed to date use glass mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat. This thermal energy can then be used to produce utility scale electricity via a steam turbine.

Instead of glass mirrors, the new Alcoa solution uses highly-reflective aluminum mirrors, which are more durable and environmentally-friendly than fragile glass-based mirrors. The Alcoa design solution enables high-volume manufacturing techniques to lower installation costs, plus its monolithic structure enables a simple "drop-in-place" collector for easy installation. The Alcoa design includes sheet, extrusions and fasteners.

The new Alcoa CSP design leverages high volume manufacturing and assembly approaches utilized in the aerospace and automotive markets as well as the Company's materials and technology leadership to lower the cost of CSP trough systems.

"We understand the end-customers' need to lower the capital investment in these systems in order to lower the cost of energy," said Dr. Eric F. M. Winter, Alcoa's Director of Development Laboratories. "After listening to numerous industry experts, our multi-faceted team combined its materials knowledge with design, manufacturing and engineered finishes capabilities to develop a system solution that enables manufacturers to more easily scale up to meet the growing demand for this solar technology."

One of the benefits of Concentrating Solar Power technology is that thermal energy can be stored and drawn upon during short periods of clouds and at night. Therefore, the technology provides better grid stability and increased capacity factors compared to photovoltaic applications.

The project is being partially funded by a US$2.1 million DOE grant. Test results are expected by the second quarter of 2010, after which the system will enter its next level of large-scale testing.

"We are proud to partner with the Department of Energy to develop a new, clean, reliable and affordable source of electricity," said Scott Kerns, Vice President and General Manager of Alcoa Transportation Products. "Alcoa has a long history of developing sustainable solutions for its customers, and aluminum -- which can be infinitely recycled -- is a natural fit for this green energy solution."

About Alcoa

Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina. In addition to inventing the modern-day aluminum industry, Alcoa innovation has been behind major milestones in the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, consumer electronics and industrial markets over the past 120 years. Among the solutions Alcoa markets are flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, as well as Alcoa(R) wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems in addition to its expertise in other light metals such as titanium and nickel-based super alloys. Sustainability is an integral part of Alcoa's operating practices and the product design and engineering it provides to customers. Alcoa has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for eight consecutive years and approximately 75 percent of all of the aluminum ever produced since 1888 is still in active use today. Alcoa employs approximately 59,000 people in 31 countries across the world. More information can be found at www.alcoa.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6218814&lang=en

SOURCE: Alcoa

Alcoa Investor Contact: Matthew E. Garth, 212-836-2674 or Media Contact: Kevin G. Lowery, 412-553-1424 Mobile 724-422-7844

Copyright Business Wire 2010

Egypt wind farm tender round two seen by end-2010-INTERVIEW

EGYPT-POWER/WORLDBANK (INTERVIEW)

* Second tender round for wind farms seen by end-2010

* 7,000 megawatts wind capacity by 2020 looks difficult-Bank

* Two energy projects worth $1.5 bln in pipeline, bank says

By Humeyra Pamuk

CAIRO, March 16 (Reuters) - Egypt is likely to launch a second tender round just before the end of this year to choose from 10 firms short-listed to build its first private wind farm, a World Bank energy specialist said on Tuesday.

In the first round, Egypt shortlisted the firms in November 2009 for the 250-megawatt project. The most populous Arab country, trying to diversify its energy sources, aims to generate 12 percent of its power from wind by 2020.

The success of this bidding process is key to achieving a target to boost Egypt's wind capacity to 7,200 megawatts from the current 520 megawatts over the next 10 years, said Mohab Hallouda, senior energy specialist at the World Bank, which is acting as consultant for the tender process.

"It is a bit difficult to achieve 7,200 by 2020. I think if they reach 5,000 megawatts by then, that would be quite a good achievement," said Hallouda, who is based in Cairo and specialises in the Middle East and North Africa.

"It will depend on how successful the competitive bidding will be. 2020 is 10 years away and that means they need close to 600 megawatts (more) at least every year," he said in an interview.

"They need to speed up the private company involvement," he said, adding that 2,000 megawatts of the 7,000 megawatt target was expected to be generated by the private companies. The wind farm will be constructed on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, and is expected to start up in 2014.

The project developer will design, finance, construct, own and operate the power plant for 20 to 25 years and will sell the power produced during that period to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

Another difficulty could be securing financing, he said. The government funds wind projects through what Hallouda called 'soft financing' -- bank loans with long maturities and favourable interest rates.

"This is not always very easy to get," Hallouda said.

Egypt should also speed up efforts to expand in solar energy, Hallouda said, saying it had huge potential due to the high amount of sun it gets and the available land.

The country's first solar power plant will start production by the end of the year. The integrated solar thermal power plant, located south of Cairo at Koraymat, has a capacity of 140 megawatts, of which 20 megawatts comes from concentrated solar generation.

Solar projects in the northern African country have lagged behind wind schemes. Hallouda said high costs were one of the main reasons.

"As the technology develops and there is more local manufacturing and understanding and more human resources in this field, I think the cost will come down and it would be beneficial for the sector to engage in such a technology early in time," he said.

The World Bank currently partly finances four energy projects in Egypt, including gas, electricity and renewable energy. Projects are worth a total of nearly $3 billion.

Hallouda said two more power projects, worth around $1.5 billion, were waiting for World Bank partial funding approval. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by Caroline Drees and Anthony Barker)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Why Eskom needs a World Bank loan - Barbara Hogan

Government statement on Eskom's World Bank loan and South Africa's long term energy objectives by Public Enterprise Minister, Barbara Hogan, March 12 2010

Introduction

Wide media coverage has been given to protests opposing Eskom's application for a loan from the World Bank. As the government of South Africa we are concerned that the issues related to the loan have not been properly understood. We are also concerned at the level of misunderstanding regarding our commitment to a transition to a low-carbon economy and our unambiguous commitment to the introduction of cleaner energy technology in the country.

Eskom, with the support of government, has applied for a US$3.75 billion project loan from the World Bank. This forms part of Eskom's long-term financing of a multi-year investment programme aimed at expanding power generation capacity by about 50 percent, from about 40 000 MW, to 80 000 MW, in order to ensure security of electricity supply required for economic growth and development.

The proposed loan has three components:

* US$ 3.05 billion for the Medupi power station, Africa's first clean coal "supercritical" 4 800 MW power station
* US$ 260 million for investments in renewable energy (100 MW wind and 100 MW concentrated solar power projects)
* US$ 485 million for investment in low-carbon energy efficiency components comprising road to rail coal transportation and power plant efficiency improvements, which will be a major step forward towards achieving our long-term low-emission plan.

Why the World Bank?

The build programme is a massive infrastructure investment programme and is to be funded from a combination of internally generated cash, debt finance and funding from government. Eskom intends to raise up to R150 billion over the next five years to fund this programme and government has already committed to support Eskom through a R60 billion subordinated loan and up to R176 billion in guarantees.

The assumption that Eskom would raise R150 billion of debt, even with the R60 billion provided by government, was optimistic there was insufficient demand in the domestic market to provide for Eskom's needs and access to finance in the international markets largely dried up.

Global market conditions were expected to remain adverse for some time ahead and there was a general risk aversion arising from the global financial crisis resulting in a re-assessment by lenders and investors of lending to institutions perceived to be a credit risk.

Therefore accessing loan finance from international agencies and other previously untapped sources, such as the World Bank, African Development Bank (AFDB) or the European Investment Bank (EIB) was seen as important to augment resources to support the build programme.

Amongst the general factors considered by government in approaching multilateral finance institutions such as the World Bank were:
* To ensure that the financing is provided at low interest rates
* Flexibility from the banks to re-finance loans in five to seven years
* Preventing the introduction of conditions that might be viewed to be encroaching into the domain of national policy, except where such requirements fit in neatly with the current policy direction of government

The loan from the World Bank is a specific investment loan (as opposed to a development policy loan), which means that the Bank will have no say in our policy-making processes, especially our macro-economic policy.

Coal as a base-load option and South Africa's commitment to climate change South Africa's demand-supply energy balance remains quite delicate. The construction of Medupi and Kusile will ensure that we have adequate base-load power to be commissioned by 2013. This is necessary so that we do not derail the country's economic growth and development objectives.

As government we have clearly demonstrated our commitment to meeting long term climate change mitigation objectives. Our commitment to renewable energy will also be reflected in the upcoming integrated resource plan two. We believe that climate change, if ignored, has the potential to undo many of the positive advances made in meeting South Africa's own development goals and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We are therefore committed to a long-term low emission growth path and strategy. This is in line with the Copenhagen accord and our agreement to aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and 42 percent by 2024, conditional on the provision of finance, technology and capacity building. In addition, in terms of our own Long Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS) we have agreed that our emissions will peak around 2020 to 2025, plateau for a decade and then decline in absolute terms from around 2035. It should be noted that Medupi and Kusile are included in this peak.

In addition, the Medupi and Kusile power plants have been designed by Eskom using the best proven technologies to minimise carbon emissions. These power plants are the first two in Africa to use the more-efficient "supercritical" (operate at higher steam pressures and temperatures) and "CCS-Space ready" design, which is the technology adopted by most Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for all new power generation. In addition to using supercritical design, these power stations will be the largest dry-cooled power stations in the world, which is a further testimony to the sustainable infrastructure development policies of South Africa.

South Africa is fully committed to renewable energy as a significant element of the energy mix. Time will be needed to ramp up these investments. Both concentrated solar power and wind technologies are expected to make a significant contribution to the government's target of 10,000 GWh (about 1,667 MW equivalent) from renewable energy sources by 2013. With the help of investors, including the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF), we are increasing our investment in this area. South Africa has submitted a portfolio of projects to the CTF that include a concentrated solar power project, wind power developments, the development of the solar water heating industry and interventions to reduce emissions in the industrial sector.

In addition, other fiscal and policy measures, including the introduction of a renewable energy feed in tariffs (REFIT) tariff for the renewable sector, the introduction of a 2c/kw hour levy on electricity generated from non renewable sources, many energy demand side management interventions such as the roll out of Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL) lighting and the electric motor retrofit subsidy are also facilitating low carbon development, including supporting the creation of a new economic sector and private sector investment.

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)

As part of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, the Department of Energy's IRP two aims to look at the ideal energy mix for our country. It is the department's intention to promulgate IRP two after June 2010, to define the power portfolio beyond 2013. IRP two will be responsive to energy security, climate change, financing considerations and it will also pronounce the technology for the base-load power station that will be used post-Medupi and Kusile.

The inter-ministerial committee on energy is intensively engaged in trying to find sustainable solutions to these and other matters. In that regard, two of the working groups of the International Marketing Council (IMC) are focused solely on renewable energy and the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) respectively.

We remain seriously committed to stakeholder consultation on the IRP two before it is promulgated. As government we understand that issues of energy are uppermost on the minds of South Africans, and that we need to work together with all the relevant stakeholders on this matter. We must therefore continue to engage in constructive and intensive dialogue on the IRP two and on the future of electricity supply for our country.

Special Pricing Agreements

Concerns have also been raised recently about Eskom's Special Pricing Agreements. Eskom currently has less than five special contracts with two customers, and they are currently in discussions about these. All other customers (including the large industrial customers) supplied by Eskom are on standard retail tariffs and subject to the tariff increases as approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

Conclusion

As a country we cannot afford not to have secure supply of electricity. The damage this would do to our economy is too grave to consider. We therefore call on everyone, all stakeholders, to work with us in ensuring that we are able to meet this objective, for the benefit of our economy.

South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are experiencing an energy deficit that may constrain current and future economic growth. Medupi and Kusile power stations are critical in addressing this deficit, together with energy projects that can delivered by the private producers. The building of Medupi and Kusile are important in meeting these current developmental needs of the country and the region. Ensuring that we burn coal in an efficient manner meets the aspiration to ensure that development is sustainable.

We are in a transition phase to a low emission path. Our commitment to developing electricity supply in the short-term is not just a sound investment in meeting the needs of South African citizens and business; it is also a statement of confidence in the economic outlook of the wider Southern African region, its people, and its prospects. All of these initiatives will ensure that South Africa will be able to meet the commitments as tabled at Copenhagen.

Thank you.

Statement issued by the Department of Public Enterprise, March 12 2010

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Pay By The Day Holdings Signs LOI for Exclusive Technology Rights

LAS VEGAS, March 15, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pay By The Day Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:PBDH) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire all of the assets of Grail Semiconductor and exclusive rights to a number of other cutting edge independent innovative technologies. These acquisitions are subject to the due diligence of all signatories and the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements. Such agreements will be subject to certain conditions including the raising of funds to pursue the Company's new business model. In accordance with the letter of intent, the Company will undertake an immediate name change to Oteegee Innovations Inc. and proceed with a 10 for 1 forward split of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares.

"This is a very exciting time for Pay By The Day and we believe we are partnering with some of the most remarkable innovators in North America," commented Jordan Starkman, CEO of Pay By The Day Holdings. "We look forward to completing the acquisition and executing our new growth initiatives to increase shareholder value by answering the world's crucial technological challenges."

The targeted assets include the following.

Grail Semiconductor Assets:

The Company will acquire the Quantum Inductive Capacitance technology (QIC Chip) of Grail Semiconductor including the exclusive right to pursue claims against various chip manufacturers. (Patent No. US6,642,552)

QIC-Chips:

QIC Chip Products:

3D Technology

The inventor of the QIC Chip is developing a hardware and software platform to deliver real-time high-resolution rendering of 3D characters and backgrounds. This technology is to be utilized for myriad high intensity 3D rendering applications including medical scanning.

Energy

Concentrating Solar Collector: A scalable and highly durable stand-alone unit that is designed to be more efficient and less costly than parabolic trough collectors and contemporary solar water heating panels. Unlike photo-voltaic (PV), this resilient technology does not use semiconductors which degenerate over time. (Patent pending)

Thermo-Electric Generator: A frictionless generator scalable for private homes, factories and power plants, designed to produce grid-compatible A.C. electricity without the cost of an inverter; without consuming water or requiring cooling, and more efficiently and cost effectively than current generators. (Patent in preparation)

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) System: The Oteegee Solar Collectors and Thermo-Electric Generators are designed to integrate seamlessly to achieve any desired output capacity, including large power plants. In addition to selling systems, Oteegee plans to establish and operate many small decentralized power plants throughout the world that sell electricity to power companies and consumers. (No separate patent necessary)

Hydrogen Generator: A ground-breaking technology designed to create hydrogen from any water source, including ocean and grey water. It can be powered by Oteegee's CSP system or any power source, to generate and store hydrogen for on-demand electricity during dark hours, and for automotive fuel. (Patent pending)

Water

Water Generator: A unit employing a design innovation on the Hydrogen Generator that enables small and large scale water desalination and reclamation at a fraction of current costs. This breakthrough technology does not involve reverse osmosis or any other current desalination technology. (Patent in preparation)

Sea Water Mining: Rather than returning concentrated brine to the sea, Oteegee plans to mine the processed water for pure sea salt, high potassium fertilizer and rare earth minerals.

Natural Health

The Company will have exclusive rights to proprietary health products and services that combine cutting edge science and natural medicine. The Company will also acquire a unique new technology that allows organic materials to be processed without oxidation or physical damage to the delicate nutrient complexes, allowing the creation of low cost natural organic super-foods and basic foodstuffs (such as powders and oils) that have long shelf lives without added preservatives. (Patent in preparation)

Bob Stern, CEO of Grail Semiconductor, stated, "Our new business structure is a significant advancement in the way disruptive innovations can be brought to the world for the benefit of humankind. The broad range of "oteegee" power, water, health and education technologies together with public and private financing and adept global management will open new vistas and exciting opportunities for the merged companies, their shareholders, and the world at large."

The Pay By The Day Holdings, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7216

Forward-looking Statements:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: general economic and business conditions; our business strategy for expanding our presence in our industry; anticipated trends in our financial condition and results of operation; the impact of competition and technology change; existing and future regulations affecting our business; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports the company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: Pay By The Day Holdings, Inc. Jordan Starkman, Chief Executive Officer 1-800-854-7970

Solar Energy Stocks: Will They Get Hot Again?

Solar energy is basically energy from the sun. It is probably one of the oldest forms of energy utilized by civilization, as the Greeks and Chinese arranged their buildings toward the south to provide light and heat. Greenhouses are a great example, converting solar light to heat, which allows production of certain plants and crops all year long. They were first used during the days of the Romans.

Solar energy is the generation of energy from the sun, usually utilizing heat engines or photovoltaics. The generation of electricity using solar energy is referred to as solar power. Solar power plants can be either concentrating solar thermal plants or huge megawatt photovoltaic plants. Current uses of photovoltaics are numerous and include all kinds of products such as battery chargers, solar powered parking meters, emergency telephones, traffic signs, and even solar panels embedded on road surfaces.

The following is a list of the pure plays and semi-pure plays in the solar energy business. Companies which have a very small portion of their business in solar were excluded (e.g. GE, PG&E). Many of these companies are very low cap and should therefore be considered very speculative.

Akeena Solar, Inc. (AKNS) is a designer, installer, marketer, and seller of solar power systems for residential and small commercial customers. This Los Gatos, California based company, which was founded in 2001, utilizes grid-tied solar power systems, which are connected to the utility grid so that excess energy produced during low usage periods flows backwards through the utility's electric meter.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ) is involved in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar module products, serving the residential, commercial, and industrial markets. This Ontario, Canada based company distributes its products internationally including the People's Republic of China. It also produces specialty solar products such as solar-powered bus stop lighting and solar-powered car battery chargers.

China Sunergy (CSUN), based in Nanjing, China, is a designer, maker, and seller of silicon wafer solar cells.

DayStar Technologies (DSTI) is a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of Photovoltaic Foil products that convert sunlight directly into electricity. It produces thin-film copper indium gallium selenide solar products for centralized utility markets tied to the grid. This is an extremely low cap stock.

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) is a designer, developer, and seller of materials, products, and production processes for the alternative energy generation, energy storage, and information technology markets. It hs two divisions: United Solar Ovonic and Ovonic Materials. United Solar Ovonics produces PV laminates that generate converts sunlight into electricity thereby generating renewable. Ovonic Materials designs, and produces materials and products based on the company’s materials science technology and battery technology. This Rochester Hills, Michigan company was founded in 1960.

Entech Solar, Inc. (ENSL.OB) makes and markets solar energy systems that provide both electricity and thermal energy through the use of its proprietary photovoltaic technologies, their SolarVolt and ThermaVolt systems. This Fort Worth, Texas based company was founded in 1984. It has an extremely low market cap.

Evergreen Solar (ESLR), which trades on the NASDAQ, is a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar power products in Germany and the United States. It produces proprietary "String Ribbon" solar cells.

First Solar (FSLR), which trades on the NASDAQ, designs and manufactures solar modules through its proprietary thin film semiconductor technology. It manufactures photovoltaic solar modules using a thin film semiconductor process based on cadmium telluride, which is cheaper than silicon, to produce photovoltaic modules, and is the largest manufacturer of thin-film cells in the world. As of the end of 2008, First Solar had a backlog of long-term contracts totaling approximately $6.3 billion in sales. They plan to be competitive on an unsubsidized basis with retail electricity by 2010. Their cost per watt is 98 cents versus crystalline-silicon photo-voltaics, which averages $2.90 per watt.

Hoku Scientific, Inc. (HOKU) develops polysilicon-based photovoltaic modules for solar power systems. Also develops other clean energy technologies.

JA Solar (JASO), a Shanghai, China based company, which designs, manufactures, and sells monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells.

Kyocera (KYO) is a Kyoto, Japan based company that produces residential and industrial solar power generating systems, solar cells, and solar modules, along with many ceramic products.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) produces wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries.

Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (SOLF), based in Qidong, China, makes and markets photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic modules.

Spire (SPIR) is a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar equipment, solar systems, biomedical products, and optoelectronics.

SunPower Corporation (SPWR) is a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar electric power products.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) designs, develops, manufactures, and markets photovoltaic cells and modules.

Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), based in Changzhou, China, makes and markets monocrystalline photovoltaic solar modules

XSunX (XSNX) is a developer of the commercialization and licensing of processes for the manufacture of semitransparent photovoltaic technologies.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (YGE), based in Baoding, China, makes, markets, and installs multicrystalline polysilicon ingots and wafers, photovoltaic cells, PV modules, and integrated PV systems.

To see free sortable and downloadable lists of various green stocks, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

Solar Power joins forces with Natural Gas in Florida

Solar Power joins forces with Natural Gas in Florida Published on Business & Investments  |  March 16, 2010, 8:19

The two companies will work together to develop The Martin Next Generation Solar Center, a breakthrough in solar-natural gas relations
The Martin Next Generation Solar Center represents the attempt to make a brown fossil fuel plant a bit greener, a breakthrough in solar-natural gas relations. Florida Power and Light is building the 75-megawatt concentrating solar thermal plant adjacent to an existing natural gas plant. Florida Power and Light is a utility popular for its advancements in wind, solar power and energy efficiency.

According to FPL, the Martin Solar Center will be the first hybrid facility to attach solar thermal power to a combined-cycle power plant. The facility will also be the second-largest solar in the world and the largest solar power plant of any kind outside of California.

180,000 mirrors will make up the solar thermal arm, reflecting solar radiation onto a receiver. A liquid in the receiver will be heated to create steam, directly displacing the fossil fuel energy otherwise needed during the day. FPL is trying to lower the costs of solar energy with this hybrid effort, by sharing plant infrastructure.

The solar thermal plant will produce 75 megawatts of solar electricity at peak output. Under the bright Florida sunshine, the solar system will create enough energy to power 11,000 homes, or 26,000 people. The expected greenhouse gas emissions reduction is of 2.75 million tons over 30 years.

Hybrid power plants have been developed as means to make solar power more competitive and less expensive. Digg this   Slashdot   Del.icio.us   StumbleUpon   Yahoo MyWeb   Google Bookmarks   Twitter   Facebook