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After being rescued from bankruptcy earlier this week, [Sungevity] fired more employees with no formal notice – and changed its name to Spectrum Solar.

Sungevity’s sudden and startling fall from grace came to a quiet end yesterday after a Delaware bankruptcy court approved the sale of its assets to Northern Pacific Group for $50 million.

Two weeks after laying off 131 employees without notice and closing its module plant in Michigan, one of the largest U.S. solar manufacturers has filed for bankruptcy.

On Friday, the former fossil-fuel favoring governor ordered a study to see whether solar and wind development is making the electricity grid less stable.

An expensive solar road project in Idaho can’t even power a microwave most days, according to the project’s energy data. The Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways project generated an average of 0.62 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per day since it began publicly posting power data in late March. To put that in perspective, the average microwave or blow drier consumes about 1 kWh per day. On March 29th, the solar road panels generated 0.26 kWh, or less electricity than a single plasma television consumes. On March 31st, the panels generated 1.06 kWh, enough to barely power a single microwave. The panels...

With its own cult following, Solar Roadways still captures the imaginations of people who live in an alternative universe where these “roads” will power the world’s future. But first, they will have to stop the infernal thing from catching on fire.

A shockingly low price for energy from solar panels was recently bid during an auction for a solar farm near the city of Abu Dhabi, according to a report in solar trade publication PV Magazine. A consortium of the Chinese solar panel maker and project builder JinkoSolar (JKS, -1.34%) and the Japanese developer Marubeni put in a bid to build a large solar panel farm near the sun-rich city for a jaw-dropping 2.42 cents per kilowatt hour. That's by far the lowest solar panel farm bid out there. A few ultra low-cost large solar panel farms have recently achieved around...

On Aug. 21, 2017, American skywatchers will be treated to a rare and spectacular celestial show — the first total solar eclipse visible from the continental United States in nearly four decades. Next year's "Great American Total Solar Eclipse" will darken skies all the way from Oregon to South Carolina, along a stretch of land about 70 miles (113 kilometers) wide. People who descend upon this "path of totality" for the big event are in for an unforgettable experience, said eclipse expert Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College in Massachusetts. "It's a tremendous opportunity," Pasachoff told Space.com. "It's a...

"The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) are investigating an experimental propulsion system on the X-37B on Mission 4," Capt. Chris Hoyler, an Air Force spokesman, told Space.com via email. "AFRCO will also host a number of advance materials onboard the X-37B for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the durability of various materials in the space environment," Hoyler added ... The Air Force owns two X-37B space planes, both of which were built by Boeing's Phantom Works division. The solar-powered spacecraft are about...

The BrightSource Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Facility, which uses 320,000 mirrors to create thermal energy, still qualifies under state rules as an alternative energy source, despite using about 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, according to a report by the Press Telegram.

Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich two types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell. Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity, just like today’s more common silicon-based solar cells. Perovskite photovoltaic devices, however, can be made more easily and cheaply than silicon and on a flexible rather than rigid substrate. The first perovskite solar cells could go on the market next year, and some...

The state of New York is spending $750 million on the Buffalo plant as part of an economic revitalization project called the Buffalo Billion initiative spearheaded by Governor Andrew Cuomo. SolarCity pledged $150 million toward the plant... Tesla and Panasonic will manufacture and produce solar cells at the Buffalo plant as part of Tesla's new solar aspirations since it acquired SolarCity on November 17 in a deal worth roughly $2 billion. Initial production at the plant will center around Tesla's solar roof product. Louis Ciminelli, CEO of LPCiminelli, is known as a generous supporter of Cuomo. Ciminelli, along with his...

THERE is a one in eight chance that the Earth will be hit by a huge solar storm by 2020 which could potentially leave the world without Internet, phone service and many more services that modern-day humans rely on. Researchers have warned that there is roughly a 12 per cent chance that a solar storm could smash into Earth by the end of the decade.(emphasis mine) The powerful event would likely be as huge as the Carrington Event, which occurred on 1859. The solar storm which hit 150 years ago was so powerful that its southern auroras could be seen...

New research finds solar power plants increase local temperatures, meaning researchers must find ways to bring them back down. ___ Researchers have found that solar power plants raise temperatures in their immediate environments. The study, which appeared in Nature Scientific Reports, revealed that nighttime temperatures over photovoltaic power plants were regularly 3-4 degrees Celsius warmer than in surrounding areas. While these effects are likely offset by the benefits of solar power, lead author Greg Barron-Gafford says it is worth looking at ways to mitigate them. We speak with him about the findings and their implications.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The biggest U.S. manufacturer of solar panels is cutting a quarter of its jobs worldwide and will halt production at its only North American plant in Ohio. First Solar Inc. says it's facing challenging market conditions and needs to retool operations to begin making a more efficient solar panel.The company based in Tempe, Arizona, will cut 1,600 jobs worldwide.Details about the restructuring plan haven't been released, but the company says it will stop production at its plant near Toledo that employs about 1,400 workers.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk wasn’t kidding when he said that the new Tesla solar roof product was better looking than an ordinary roof: the roofing replacement with solar energy gathering powers does indeed look great. It’s a far cry from the obvious and somewhat weird aftermarket panels you see applied to roofs after the fact today. The solar roofing comes in four distinct styles that Tesla presented at the event, including “Textured Glass Tile,” “Slate Glass Tile,” “Tuscan Glass Tile, and “Smooth Glass Tile.” Each of these achieves a different aesthetic look, but all resembled fairly closely a...

Florida voters, please do your homework. The PAC behind this amendment is massively funded by th FL utility companies, who are not interested in changes that do not benefit their bottom line. http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article94661792.html http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2016/10/15/amendment-burn-solar-firms-customers/92156076/

“We can deploy a half a billion more solar panels. We can have enough clean energy to power every home. We can build a new modern electric grid. That's a lot of jobs; that's a lot of new economic activity.” So intoned Hillary Clinton, during the first presidential debate at Hofstra University, New York, on September 26. Where have we heard this before? Like Clinton, President Obama hasn’t a clue how a viable market is created and sustained. Solyndra, if you recall, was awarded $527 million from taxpayers. Each of the temporary, unsustainable jobs created by Solyndra and touted by...

Solar storm heading towards Earth threatening to break your Sky TV and mobile phones (by Fri 09/30) http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/715472/Solar-storm-Earth-break-Sky-TV-mobile-phones SCIENCE A HUGE solar storm is heading towards Earth which could leave us without mobile phones, satellite TV and even electricity. By Sean Martin 17:53, Wed, Sept 2016 A solar storm is heading towards Earth Modern-day Britain could go into meltdown after scientists forecast the solar storm to hit between now and Friday which could wreak havoc with technology. Solar storms affect Earth’s technology as radiation is thrown at the planet from the Sun. While humans are protected from the radiation by...

Morocco has turned on its massive solar power plant in the town of Ourrzazate, on the edge of the Saharan desert. The plant already spans thousands of acres and is capable of generating up to 160 megawatts of power. It's already one of the biggest solar power grids in the world, capable of being seen from space. And it's only going to get bigger. The current grid, called Noor I, is just the first phase of a planned project to bring renewable energy to millions living in Morocco. It will soon be followed by expansions, Noor II and Noor III,...