Two large U.S. corporations have announced commitments to solar power.

Costco – the giant discount retailer – is installing its first solar array on the Kailua-Kona store in Hawaii. A 680-kilowatt solar electric system – big enough to power about 111 Hawaiian homes – will be installed by REC Solar of San Luis Obispo, CA. It’s expected to be completed in the next five or six weeks.

The Kailua-Kona store may save up to a one-third of its electricity costs by producing its own energy from the sun. Costco has more solar planned for other stores, mostly in Hawaii and in California.

A Safeway store in Dublin, CA has started generating electricity from its own solar panels, and the company plans to install systems on 23 of its stores – enough to power about 20 percent of a stores’ average energy use. That’s enough to avoid over 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) – a major contributor to global warming.

Efficiency is another part of Safeway’s plan: Since 2005, super-efficient refrigeration systems and LED lights have been installed that have allowed the company’s stores to do the same amount of work using less energy.

Companies may be scrambling to expand their green credentials, but they’re also moving forward because of ample incentives from the states. In Hawaii, commercial photovoltaic systems are eligible for credits of up to $500,000 and net metering laws are in place that allow companies to offset electric bills with surplus power put back on the electric grid. Additionally, the federal government offers a 30 percent tax credit.

Local, state, and national incentives for renewable energy will continue to drive business to do the right thing by making it economically sensible to do so. That, combined with a better brand reputation among consumers and investors, may drive even more companies to choose greener options.

GreenBiz.com
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Also on GO:

Google Flips The Switch On Largest Corporate Solar Installation In U.S.

Wal-Mart Launching Solar Power Pilot Program

People of faith from around the globe are taking the lead on global warming solutions. Following on the heels of an alliance among some U.S. faith leaders to fight global warming, the Vatican has announced plans to install a giant solar power system.

The 1,000 solar panels will adorn the football-sized roof of the Paul VI audience hall, one of the top energy guzzlers in the sovereign city state. The solar system will be able to provide all the heating, cooling, and lighting needs of the entire building year-round, and any extra electricity generated will be fed back into the Vatican’s grid.

Pier Carlo Cuscianna, head of the Vatican’s department of technical services and mastermind of the project, was inspired by the calls of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II to treat the planet with respect and their warnings that global warming will effect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

This isn’t the first time the Vatican has shown leadership on clean energy. In 1999, the entire lighting system of St. Peter’s Basilica was refurbished with energy-efficient lighting, which cut its energy consumption by about 40 percent.

Although Vatican City is not a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, the Catholic News Service reports that this solar project marks “a major move” to reduce its carbon-footprint and move away from its dependence on Italy’s power grid.

CathNews
Catholic News Service

Ontario, Canada is building one of the largest solar power plants in the world. More than a million photovoltaic solar panels will be constructed near Sarnia, Ontario, about 70 miles northeast of Detroit, MI. The 40 megawatt (MW) project – with panels erected as high as 23 feet off the ground – will power around 6,000 homes.

OptiSolar Farms of Canada, a subsidiary of California-based Opticsolar, Inc. was awarded the 20-year contract. The Ontario Power Authority will purchase the solar energy for 42 cent per kilowatt hour, a premium price that contributed to OptiSolar choosing Ontario for the massive project over its home base of California.

The company wouldn’t talk about the cost of the project for proprietary reasons, but they claim to have developed a way of mass-producing solar cells to dramatically lower the cost of the technology. Solar still isn’t cheap: some estimates put the cost of the plant at around $300 million. But you’ve got to start somewhere, and Ontario’s provincial government wants to make solar – typically a low-maintenance technology - a common energy source. From the Toronto Star:

“Deborah Doncaster, executive director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, said the premium may seem high but is justified given the environmental benefits. She said it's often forgotten that solar-generated electricity tends to offset natural gas during peak periods when air conditioners are blasting and electricity rates are at their highest.”

This is a big solar step for Canada. The Sarnia project is 400 times larger than the country’s next biggest solar system. But even this project won’t be the world’s largest for long: Germany is planning a similar sized plant, and Australia announced funding for a proposed 154 MW solar plant to be online by 2013.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Toronto Star, via Slashdot

Cross section of nanotube tower: Photo credit: Georgia Tech Research InstituteThe Georgia Tech Research Institute has come up with a solar panel design that could revolutionize the solar industry.

The new design features many nano-towers - think of microscopic blades of grass - that capture more sunlight because they have a larger surface area than the traditional flat design of photovoltaic (PV) cells. These three-dimensional panels produce about 60 times more current that regular solar cells. Because of this leap in efficiency, the coatings on the PV cells can be made thinner, and the overall size, weight, and mechanical complexity of the systems are reduced. From the news release:

“The GTRI photovoltaic cells trap light between their tower structures, which are about 100 microns tall, 40 microns by 40 microns square, 10 microns apart — and built from arrays containing millions of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. Conventional flat solar cells reflect a significant portion of the light that strikes them, reducing the amount of energy they absorb.

Because the tower structures can trap and absorb light received from many different angles, the new cells remain efficient even when the sun is not directly overhead.”

But although the new design can produce a current much more efficiently, photovoltaic cells have to generate a voltage too. So far there’s too much resistance within the solar cell to produce the type of electricity that’s needed. Researchers say that hurdle will be the next phase of development.

The United States Air Force funded part of the research, seeking a smaller, more efficient solar panel that could eventually be used to power satellites and spacecraft. Researchers at Georgia Tech believe solar power would see a large jump in residential and commercial use as well if this lightweight and more efficient design is proven effective.

Georgia Tech Research News
International Business Times via the Green Report

Photo Credit: Green Wombat

Last week, the planet’s most powerful solar energy system was inaugurated in Serpa, Portugal, about 125 miles southeast of Lisbon. Covering approximately 150 acres, the solar farm is already making electricity for 8,000 homes in one of the poorest areas of the country.

The solar system was built by California-based PowerLight and financed and owned by GE Energy Financial Services. Todd Woody of the Green Wombat blog was at the dedication ceremony:

“The reception given PowerLight and GE shows why countries like Portgual, Spain and Germany have become attractive markets for solar power plants. Unlike the United States’ complex and undependable system of state and federal tax credits for solar power, Portugal supports renewable energy with a simple “feed-in tariff” that will pay GE a premium rate for 15 years for the electricity produced by the $75 million Serpa power plant. Portugal modeled its policy on Spain’s, were PowerLight is building two 20-megawatt range power stations.”

Although a new solar plant in Germany has the capacity to produce more power, experts believe that the technology and good solar resources in Portugal will allow the Serpa plant’s 52,000 panels to actually produce more electricity than any other plant in the world.

Portugal’s global warming emissions have surged 37 percent since 1990, one of the largest increases of any nation. Besides being a source of clean, renewable energy, the USD $75 million solar plant is expected to spur more alternative energy development in the region. It will also help Portugal take a step towards its rather astonishing goal of getting 45 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010.

Green Wombat
International Herald Tribune
Stuff, via Green@WorkToday