Stops on the Yellow Brick Road
Photo credit: prashmeister
Tax credits, power plants, and polymers…Oh My! The weeks comprising the transition from April to May and the height of springtime illustrated no end to the steady advancement of solar power worldwide. 2009 may go down as a slow year for the industry, but that is not stopping cities and countries, businesses and individuals from laying stone after stone along that solar-powered and yellow-bricked road to a clean energy future.
These links are exemplary of both the solar industry’s technological advancements and the institutional commitment to renewable energy in the long term. We start where the wind blows and the blues grow — Sweet Home…
Chicago – where SunPower and Exelon are planning a $60 million, 10 megawatt solar power plant within the Windy City’s metro area; the project, Exelon says, will be the largest urban solar power plant in the country. Now we head south on (old) Route 66 — truly America’s yellow brick road — on our way to
Photo credit: David Paul Ohmer
Texas – The nation’s windiest state (in terms of energy production) is looking to become the nation’s solar state as well, with a newly-approved $500 million solar tax subsidy designed to increase the Lone Star State’s solar power generation by 60% in the next five years. Heading further west to
Arizona – we find ourselves in Scottsdale where Arizona State University and Advent Solar are teaming up to develop new solar photovoltaic technologies and promote solar in the sunny Southwest. Yet solar power innovation is most certainly not limited to American soil. So no trip down the solar-brick road would be complete without a jump overseas, this time to
Photo credit: kevindooley
Denmark – where the world’s first polymer solar cell power plant has been hooked up to the grid — a huge and symbolic step for solar power. It demonstrates the power grid potential of third generation solar cells.
That concludes this sunny trip along the yellow brick road as we reach for our Oz; our self sustaining society ‘neath the sun. Care to lay your very own brick in the road? Get free estimates now from certified solar contractors in your area!
Posted on May 12th in Solar News by Dan.