The General Motors factory in Zaragoza, Spain is set to get a roof tiled in solar panels as part of a larger initiative throughout GM's European operations. 183,000 square meters of photovoltaic cells will be capable of providing up to a quarter of the factory's peak demand. Zaragoza is GM's biggest European factory, and the project will cost €50m, though its benefit will be significant reduction in energy bills for the automaker. GM has 19 other plants in Europe, and the Saint Petersburg factory is next on the list for the solar treatment. Other locations may follow, though some are likely better suited than others due to a variety of environmental and business factors.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub Req]

With the cost of fuels and the environmental toll of traditional carbon-based sources of electricity generation quickly climbing, solar power in America has become so popular that the government has placed a moratorium on the building of any such projects on Western public land. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has decided to initiate a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in conjunction with the Department of Energy (DOE) to assess the "environmental, social, and economic impacts" that solar installations could have on some of the 119 million acres that it manages in six Western states. While the PEIS is being conducted, no new applications for solar plants will be accepted and the 125 applications already received - which could generate up to 70 billion watts or enough power for 20 million homes - will be the object of their scrutiny. All this effort is being undertaken to, ahem, "increase domestic energy production and ensure greater energy security." According to the New York Times, the PEIS could take two years.

Those folks hoping that the electricity they feed into their Chevy Volts and Apteras in the coming years would be supplied by increasingly carbon-free energy sources may take heart that their voices have not been left out of this process. Comments from the public are encouraged at the Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Solar Energy Development PEIS) website. Of course, we also appreciate your comments as well.

[Source: New York Times]

With so many auto-makers throwing their hats into the electric car ring, cleanly producing electricity cheaply becomes even more important. While the oft-touted nuclear solution seems to be getting a lot more expensive, solar is set to get a lot cheaper. Days after IBM announced it is moving into the thin-film solar power arena, Nanosolar CEO, Martin Roscheisen, remembered his own CIGS solar power company had achieved a remarkable milestone recently and shared some impressive video of the worlds first 1 GW production tool on his blog.

The 1GW CIGS coating machine cost $1.65 million and currently spits out solar goodness at a rate of 100 feet-per-minute. That's about 20 times faster than the high-vacuum process with a machine about 10 times cheaper. Roscheisen claims that, in principle, they could speed it up to 2000 feet-per-minute and says the coating should be even better. Since the target price point for Nanosolar panels has often been mentioned as $1 per watt., we say, "Crank those puppies out!". Check out the video after the jump.

Apparently, California ranks as the nation's largest state when it comes to solar installations, but, rather surprisingly, New Jersey takes the second spot away from such sun-rich states as those situated in the southwestern part of the country and also ranks in the top ten worldwide. The state currently has over 2,500 installations and will soon be adding two more. Nexus Properties has announced that new solar installations will be installed on the rooftops of Clinton Commons and Station Plaza Park & Ride, which flank the local Amtrak station. According to the press release pasted after the break, each roof-mounted solar field will have six-hundred-sixty-two individual solar panels which will measure 2.5 feet by 5 feet. These new installations will combine to reduce electric consumption at the garages by 467,500 kwh annually.

Bill Harris, vice president of operations for Nexus envisions a day when "electric vehicles gain in popularity, [and] we'll be able to convert additional parking spaces to docking stations." There is quite a bit more information, so be sure to hit the break for all the details.

From time to time, an idea pops up which causes you to say, "Why didn't I think of that?" Often, these concepts seem to make so much sense that they absolutely must be implemented as soon as possible. Andrew Leinonen's concept for a floating solar-powered power station may just be one such idea. Using a lighter-than-air vessel, like a blimp, which can be maneuvered pretty much over anyplace in the world, power could be granted to disaster areas and other needy places using solar cells embedded all over the blimp which would turn the suns rays into electricity. It's possible that a vessel such as this could be tethered to the ground using "power boxes" which would be deployed from the airship using long power-carrying cables. The concept features twelve one-hundred-twenty volt outlets along with two two-hundred-forty volt outlets which would be able to offer power where it's needed most.

[Source: Pull The Sky Down via Engadget]

DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has set a seemingly impossible task, known as the Vulture program, by calling for an aircraft which can remain in the sky for five years while generating five kilowatts of power for a 1,000 pound payload. The Odysseus by Aurora Flight Sciences, which has been selected as one promising design by DARPA, doesn't appear capable of flight at all to many onlookers. The odd Z-shaped wing is actually three separate machines which can change their combined shape in order to catch the suns rays throughout the day and flatten out at night, when the Odysseus would fly on battery power alone. Together, the three sections would span almost 500 feet. Advanced composite materials and double-sided solar panels are employed to make the concept appear possible. If DAPRA's vision proves successful, aerial vehicles like these could take the place of satellites for surveillance and communications purposes.

[Sources: Flight Global, Gizmag]

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It's Earth Day, so we would have been shocked to see the day slip by without a press release from Zap about their something or other. True to form, the EV company presents us with news that the Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago will be using an electric Xebra truck with solar panels on the roof in its catering business (read more after the jump). Can't let the Ford Transit Connect have all the food fun, right?

The Xebra is Zap's one legitimate electric vehicle that has more than two wheels, but it does have some drawbacks compared to a "real" car because it's classified as a motorcycle. Still, for deliveries in downtown Chicago, running on electrons is a pretty good plan. Not a lot of sunlight reaches the street in the middle of the Windy City, but if you're on Lakeshore Drive, those panels should be able to suck up some juice. The three-cents-a-mile operating cost has got to be appealing to the business owners as well.

Thule, self proclaimed "experts in maximizing a vehicle's roof space," have decided to maximize their own roof space, so to speak, by installing a 318-kilowatt (kW) DC solar photovoltaic (PV) system at their Seymour, CT U.S. headquarters. Consisting of two separate arrays with a total of 1,876 solar panels, the system will provide 26 percent of the facility's total electrical needs. The sun-loving system was subsidized by The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's On-site Renewable Distributed Energy Program and is owned by Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC, which will provide electricity at a fixed-price below what other energy sources cost.

According to Fred Clark, President of Thule, Inc., "We encourage our employees to ride bikes to work and provide
facilities for those who do so -- leading to Thule being recognized as an industry leader in going green by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News." Adding a solar roof will certainly do nothing but add to that green reputation.

Read the press release after the break.

Lately when talk of using solar energy via large installations comes up it seems the suggestion will invariably be made that we should cover huge swaths of the desert with a solar panel blanket. This strikes me as a little wrong-headed. What might seem a barren wasteland to some is home to a large variety of flora and fauna and there's just a little bit of irony in the proposition of destroying the environment to save it.

I've always thought that rooftops in the cities where we live would be the ideal location for solar panels, and apparently Southern California Edison agrees with me. With a little help from the world's favorite Terminator, the Californian utility has announced a project to install 65 million square feet of thin-film solar panels on rooftops across three Southern California counties. As Arnold says in the video after the jump, this is the equivalent space of "1100 football fields" The project begins this very summer and will take five years to complete. With a total cost of $875 million, the amount of electricity produced will be 250 megawatts which is enough to power 162,000 homes. My humble math skills tell me that each of these homes could have their power needs met for $5,468.75. That sounds like a good deal! Now, if I could only figure out how many miles 250 megawatts would move an Aptera.

[Source: Alternative Energy YouTube]

We're getting close to the start of the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas, and the list of 38 teams that will participate in the competition in some ways mimics real-world power train usage. The overwhelming majority (28) of the vehicles will use combustion engines to try and top last year's incredible 1902 mpg winning score. Alongside the gas engines will be six fuel cell, one LPG, one diesel, and two solar entrants. You can find a full list of the schools from five high schools and 24 universities that are participating - and the names of their vehicles - after the jump. The competition runs from April 10 to 12 at the California Speedway in Fontana, California. The goal is to go the furthest distance on the least amount of fuel. Based on the names alone, I like Peanut Butter and The Hot Pocket. Good luck to all the teams.

Wanna build a solar car? Good new for you, then! Nelson Kruschandl has set up a website where he gives you the ins and outs of solar car construction. Sure, there's plenty of power available from the sun, the tricky part is harnessing enough of it to get anywhere. Therefore, lightweight parts and low power consumption are the name of the game. The make the process as simple to understand as possible, Kruschandl has broken the design down into nine essential components:

1. Chassis and seating
2. Mechanics - suspension, steering, brakes
3. Motor and drive train
4. Motor controller
5. Solar Array - usually part of body
6. Batteries or fuel cells
7. Electrical System and instruments
8. Driver Controls - switches, lighting, etc
9. Bodywork - Screen, etc
   

That doesn't seem to hard, right? Just kidding, obviously, but the process set out in those nine steps makes for an entertaining read, so feel free to follow this link to check it out.

[Source: Bluebird Design via Automotive Blogs]

Remember last year when we posted the video Infinity Miles per Gallon? In that video, Art Haines of Applied Robotics Company set out to build a solar powered electric car ... and succeeded. At the time, we lauded the independent thinking that Haines clearly showed in the project. The story was far from over, however, as Haines is now offering his unique solar NEV in kit form from his website, sunnev.com. So far, five of the kits have been ordered and Haines is working to get them shipped out now. One of those kits, a sedan with a trunk, is headed to an all-girls school in London, and another, a pickup, is on its way to La Grange, Texas.

If you are interested in reading more about the SUNN EV, visit the official website. Pricing is currently broken down into major component packages and can be found here. After assembled, an MSO will allow the vehicle to be registered in your state and the vehicle would qualify as an NEV. We're pretty high on this idea and hope that these kits find happy owners who'll enjoy never filling up their city errand-runner.

[Source: SUNN EV, Morning Sentinel]

As much as we report on the electrification of the automobile, it's important to remember that electric cars need to be charged somehow, and with a huge amount of the electricity in the world coming from less-than-clean power sources, alternatives must be found. Solar power is one such alternative, and energy from the sun can be captured by either using PV cells or through solar-thermal technology, which focuses the sun's rays on a fixed point, heating fluids and powering turbines. Solar-thermal company Ausra believes that soon they will be able to provide enough power for 90 percent of the homes in the U.S. along with an entire fleet of electric cars using their Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector technology. Wouldn't that be nice!

As intriguing as solar-thermal technology already is, there are hurdles to overcome. Some question how well the successful small power plants will scale to become large providers of energy. The biggest question, though, remains how to store the heat generated throughout the day so that power can be made throughout the night as well. Until these questions are adequately answered, solar-thermal technology is likely to remain a small player against the established players, including coal.

[Source: Wired Science]

Need electricity to power your future PHEV or electric car but don't want more coal or nuclear power plants to add to our pollution problems or maybe drain the country's water resources? It seems with each impending disaster our past and present technology creates, a new technology emerges to counter the effects. After reading about new studies which warn of the need to end CO₂ emissions and feeling a bit worried, relief came quickly this morning as I read on ScienceDaily of a new breakthrough in solar energy generation. Whilst we have all been fretting about how we were going to power the future, the alchemists in the Materials Research Center at Swansea University in Wales have "kept nose to grindstone" and have now announced they can collect energy from the sun with paint.

The kinks haven't been completely worked out yet but if they can succeed in applying the paint properly to the metal cladding commonly used on buildings, they believe they could produce 4,500 gigawatts of electricity collectors a year. And that's in not-so-sunny England with an energy conversion rate of a meager 5 percent. The secret to the huge total amount is simple. Volume Volume VOLUME! Corus Colours, the manufacturer the research team has been working with, produces around 100 million square meters of steel building cladding a year. I'm not sure what I should reach for first, my calculator to guesstimate the worldwide implications or my dancing shoes.

[Source: ScienceDaily]

Twenty college teams from around the world (well, the U.S., Germany, Canada, Spain and Puerto Rico) will compete in the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition that will take place next fall in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Energy's challenge is to build and run an entire home on solar power. As in previous years, the teams will also need to take into consideration generating enough electricity to power an electric car.

True to the name, the student-led teams will need to focus on ten areas. Transportation is covered by the EV aspect mentioned above. The other nine categories are architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, comfort, appliances, hot water, lighting, and energy balance. The DOE states:

In addition to producing enough electricity and hot water to perform all the functions of a home, from powering lights and electronics to cooking, washing clothes and dishes, each home must produce surplus energy sufficient to power an electric car. The team that finishes the week of competition with the most points wins.

The 20 teams (listed after the jump) will each get $100,000 for this contest, which is part of President Bush's Solar America Initiative, a plan the DOE says "seeks to make solar power cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015." The video above was shot at the 2007 Solar Decathlon, where the team from Technische Universistät Darmstadt won. Here's the DOE press release announcing the 2009 teams.

Related:

• ABG's youngest "correspondent" checks out the Solar Decathlon solar homes
• Twenty teams working towards 2007 Solar Decathlon

[Source: DOE via Renewable Energy Access]