Power tower solar has been under a cloud – in the U.S., anyway – after 321 birds or bats were killed in the first 6 months of operation by flying through solar flux above the Ivanpah Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant, the Google-funded colossus in California’s Mojave desert.

Southern California Gas Company is bringing sci-fi innovation to life and has joined with the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC) to launch demonstration projects to create and test a carbon-free, power-to-gas system for the first time ever in the U.S.

The United States will transition from a net importer of natural gas to a net exporter of the fuel by 2017 as the nation’s shale gas production continues to grow, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday in its Annual Energy Outlook.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“Greenbacker”) announced today that through a wholly-owned subsidiary it acquired 2.05 Megawatts of operating solar power facilities located in Gainesville, Florida for a purchase price of $4,150,000 (“Gainesville Solar”) plus closing costs.

State regulators on Thursday approved a deal that will create Florida’s largest solar project and provide power to the Sunshine State’s smallest investor-owned utility.  

Miami nonprofit CappSci won a nearly $300,000 grant to develop its Science Barge, a floating laboratory on Biscayne Bay.

“What a lot of people call a fan is the rotor on a wind turbine,” explains Michael Hayman, ’03, professional engineer and project manager for Moventas in Portland, Ore.

A change in the rules for permitted development rights in the UK has increased the development threshold for rooftop solar panels on commercial property by a factor of 20.

Brazil will increase the use of renewable energy, target zero net deforestation and push for low-carbon agriculture as part of its climate proposal, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said in an interview.

Solar panel maker SunPower Corp said it would partner with Apple Inc to build two solar power projects in China’s Sichuan province with total capacity of 40 megawatts.