Solar Power Growing Across the U.S.

In Massachusetts, a company called SunRun is providing a solar power-as-service program that is installing, maintaining and insuring solar systems for homes. Buyers only pay for the produced electricity. The program has an up-front fee of $1000, and electricity bills can be paid on a monthly basis or paid in advance for up to 18 years.


Similar solar power-as-service programs are already running in California and Arizona.


Arizona's concentrating solar power plant is located 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, and is being built and operated by Abengoa. The 280 megawatt (MW) Solana Generating Station can store enough of the sun's concentrated heat energy to meet constant power demand.


In addition, Arizona's northern neighbor, Nevada, is expecting what could be the largest solar plant in North America, as FirstSolar has announced their plans to add onto a solar power plant in Boulder City, NV. The 48 MW expansion consisting of nearly a million panels, named the Copper Mountain Solar plant, will be built beside the Sempra Generation El Dorado energy plant. Construction is slated to begin sometime later this year.


(Source, TreeHugger 1, 2, 3)

- Alisa Manzelli, Move Staff Writer
E-mail: Alisa Manzelli@Move.com