sun

The Greek island of Crete is planning for a 38-megawatt solar plant an BrightSource has been tapped to help build it.

Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource has signed a deal with Nur Energie, the U.K. company developing the solar project, to use its LPT 550 energy system, the solar manufacturer announced today.

When complete and running at full capacity, the plant is expected to generate enough electricity for 13,000 homes.

BrightSource is known for its signature solar "power tower" technology that employs hundreds of sun-worshipping heliostats. The solar-tracking mirrors reflect solar rays on a common tower containing … Read more

For every George Seifert there's a Sammy Hagar: making the change from an iconic leader to even a well-groomed successor can be very tricky.

The tech industry doesn't have a whole lot in common with the San Francisco 49ers or Van Halen, both of which were forced to integrate new leaders into their organizations following the departure of dynamic leaders (Bill Walsh and David Lee Roth) who put their respective groups on the map. But the tech industry is relatively young and hasn't often been forced to confront the tricky question of how to replace an iconic … Read more

NRG Solar and SunPower said today they expect to begin construction on a large 250-megawatt solar installation next year in California's central coastal region.

The project would be one of the largest solar plants in the U.S., the companies said. NRG Solar, a subsidiary of utility NRG Energy, is purchasing the project from SunPower for about $450 million over four years.

The California Valley Solar Ranch plant will use SunPower's solar photovoltaic panels, which are mounted on trackers that position the panels to follow the sun to optimize power output. SunPower will build and operate the plant. … Read more

As of November, the Italian city of Rovigo is home to the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar plant in Europe, SunEdison announced today.

SunEdison, a subsidiary of the silicon wafer manufacturer MEMC Electronic Materials, is right, but even it admits the claim comes with a qualifier by calling the 70-megawatt plant "Europe's largest single site solar farm."

For there are many large-scale solar projects both in existence and under way in Europe involving more megawatts, but very often those announcements of super-megawatt projects are really a series of smaller, interconnected PV farms spread out over a region.

Brandenburg, … Read more

Microsoft has released a seventh test version of Internet Explorer 9 the company says is better at "real-world" Web-based JavaScript programs. But with it has come a rival's accusation that Microsoft essentially engaged in the storied computer industry practice of benchmark engineering--designing technology to be fast on an artificial speed test.

The seventh IE9 platform preview comes with new improvements to its Chakra JavaScript engine. And Microsoft asserted Chakra is engineered to do better on actual Web site tasks rather than narrow benchmarks.

"Over the last few weeks, we've been tuning the JavaScript engine for … Read more

Solar company SunRun said today it has secured enough money to finance 1,900 residential solar electric installations, helping fuel its growth.

The San Francisco-based company said that US Bancorp has made tens of millions of dollars available to SunRun, representing the fourth time it has closed a round with the bank.

SunRun is one of a few companies offering homeowners the option to get third-party financing for solar rooftop photovoltaic panels. In this model, people pay a small upfront fee and a monthly payment for the installation and ongoing service, rather than pay the anywhere between $25,000 and $… Read more

SunHydro opened its first solar hydrogen fueling station in Connecticut last week, marking what the company hopes will be the start of the East coast hydrogen highway.

From Maine to Miami, the Connecticut-based company plans to open a network of mostly 24-hour self-service stations that generate hydrogen onsite using solar energy and a proton electrolyzer made by Proton Energy, SunHydro's sister company.

The station is in SunHydro's parking lot in Wallingford, Conn., and its rooftop is equipped with 75 kw worth of solar panels that the station's generator uses to produce approximately 2.6 kilograms of hydrogen … Read more

Sun Catalytix, a start-up developing a low-cost catalyst for hydrogen-based energy system, said today that Indian industrial conglomerate Tata has invested in the company.

Tata and Sun Catalytix's current investor, venture capital firm Polaris Ventures, put $9.5 million into the start-up in its series B round of funding.

The investment will allow Sun Catalytix to develop prototypes of its energy system, Daniel Nocera, the MIT professor who developed the technology and founded the company, said in a statement.

Nocera's research has focused on designing a catalyst made of inexpensive materials to break off hydrogen from water. Sun … Read more

A group of programmers has forked OpenOffice.org, the open-source rival to Microsoft Office that Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems.

The group, called the Document Foundation, published beta versions of its software, called LibreOffice for download on Tuesday. And although the group invited Oracle to offer its OpenOffice trademark, they made it clear they're willing to proceed without the software and now hardware company.

"Developers are invited to join the project and contribute to the code in the new friendly and open environment, to shape the future of office productivity suites alongside contributors who translate, test, … Read more