News

Construction of Solar Project Begins in New Mexico

2 mins

LOVINGTON, N.M. — SunEdison broke ground on a 54-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in Lea and Eddy counties in New Mexico, the company announced. The plant is being built on five separate sites.

The Maryland-based solar energy services subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., is developing the project for Xcel Energy’s regional operating company, Southwestern Public Service Co.

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Military Building Designed to Meet LEED Silver Standards

3 mins
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Construction on the combined headquarters for Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve Command at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, one of the state’s largest construction projects currently underway, has been completed. The building has been constructed to LEED Silver standards and will be certified as such in 2012.
 
The 600,000-square-foot, $302 million project will open in summer 2011.
 
Starting in 2013, all new buildings on military bases must attain standards set by the U.S.

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NRG Announces Plan to Buy Yuma Solar Project

2 mins
YUMA COUNTY, Ariz. — NRG Solar announced plans to acquire First Solar’s Agua Caliente solar project in Yuma County. The 290-megawatt installation is expected to be completed by 2014 and will be operated under a 25-year power purchase agreement with energy provider Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Agua Caliente is expected to be the largest photovoltaic installation in the world once it is completed.
 
NRG estimates that at peak capacity, Agua Caliente will generate enough electricity to power more than 225,000 households.

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North Carolina Siemens Health Building Gets LEED Gold

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CARY, N.C. — Siemens Healthcare’s National Service Center in Cary, North Carolina, has been certified to LEED Gold standards by the USGBC, the company reported.
 
Siemens Healthcare, part of Germany-based Siemens, demolished the existing structure at the Cary campus and used more than 95 percent of those materials in constructing the new building.
 
The new143,000-square foot building has office space on six floors and was designed to be 25 percent more energy efficient, said the company.

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Green Youth Education Program Launched in Northeast

3 mins
PHILADELPHIA — CertainTeed, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, and YouthBuild USA announced that they will provide a three-year, $550,000 grant to YouthBuild’s Green Initiative program aimed at providing green education and job training to low-income youth.
 
The YouthBuild Philadelphia green home renovation project will renovate a dilapidated building that has stood vacant for two decades.

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Largest School Solar Contract in U.S. History

2 mins

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mount Diablo Unified School District and SunPower Corp. announced that SunPower was awarded a 30-year contract to design, install and maintain solar power systems at 51 of the district’s schools. Combined, the systems will generate 11.2 megawatts of energy and will save the school district $192 million over the life of the contract, which is the largest such contract to ever be issues in the United States.

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DoD Recruits Solar Firm to Test Emerging Technology

2 mins

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Photovoltaic startup Skyline Solar announced was awarded a $1.58 million contract to install two solar power systems for the U.S. Department of Defense as part of the agency’s program to test new energy technologies.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm will experiment with moving and redeploying the two systems, which will generate 450-megawatt hours of electricity each year. They will be installed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and at Fort Bliss in Texas.

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