Richmond Public Schools (RPS) will be announcing the completion of its solar panel project. Governor Ralph Northam, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras and Secure Futures Solar CEO Tony Smith will be in attendance at the announcement. The announcement will take place at Lucille M. Brown Middle School on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. The project is the largest solar energy system completed at a K-12 school division in Virginia to date. Solar panels have been installed on 10 campuses across th

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and scientists just solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency. A new study outlines a material defect in silicon used to produce solar cells that has previously gone undetected. It could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency drop that solar cells can see in the first hours of use: Light Induced Degradation (LID). Mult

Researchers at Stanford University now estimate that there are 1.47 million solar panels in use across the contiguous 48 states, a number that’s higher than any other previous estimate. But what’s really cool about this stat is the way they got it. The Stanford scientists built an A.I. called DeepSolar to count up solar panels from space. The machine-learning system “analyzes satellite imagery to identify the GPS locations and sizes of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels,” accordi

Clean energy is at a crossroads. To become a viable replacement for fossil fuels, solar power plants must first improve their efficiency to match the electrical output of nonrenewable energy sources. This relies heavily upon the innovation and development of new products that absorb and exchange heat at higher temperatures. HEATING UP Unlike the solar panels on hybrid cars or residential rooftops, the ones found in solar power plants are massive and numerous. They absorb as m

A team of solar energy researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio has been awarded $1.35 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office to continue its work toward increasing the efficiency and lifetime of photovoltaic modules—specifically aimed at pushing their lifespan to 50 years. The project is being led by Roger French, the Kyocera Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the Case School of Engineering an

Floating solar panel technology has been gaining traction as a favorable and cost-effective alternative to land-based photovoltaic systems. Thriving on the cusp of a massive inclination toward renewable energy adoption, the floating solar panel market stands as one of the highest-potential verticals in the go-green landscape. The rather stringent regulatory framework advocating mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in tandem with rigorous initiatives for clean power ge