Category : Solar

A solar project meant to provide 10% of Gallup’s electricity for the next two decades is falling short of expectations, highlighting just one of the challenges as investor-owned utilities and rural electric cooperatives across New Mexico look to boost their share of renewable energy to meet the state’s escalating benchmarks. Utilities scrambled to meet a statewide requirement in 2020 for having 20% of retail electricity sales come from renewable energy sources. Not all of them met the goal. The state’s largest electric utility — Public Service Co. of New Mexico — missed the mark by a small percentage but expects to come into compliance soon when a new wind farm in Torrance County begins commercial operations.

There are many reasons why homeowners go solar, but improving the environment and cutting energy costs are the most common. Many people are aware that solar is a great home efficiency upgrade and are eager to reduce their carbon footprint while also improving property value.

The global COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on many global industries, but it was a period of growth for the renewable sector. This is set to extend into 2021 with solar set to have its biggest year to date with individuals, businesses and government lining up to join the renewables revolution.

As the cost of renewable energy continues to fall, more and more households are switching to clean, renewable electricity sources. Among the most affordable and abundant of these is residential solar. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association,1solar generated $17 billion in investments for the U.S. economy in 2018.

We are going to build a lot more wind and solar over the coming decades. It will inevitably lead to oversupply of these resources on the grid. But is that a good thing?

Don Gale unwittingly spreads fossil fuel industry misinformation when he claims “we could cover the state with solar panels and windmills and it still wouldn’t provide enough electricity to handle predictable needs.”

Peachtree Corners earlier this month announced that the city has installed a solar roadway system