All About Solar | Green Energy News

April 23, 2006 – Vol.11 No.5

ALL ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news...

Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the former Soviet Union when the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred: Chernobyl. Perhaps it was that incident that turned him against nuclear power and towards green energy.

Recently he said this, comparing the two:

"Nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges," President Gorbachev said recently. "You don't actually solve problems by finding solutions that create more problems down the track. It doesn't add up economically, environmentally or socially. Of all the energy options, nuclear is the most capital intensive to establish, decommissioning is prohibitively expensive and the financial burden continues long after the plant is closed. In the U.S., for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115 billion between 1947 and 1999 with a further $145 billion in indirect subsidies. In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar combined during the same period totaled only $5.5 billion."

Now Gorbachev , the Founder and Chairman of Green Cross International , wants the G8 nations to push solar energy into mainstream by the creation of a $50 billion Global Solar Fund. Moneys would be spent over ten years on solar energy projects planet-wide. Funds would be raised by cutting subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

An energy security brief sent to G8 leaders by Gorbachev called for strong commitments to sustainable energy and warned of the dangers of continued reliance on oil, gas and nuclear power. For the brief visit Green Cross International at http://www.greencrossinternational.net/ or the US affiliate Global Green USA at http://www.globalgreen.org/

Even without a global solar funding program, solar energy steams ahead. New solar energy capacity is being built on a regular basis.

Solel, an Israel-based developer of solar thermal power generation systems announced that it has a $24 million contract to supply solar thermal trough receivers for a 50-megawatt solar thermal power plant to be built in Spain. The facility will be built by Spanish firm Cobra Instalaciones y Servivios and will be the first of its kind in the country according to Solel.

Spire has completed and commissioned 15-megawatt solar module production line for EMMVEE Solar Systems of Bangalore, India.

Evergreen Solar’s EverQ manufacturing plant in Thalheim, Germany is up and running and shipping products. The plant makes Evergreen’s Spruce line of solar modules that are available up in sizes up to 190 watts.

It all adds up.

Visit Solel at http://www.solel.com/, Spire at http://www.spirecorp.com/, EMMVEE at http://www.emmveesolar.com/ and Evergreen at http://www.evergreensolar.com/