Nederland Renewable Energy Project

The solar garden act was signed into Colorado law recently, which compels utility companies to facilitate community solar projects. This is another great way to go solar, since neighbors can get together and buy into a neighborhood solar project.  Since many people rent or don't have the right rooftop for solar PV, it rocks!  Plus, the economies of scale make it cheaper per kilowatt. Read about the very first solar garden project, which just opened in the Roaring Fork Valley:

http://blog.cleantechies.com/2010/08/12/new-stickers-increase-solar-pane...

Durability unproven but interesting even for installed panels.

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2010-03/timeline-simpler-sonar   From fabric to roof shingles....

Great analysis of the Solar Gardens concept especially with respect to financing (a.k.a. subscriptions).  I don't agree that ground mounted arrays should be prohibited as many home owners do not have appropriate roof space. http://cleanenergywonk.com/2010/03/07/community-solar-gardens/ http://cleanenergywonk.com/2010/03/08/can-the-poor-afford-a-community-solar-garden-subscription/ The initial blog postings do not consider the non-profit model.  NedREP could solicit tax deductible contributions and contribute to the construction of Solar Gardens.

http://iphone.cnet.com/site?sid=cnet_ip&pid=News.Detail&category=56&topic=10453303&changeTitle=A%20new%20wire%20twist%20on%20silicon%20solar%20cells%20-%20CNET%20News%20 New life for silicon cells in flexible panels that might be woven into clothing.  Inorganic cells have higher PV efficiencies than the flexible organic cells that have been proposed to date.

This efficiency could allow much smaller footprint solar farms.

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2010/JAN/HELIOS_040110.htm

http://greeneconomypost.com/promising-thin-film-solar-startups-7588.htm?...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-engines-the-future-...

May be too unreliable but at 31% efficiency it is about double current PV efficiency....

http://coloradoenergynews.com/2009/11/affordable-solar-leasing-stakes-ou...

Other local companies also offer leases.  For example, Lighthouse Solar has their own finance arm.  My guess is that all of these lease options are somewhat similar.  The consumer (homeowner or business) commits to buying power from the lease company for 20 years at a set rate.  The lease company gets the benefit of all the tax breaks and Xcel rebates, and charges the consumer interest along with a small down payment.  Now, if the consumer could also get some tax breaks from this lease (definitely for businesses) it could be bigger a win-win.  From a cash flow perspective, leasing allows more people to participate with less cash up front.

http://envirothink.greenpress.com/uncategorized/add-salt-to-solar-for-li...

http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/ricesolar/index.html