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Energy

  1. NextEra's 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight plant, seen in a May 3 file photo, struck its own deal with Riverside County for a franchise fee and began construction before the county passed a $450-per-acre solar fee, which supervisors voted Tuesday to cut to $150. K Kaufmann, The Desert Sun

    Supervisors vote to cut county solar fee

    The Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved revisions to its embattled solar fee policy, cutting the amount large-scale solar developers may have to pay the county from $450 to $150 an acre.

    • May 21, 2013
  2. Robert Bruce, an advanced meter installer with the Southern California Gas Company, installs one of their advanced meters on a home in Desert Hot Springs, Friday, May 17th, 2013. Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun

    Gas company meter upgrade riles some

    Robert Bruce knelt down by the gas meter at a house on Cottonwood Road in Desert Hot Springs on Friday and quickly took off the plastic casing protecting the dials.

    • May 20, 2013
  3. The home of Rick Walsh and Patrick Dowd in Palm Springs, designed by green architect Lance O'Donnell to be zero net, or carbon neutral, producing enough of its own energy to offset any power it takes from the grid. In this photo the slanted roof top was design to hide the solar panels on roof. Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun

    Zero-net houses produce as much energy as they use

    Designed by Palm Springs architect Lance O'Donnell, the 2,100-square-foot home the couple moved into last month feels simultaneously new but organically connected to its surroundings, with clean lines, a low-profile and muted off-white exterior.

    • May 18, 2013
  4. K Kaufmann. Desert Sun file

    Solar boom a bit slower to reach us

    California's solar rebate program has now put panels on more than 150,000 roofs statewide, not quite the million roofs Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger envisioned when he launched the program in 2007, but noteworthy nonetheless.

    • May 18, 2013
  5. Blade breaks off wind turbine near El Centro

    A 173-foot-long blade broke off a wind turbine and fell to the ground at a 315-megawatt wind farm that supplies electricity near El Centro, it was reported Saturday.

    • May 18, 2013
  6. Competitive Power Ventures' Sentinel natural-gas power plant near Desert Hot Springs is ready to supply power to the California market. Courtesy photo

    Valley's new 'peaker' plant ready early

    Competitive Power Ventures' Sentinel natural-gas power plant near Desert Hot Springs is ready to start pumping electricity onto the grid two and a half months ahead of its original commissioning date, just as officials are raising warnings of possible summer energy shortages.

    • May 16, 2013
  7. Construction workers connect wiring to solar panels at the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight project, which struck its own deal with Riverside County for a franchise fee. The county has reached a settlement with industry groups over its solar fee for other projects. / Courtesy of Desert Sunlight

    Riverside County solar fee slashed in settlement

    A settlement has been reached that could end two solar industry trade groups' 15-month-long legal battle over Riverside County's $450-per-acre solar fee by slashing it to to $150 per acre, to be raised 2 percent per year.

    • May 16, 2013
  8. The San Onofre nuclear power plant in north San Diego County, Calif., is seen in this March 1, 2010 file photo. AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File

    SCE plans for summer without San Onofre

    Southern California Edison is once again urging customers in the Coachella Valley and across the utility's 50,000-square-mile service territory to start conserving energy now as it prepares for a second summer without its San Onofre nuclear power plant.

    • May 14, 2013
  9. Argonne chemist Trevor Dzwiniel runs an experiment in Argonne's Materials Engineering and Research Facility. Argonne National Laboratory

    Researchers crank up search for better battery

    On an arid mountain in Eureka County, Nev., a mining company believes it's struck the 21st-century equivalent of gold.

    • May 13, 2013
  10. K Kaufmann. Desert Sun file

    Green Desert: Don't leave climate change off curriculum

    I attended the opening session of the Environmental and Sustainability Expo at California State University, San Bernardino's Palm Desert campus Thursday evening, where several dozen attendees got a preview of what 600 students from across the valley would be doing at the next day's event.

    • May 11, 2013
  11. Lights are powered by a battery system on display by EnerDel during ExFOB (Experimental Forward Operating Base) at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center on Thursday in Twentynine Palms. Marilyn Chung/The Desert Sun

    Twentynine Palms tries green

    In the not-so-distant future, U.S. troops could go into combat with solar panels on their backs and laptop-controlled microgrid systems that will make frontline bases super energy efficient.

    • May 10, 2013
  12. Hot Purple Energy installation crew members Andrew Houston of Indio Hills (bandana) and Hank Henss of Desert Hot Springs (white hat) install solar panels on a residential roof in Palm Springs on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun

    IID panel mulls more solar rebates

    Nonprofit groups in the Coachella Valley and Imperial County may have a second chance to get thousands of dollars in solar rebates from the Imperial Irrigation District.

    • May 7, 2013
  13. REAL Academy seniors Luis Vargas (right), Baneza Aguilar (left) give a student presentation including a solar installation design and considerations on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at Desert Hot Springs High School. Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun

    Students well-versed in renewable energy

    When the 24 seniors in the REAL program at Desert Hot Springs High School pick up their diplomas next month, they will have a marketable skill few, if any, of their fellow graduates have.

    • May 5, 2013
  14. One of the parabolic solar troughs at NextEra Energy's Genesis solar plant, now under construction east of the Coachella Valley, reflects the desert and a nearby truck. This first of two 125-megawatt units at Genesis will go online later this year. K Kaufmann, The Desert Sun

    Calif.'s solar energy industry cloudy

    Later this year, two large-scale solar plants now rising on public land east of the Coachella Valley will pump their first power onto the grid, as part of a massive influx of renewable power coming online across California.

    • May 4, 2013
  15. CVAG chooses PACE firm

    The Coachella Valley Association of Governments' Executive Committee voted Monday to go with Santa Rosa-based Ygrene Energy Fund to organize a regional property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing program.

    • Apr. 29, 2013
  16. Mark Wasson of Palm Desert put solar panels on his home and installed a variable speed pool pump on his home using Palm Desert's energy loan program. Here he is photographed next to his pool pump. Omar Ornelas/ The Desert Sun

    Vote Monday aims to expand solar financing

    Since Palm Desert launched one of the nation's first property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing programs in 2008, Coachella Valley officials have been wrestling with how to create a similar, valleywide program to provide residents with affordable loans for energy-efficient home upgrades.

    • Apr. 28, 2013
  17. Programmable and automatic thermostats from the Nest can learn the houses daily energy schedules and adjust even while the homeowner is away. courtesy of nest.com

    Gadget adjusts based on energy use patterns

    Do an Internet search for the words 'learning thermostat,' and what likely will pop up are thousands and thousands of hits, almost all of them about the Nest thermostat.

    • Apr. 27, 2013
  18. K Kaufmann. Desert Sun file

    Green Desert: California leads nation in power outages

    California led the nation in power outages in 2012, with the state racking up 510 blackouts totaling 16,984 minutes — nearly 12 days — affecting more than 1.4 million people.

    • Apr. 27, 2013

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