Solar power in Colorado has grown rapidly, partly because of one of the most favorable net metering laws in the country, with no limit on the number of users. Colorado was the first state where Dow introduced their solar shingles.[1] General Electric is planning on building a solar panel plant in Aurora, Colorado, to produce 400 MW of thin film CdTe panels each year,[2] but has delayed construction for at least 18 months with the drop in worldwide photovoltaics prices.[3]
A 31% tariff on solar cells made in China initiated by request of SolarWorld is expected to have little effect in the United States, as suppliers will simply shift to cells made in Taiwan and Malaysia for the U.S. market, which is a much smaller market compared to Europe and China. Almost 75% of photovoltaics installed in 2011 was in Europe. One company that was affected is Suntech, which reported a 34.9% decrease in revenue.[4] Suntech, the largest maker of solar panels, made some of the panels used for the Nellis Solar Power Plant, in Nevada.[5]
Solar farms [edit]
[7]
Installed capacity [edit]
| Colorado Solar Capacity (MWp)[8][9][10] |
| Year |
Photovoltaics |
CSP |
| Capacity |
Installed |
% Change |
Capacity |
Installed |
% Change |
| 2007 |
14.6 |
11.5 |
371% |
|
|
|
| 2008 |
35.7 |
21.7 |
145% |
|
|
|
| 2009 |
59.1 |
23.4 |
66% |
|
|
|
| 2010 |
121.1 |
62.0 |
105% |
1 |
1 |
|
| 2011 |
196.7 |
75.5 |
62% |
1 |
0 |
0% |
See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By state |
|
|
| Power plants |
|
Current
|
|
|
|
Planned and
under construction
|
|
|
|
| Companies |
|
|
| Organisations |
|
|
Residential
solar power |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Politics and law |
|
|
| Energy by state |
|
|
| Sources |
|
|
| Environmental issues |
|
|
| Organizations |
|
|
|
|
|
