The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade association for the solar energy industry, announced this week that it has officially merged with the Solar Alliance, an advocacy organization committed to establishing solar policies at the state level. Effective immediately, the Solar Alliance will operate under the SEIA brand in an effort to present a unified solar industry voice in all advocacy efforts at the state level. READ FULL STORY

 The first solar thermal power plant in Thailand is also the first of its kind world-wide. The 5 MW parabolic trough station constructed by Solarlite GmbH of Germany is based on direct steam generation. Collector troughs direct solar radiation onto water flowing through absorber tubes to produce steam at 330 C. Plans call for building 14 additional solar power plants in the region with a combined capacity of 135 MW.  READ FULL STORY

_
While Italy and Germany slug it out for the title of world's largest solar market, the U.S. is hitting its own major photovoltaic milestone.

Last year, the U.S. solar market managed to consume 887 megawatts of solar panels.

This year, the U.S. of A. breaks the one-gigawatt bar for the first time en route to a forecasted 2011 total of 1.8 gigawatts.  READ FULL STORY

The San Luis Solar Ranch outside in southern Colorado is expected to start producing power for the grid in the coming week and be officially commissioned in December. The 110,000 solar panels will produce about 30 megawatts, or enough to power 7,500 homes during peak times. READ FULL STORY