The 23,000 solar panels, situated in the Oxfordshire countryside, which began supplying electricity in July are capable of powering 1500 homes.

The solar farm, constructed by Blue Energy, has a generating capacity of just under 5MW and is part of a combined green energy site that includes wind turbines. All together, the site will produce enough power to supply 4,000 homes for at least the next 25 years.

Meanwhile, another major solar park is now up and running near Louth in Lincolnshire, which is also a hybrid site. Constructed by green energy company Ecotricity, the solar park has a generating capcity of 1MW, and works alongside 20 windmills generating 16MW.

Ecotricity said that the installation of solar panels has no impact on the ground below – there is no concrete being used on site – and that the panels are completely recyclable at the end of their life.

The post Britain’s largest solar farm goes live appeared first on Positive News.

There has been a 66% growth in solar electric capacity so far this year, with almost 3,000 megawatts installed across the US, enough to power 600,000 homes. The industry hopes to install 10 gigawatts by 2015, enough to power 2 million homes.

Statistics produced by the Solar Foundation’s National Solar Job Consensus showed that the industry is creating more jobs per megawatt than other energy source, with 93,000 Americans employed in the industry in 2010.

The post US solar industry thriving appeared first on Positive News.