Pacific Gas & Electric, one of California’s biggest utility companies, is turning to solar power. PG&E CEO Peter Darbee (left) said the company plans to build and own solar installations. Currently, the utility purchases clean energy from third parties.

Darbee said the plan is to include a large-scale solar rooftop project “in the neighborhood” of SCE’s $875 million, 250-megawatt solar rooftop project.

However, the flailing economy and the structure of the solar subsidy has made building these solar facilities dubious.

“We will do a filing in the next quarter to make an equity investment in renewable energy,” Darbee said. “We are going to move to an equity investment because we have a tax appetite whereas so many other entities do not.”

Although the 30 percent tax credit is alluring, due to the economic climate fewer big companies are wanting to invest in these deals. However, the attraction for PG&E is that With distributed solar, the company could own and operate the panels installed on the rooftops of commercial buildings and homes.

This test illustrates how dunking solar panels underwater gives off a 9 percent stronger PV photovoltaic sun power due to the efficiency drop from heat build-up in PV panels. Water can be heated while the panel produces a more efficient energy yield.

Good idea, but what happens in the winter for those of us who live in more frigid climates? How do you dunk the panel into a block of ice?

Mechanical designer Art Haines, who lives in Maine, built a solar-powered car from scratch with the help of high school students. Imagine never having to fill up again!

Maryland and Connecticut are struggling with budget shortfulls for solar power programs that have run out of money early.

Maryland is out of cash when it comes to funding a popular program that provided aid to home or business owners who installed solar energy systems.

State’s solar incentives offer help to subsidize the cost of buying and installing a solar power system for home and business owners, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars for a home. These programs have become popular not only among citizens, but among state and local governments trying to promote clean energy production. However with the ever-flailing econonmy, Maryland is having trouble continuing to fund these programs.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Connecticut is struggling to find money for a solar rebate program.

“We won’t know what we will have available [for solar rebates] for the next several months,” Donna Tommelleo, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, said Tuesday. “Like every other state, everybody is hurting.”

Rather than rebates, some local governments are looking at alternative solar power incentives. California, for example, has net metering programs in place that allow solar energy system owners that generate more power than they can use to feed the excess power back into the grid – a deduction they will enjoy on their future electricity bills.