SEIA

The 1,316 solar panels at Weslaco's southern wastewater treatment plant gleamed in the heat June 27 — their second day on the job. When the panels were officially plugged in last week, the facility went from being an energy consumer to a self-supporting energy generator.

Underwriters from Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to Credit Suisse AG and Citigroup Inc. (C) for the first time are close to converting sunlight into cash to pay bond investors.

Under a broiling sun, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley joined a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday for what will be the largest solar power array in the state — and one of the biggest on the East Coast — when it is completed later this year.

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno today kicked off a month-long tour of the fastest growing businesses across the state. The first visit was to SunDurance Energy, an Edison-based solar energy company that develops, designs, builds and operates solar power solutions for the commercial, government, and utility-scale markets.

Renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar energy extensively use certain rare earth metals. The availability of these materials, including indium, may be affected by export restrictions for rare earth elements declared in China. The associated industries are trying to restrict usage of the necessary rare earth metals.