On July 21, 2024, Will Jones, Kyle Samluk, Brett Cesar, and Danny Ezzo—four engineering students from Michigan with an EV built out of eight solar panels and three bicycle wheels—set a new record for making the run from Red Ball Garage in New York City to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach—the famed start and finish of the Cannonball Run.
News on Solar Energy
The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined, a report has found.
Research published on Thursday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO, found that China has 180 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar power under construction and 159GW of wind power. That brings the total of wind and solar power under construction to 339GW, well ahead of the 40GW under construction in the US.
The developer plans to generate electricity for five to 10 years after doing so for the first 20 years under the feed-in tariff system, which requires electric power companies to purchase renewable energy at prices set by the central government.
After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, the prefectural government has pushed an ambitious goal to meet all the electricity demands in the prefecture through renewable energy by around 2040.
The Pew Research Center survey explores how Americans would feel about a wind or solar power development in their own community.
On balance, more think wind or solar development would help rather than hurt their local economy. But large shares think it would make no difference or are not sure. Respondents were asked to consider the prospect of wind and solar developments separately, but views on these two types of renewable energy development are very similar.
A new electricity pricing program introduced by the Ontario government will be a boon for rooftop solar, even though it was originally designed for electric vehicle owners.
The new electricity rate, known as Ultra Low Overnight (ULO) pricing, is meant to shift electricity demand from peak to off-peak hours.
So, for power generation and the wider energy transition, unexpectedly maybe, small is and will be beautiful, even as the overall volumes are gigantic. For renewables, no headlines is probably a good thing (as most stories seem to be scary ones). And for offshore wind, a lack of “animal spirits” may be a pity, but the sector will remain a niche (very useful in some places) and a relative minnow compared to solar, onshore wind and, increasingly, storage.
A five-year study of solar farms planted with wildflowers and native grasses discovered that native bees showed a 20-fold increase in numbers.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory wanted to understand how insect pollinators respond to utility solar farms planted with native grasses and wildflowers.
Yes, we went solar in late 2021. Pacific Gas & Electric’s rates, already among the highest in the US, kept … Read more
Tristan Edis, an analyst with the consultants Green Energy Markets, said the lesson for those watching on was pretty simple: the generous early subsidies worked. “It really was this fortuitous accident that happened,” he said. “The message from it is pretty clear: go hard and go big, or don’t bother.”
