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EGEB: Bulletproof solar panels, top 40 renewable investment destinations, a ‘right’ to sunlight, more

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news

China and India overtake US as best renewable investment destinations – The basis of the USA falling from the top spot are political changes put forth by the Trump Administration. Investment funds don’t like their cash sitting around – and if the USA is going to slow its movement, there are plenty of places for it to flow globally. On the other hand – politics aside – China and India should be leading the world. It’s good to see them take their proper places.

Speaking of hundreds of billions of dollars – Solar to attract more investment than coal, gas and nuclear combined this year – Game, Set, Match, folks. Plus another $100B+ for wind. In Europe, renewable technologies will attract 73.4% of power generation investment this year. By 2020, say the analysts, non-hydro renewable energies will account for 65% of all power generation investment, led by the strong backing for solar found in India, China and other emerging economies and markets. India alone will see clean energy investment grow by 24% per year until 2020, the report finds. We will still need fossils and nuclear for a while – but change is coming hard.

Solar panels and the law: Can you stop your neighbor from blocking your sunlight? – According to the local code in this case in Australia: if you build a solar power system on your house, yes, however a community garden – no.

Air Force Develops New, Deployable, Energy Systems – Ok, that was a touch of clickbaity for the headline for this payoff – In addition to providing a reliable, steady source of power, the team is exploring solar panels that can be shot by a bullet and still remain operational – but be honest: If a salesperson took you out to the range as part of the process, and shot their solar panel – would you stop worrying about hail? I might.

After three Baltic countries agree to disconnect power grids from Russia, the cyber hackers arrive – One reason to consider home energy production – interstate politics. In country #1 – there are only centralized power plants. War/politics/etc starts – they’re attacked first. Broad swaths of society bear the consequences. In country #2 – those same centralized power plants probably still exist, however, in times of complexity the people scale down their energy usage after those plants are hacked/shut down and learn to live on locally produced electricity. Terrible reality to consider – but we humans are aggressive things.

Glencore Says Electric Car Boom Is Coming Faster Than Expected – see image below. According to my limited knowledge of the world, Glencore is one of the smartest, most successful commodity houses on the planet. Listen to them.

Defying Trump, these state leaders are trying to impose their own carbon taxes – the states are – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Washington. Call your politicians folks.

SEIA to lead campaign against Suniva’s USITC trade complaint – A few notes from the article – neither SunPower nor FirstSolar, US manufacturers, have taken up a public position on Suniva’s position. SolarWorld US – whose European arm just filed for insolvency – has come out against the trade complaint. SolarWorld AG – the German arm – said very specifically that it was price dumping by Chinese manufacturers that led to its demise.

Speaking of…SolarWorld Americas maintains full operation – This is good news for those who have orders of panels, and possibly for those who already have them installed and are wondering about warranty questions. This will be a challenge for sales people – however – maybe not as SolarWorld USA has been running for a long time on its own. Those of you considering installing solar power on your homes or businesses – how would you react to this news if SolarWorld were being pitched to you?

South Korea to close 10 coal plants for summer to combat air pollution – Coal is like so many things, on the one hand, it gives us the tools needed to keep us alive like no time ever in history. It also kills us. South Korea has a new President – he said renewables were part of the future, and that coal would be shut down. Surprised the gentlemen didn’t talk nuclear more – South Korea seems the leader (only group?) at delivering on price, on time nuclear.

I’ll admit, I watched the video more so for the opportunity to turn Thunderstruck up at 6.30 AM – but, 110MW by Cypress Creek ain’t bad either.

Header – Huawei panels, 700MW, Ningxi, China – think they’re growing grapes underneath.

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