West Virginia brings first of 5 solar farms online – why that matters
The first of five planned West Virginia solar farms just came online – here’s why that’s significant for the state.
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The US’s third-largest utility will shut down 55% of its coal fleet by 2030
Atlanta-based Southern Co., the US’s third-largest utility, will terminate around 55% of its coal fleet by 2030. Southern Co. is working toward achieving net zero by 2050.
Expand Expanding CloseCoal-dependent West Virginia gets a $200 million wind farm
West Virginia is getting a 115 MW wind farm, which will increase the state’s wind power by 15%. Here’s why that’s a really big deal – and why West Virginia’s governor, Jim Justice, is so excited.
Expand Expanding CloseCoal CEO Bob Murray dies after filing for black lung benefits
Bob Murray, the board chairman of Murray Energy, the largest privately owned — and bankrupt — US coal operator, died on Sunday at age 80. He had announced his retirement less than a week before.
Expand Expanding CloseThe TVA is going green. Is Trump taking revenge?
In its first corporate sustainability report, the federally owned utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) says it’s on track to reduce emissions by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030.
But on Monday, Donald Trump fired two members of its board of directors, including its chair, on the grounds that it’s hiring low-cost foreign labor. The TVA says that’s not true. So what’s really going on?
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West Virginia may install solar on former coal sites
The environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy is working with West Virginia’s Coalfield Development Corporation to put large-scale solar energy on a decommissioned coal mine site. This would be a first in West Virginia.
Navajo Generating Station, biggest coal plant in the US West, shuts down this week
The 2,400-MW Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in northeastern Arizona — the largest coal plant west of the Mississippi River — is shutting down this week.
More Americans now work in Solar Power than the extraction of Oil &Gas, or Coal
Solar Power now has more employees than either the Oil & Gas or Coal Extraction industries in the United States. The solar industry employed approximately 208,000 individuals at the end of 2015 versus 185,000+ in oil and gas, or 190,000 in coal extraction. Solar power employment is expected to grow an additional 15% in 2016 to almost 240,000 individuals. Globally, solar power now directly employs 2.8 million people as the largest renewable energy employer.