Green Energy

Danish clean energy giant Ørsted has just completed its very first utility-scale solar plus battery storage project, and it’s in the US.

Its Permian Energy Center project (pictured above), a 460 MW solar and 40 MW battery storage facility, is in Andrews County, Texas.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Oxford Brookes University researchers think wind turbines should be vertical.
• The US Interior Department approves a solar farm in the California desert.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

The Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and more than 35 other industry and environmental organizations, including the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April to set national targets to curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other appliances.

The EPA delivered today. It’s the first time the federal government has set national limits on HFCs. It’s also the Biden administration’s first concrete regulatory step to tackle emissions since the US’s announcement that it would slash emissions 50% by 2030.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbines are awarded typhoon certification.
• United Auto Workers union says only US-made EVs should get tax incentives.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• GM says it plans to invest $1 billion in a plant in Mexico to build electric vehicles.
• SMUD, Sacramento’s electricity provider, is paying people to become certified solar PV installers.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The DOE has earmarked $13 million for clean energy innovators to help the US government become carbon neutral.
• New Jersey’s statewide community solar pilot program launches two more solar farms.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The US Department of Energy helps 11 remote and island communities transition to clean energy.
• Work begins on Japan’s first large offshore wind farms today.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Hyzon Motors and Raven will build up to 100 waste-to-hydrogen hubs across the US and globally.
• These two new solar farms in Massachusetts come with a bonus – they’re pollinator friendly.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The head of the UK’s MI6 says it checks that industrial nations are “playing fair” on climate change promises.
• Oil production in Alaska reaches lowest level in more than 40 years.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Orbital Marine Power yesterday launched its 2MW tidal turbine, the Orbital O2, in Scotland. It will become the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine once it has been commissioned and connected to the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney Islands.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Texas is expected to add record utility-scale solar in the next two years.
• West Virginia’s electric car drivers made a film about why they chose to embrace electric.
• The Welsh capital of Cardiff is getting 36 e-buses – the largest order outside of London to date.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The US-hosted Leaders Summit on Climate kicks off today. Keep an eye on these three countries.
• Los Angeles City Council unanimously approves a Global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Thailand is building one of the world’s largest floating hydro-solar farms.
• Hershey signs two solar PPAs in journey to cutting emissions by 50% by 2030.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its annual “Global Energy Review” report, and while there is some good news about the adoption of renewables, there is also some rather alarming news about an anticipated emissions surge in 2021.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The Long Island Rail Road will analyze its trains to see whether they can run on batteries alone.
• Why US homeowners install – or don’t install – solar panels.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

The US Department of Energy announced the winners of its collegiate competition, the Solar Decathlon, yesterday. The contest, which has been running since 2002, challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by clean energy.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Researchers produce ultrawhite paint that can cool buildings and reduce the need for air conditioning.
• Vietnam’s largest wind farm comes online.
• China and US pledge to cooperate on fighting climate change.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

When most Americans think of the infrastructure projects the Biden administration is proposing in the American Jobs Plan, they think of concrete, steel, and labor. But what if the biggest predictor of the success of the infrastructure plan is not in the materials but in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)?

Electrek spoke with Monte Zweben, CEO of Splice Machine, a database company that helps utilities and industrial companies implement data, about how AI/ML technologies could determine whether the American Jobs Plan succeeds as the US transitions to clean energy.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Award-winning Superclean Glass makes a transparent electrodynamic shield that repels dust from solar panels.
• Facebook has procured enough clean energy projects to meet 100% of its energy needs.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Xcel Energy has filed to replace its coal plants with what would be the largest solar farm in Minnesota.
• A Clean Cars Illinois program would create jobs and save money.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In the early 2010s, Pat Collins, a 7th-grade life science teacher at Chisago Lakes Middle School — in Lindstrom, Minnesota, about 35 miles northeast of the Twin Cities — was having a discussion about solar panels with his students. One asked why they couldn’t just use solar power at the school, so Collins said he would look into it and see.

A few school board meetings that eventually included student speakers (one of whom made her grandfather, a longtime school bus driver, cry from pride), several inventive fundraisers that included janitors paying students by the pound for gum spit into a bucket rather than stuck under desks, and several years later, the Chisago Lakes School District is now 100% solar.