id

UK power grid to be 'zero-carbon-capable' says operator

Two years after Britain had its first coal-free day since the Industrial Revolution, the nation’s network operator is readying itself for life without any fossil fuels.





id

Machine learning, AI aiding Sempra utilities in solar energy management on the grid

This week Sempra Energy subsidiary PXiSE Energy Solutions announced that Sempra-owned development company Infraestructura Energetica Nova (IEnova) would be using its software at the 110-MW Pima Solar facility located in Mexico to help manage the integration of renewable power to the electric grid.




id

Minigrid combines solar and digital to electrify Togo village

Solar energy is now providing the electricity for an entire village in Togo of 4000 people, powering streetlights, homes, schools and shops.




id

CellCube to bring grid scale vanadium battery to South Australia

Renewables firm Pangea Energy and vanadium battery producer CellCube have signed on to build a 50MW storage system alongside a solar farm in South Australia.




id

New White Paper explores grid parity and the solar renaissance

Today, solar power has become cheaper than the production cost of any other existing conventional power generation technology. The arrival of grid parity heralds a milestone in the history of energy production. It means solar energy being commercially viable without any subsidies or state support; producing energy with the lowest possible environmental impact.




id

Iowa officials consider energy storage tax credit, ‘value of storage’ study

Iowa economic development officials are tentatively endorsing a tax credit for battery storage to complement the state’s wind and solar generation.




id

How a perfect storm is driving microgrids into the mainstream

Given the diverse benefits that microgrids provide – reductions in energy costs, business risk, and carbon emissions, and increases in resiliency and power reliability – one wonders why discussion of microgrids has only started to take off recently.




id

FERC revises three-year forecast to reflect rapid growth of renewable energy

According to a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), within the past month, the agency has dramatically revised its three-year forecast for changes in the U.S. electrical generating capacity mix. Sharp declines are foreseen for fossil fuels and nuclear power while accompanied by even stronger growth in renewable energy (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) than earlier projected.




id

Democratic presidential hopefuls take on climate change, tout goals

Even as they touted ambitious proposals to reduce carbon emissions to a national audience, Democratic candidates for president tried to balance the boldness of their plans with the need for simplifying a complex scientific problem to make it palatable to voters.




id

Explorer vs Pilot, 2020 Genesis G70 review, Camry vs Sonata Hybrids: What's New @ The Car Connection

2020 Honda Pilot vs. 2020 Ford Explorer: Compare Crossover SUVs Two of the bestselling three-row SUVs, the 2020 Honda Pilot and 2020 Ford Explorer, go about their family business a bit differently. Pickup trucks outsell cars for the first time, and it may not be temporary The Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and Chevy Silverado have been the best-selling...



  • Today in Car News

id

IIHS reports that new Jeep Wrangler SUV rolled over on its side during driver-side crash

The IIHS reported Thursday that the new Jeep Wrangler, which was last comprehensively updated for the 2018 model year, tipped over onto its passenger side during its driver-side small overlap crash test. The insurance industry-funded safety watchdog said the Wrangler was tested three times, twice by the agency and once by the automaker. The...




id

Camry Hybrid vs. Sonata Hybrid, mobile charging, Cash for Clunkers redux: The Week in Reverse

Sales of which electric car plunged the steepest leading into the U.S. pandemic slowdown? Which automaker reaffirmed its commitment to hydrogen fuel cells? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending May 8, 2020. Our biggest combination of stories this week related to the most...



  • The Week In Reverse

id

Off Grid Electric Raises $25M to Help Power a ‘Solar Revolution’ in Africa

DBL Partners, the same venture capital fund that supported SolarCity for many years, has led the largest venture capital funding for distributed energy in Africa. Off Grid Electric announced today that it raised $25 million in a Series C investment.

Off Grid Electric, based in California and Tanzania, is installing solar in over 10,000 homes and businesses per month with what it calls “its radically affordable solar leasing platform.” The company designs, manufactures, sells, installs and services solar home units in Tanzania and is announcing today that it will be entering




id

The President’s Climate Change Executive Order: Wrong Pretense

The President announced on Tuesday, March 28th at the Environmental Protection Agency his new Executive Order based on protecting 75,000 US coal jobs by threatening over 3 million US clean energy jobs.

Some context:

According to MorningConsult

The order directs officials to review the Environmental Protection Agency regulations on new and existing power plants, withdraw the Obama administration’s “social cost of carbon,” which puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions, end a moratorium on new coal leases on federal land, review regulations on methane emissions from natural gas systems, end a guidance for agencies to consider climate change, and end Bureau of Land Management restrictions on hydraulic fracturing.

The Trump administration has not yet released the text of the order  which is based solely on saving coal and other fossil jobs, but a senior White House official shared details with reporters in a call on March 27th.




id

A Key to the Future: Utilities’ Vital Role in Widespread Adoption of Geothermal Heat Pumps

Utilities are a natural partner for the geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry. Why? Because utilities have a broad consumer base and infrastructure, and need to both build load (sales) and levelize that demand to make the most efficient use of their electrical generation capacity throughout the year.  GHPs are a technology that fills that niche.




id

Trump Said to Mull 2015 Grid Emergency Law to Save Coal Plants

The Trump administration is weighing a broad array of strategies for keeping coal and nuclear power plants online as a matter of national security, with options ranging from invoking a 68-year-old law to a three-year-old one, according to a senior Energy Department official.




id

Why More Solar and Wind on the Grid Should Be Driving Today’s Investment Decisions

A new LBNL report offers concrete suggestions about what investments today will be most beneficial in tomorrow’s renewable energy future.




id

Want To Save the World with Your Brilliant Clean Energy Idea?

A new partnership between Enel and InnoCentive focuses on the power of the crowd to solve many of the world’s sustainable energy challenges.





id

Midwest Utility Turning to Cows, Landfills for a Gas Alternative

CenterPoint Energy Inc. wants to introduce a pilot program in Minnesota offering customers access to a renewable form of natural gas recovered from dairy farms and landfills.




id

New DERMS Partnership Helps Utilities Use Residential Batteries as Virtual Power Plants

This week Autogrid announced that it entered into a partnership with Swell Energy to provide software for managing Swell’s growing fleet of distributed energy resources (DER).




id

Ohio’s PowerForward Roadmap Aims to Shape the Grid of the Future

A new roadmap for the future of Ohio’s electric grid can benefit all types of interest groups, but the next few years will be critical for the plan to achieve its goals.




id

Electric Vehicle Fast-Charging Infrastructure Provider Picks Up the Pace

This week, EVgo, a provider of public electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging stations in the U.S., said it was accelerating the pace at which it is constructing fast chargers and will add hundreds of EVgo fast chargers in California before the end of 2018.




id

Report: $2.4 Trillion Clean Energy Investment Needed To Avoid Climate Catastrophe

The world must invest $2.4 trillion in clean energy every year through 2035 and cut the use of coal-fired power to almost nothing by 2050 to avoid catastrophic damage from climate change, according to scientists convened by the United Nations.




id

Global Electrification Goals Are Driving Microgrid Market

According to the Microgrid Market Growth Potential - Industry Size Outlook Report 2024, the microgrid market is expected to reach $19 billion by 2024, nearly five times the original valuation of this business space in 2016.




id

Industry and Academia Partner To Train Next Generation of Digital Grid Experts

Last week, Siemens and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) announced a new new academic partnership that they say will provide students with the skills needed to operate and advance the nation’s energy grid.




id

Report: Smart Grid Upgrades Offer Less Risk, More Flexibility than Power Lines

A decade ago, Maine regulators faced dueling proposals to meet projected load growth north of Portland: upgrade a long-distance transmission line to carry more power, or strategically install batteries and distributed generation.




id

Happy Holidays from Renewable Energy World

It’s been a turbulent and exciting 2018 over at Renewable Energy World. We have a new parent company, Clarion Energy, and we, as a media outlet, are doing more than ever to support the dynamic and top-quality energy events in the Clarion Energy Power and Energy Series, with shows focused on energy all across the globe.




id

GE combines renewable generation and grid businesses to increase efficiency

GE announced today that it sees a future in housing its renewable generation businesses (onshore and offshore wind, hydropower) alongside its grid businesses which include substations and transformers plus solar, storage and distributed energy resource (DER) control software. GE Renewable Energy CEO Jerome Pecresse said in a press conference that the move will simplify the lives of GE’s customers by giving them one point of contact for all of their renewable energy power needs.




id

Residential PV + batteries as wholesale energy market suppliers are just the ‘tip of the spear’

Last week, Sunrun announced that its bid to supply 20 MW of residential solar + storage capacity into the New England ISO Forward Capacity Market for 2022-2023 was approved. According to Chris Rauscher, Director of Policy and Storage Market Strategy for Sunrun, this is not a pilot project or an experiment in any way.




id

What if the US-Mexico border wall was an energy corridor that could pay for itself?

Instead of a wall, build a first-of-its-kind energy park that spans the 1,954 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico to bring energy, water, jobs and border security to the region.




id

Why not a global green new deal through a federation of microgrids?

Among my circle of friends and colleagues, everyone is aware of the impact of human activities on climate change - the melting of arctic ice, the destruction of species - and the major causes of it, namely, coal burning for electricity and fossil fuels burning for transport. What nearly everyone is unclear about is what specifically to do about it and how fast.




id

Power companies in New England tapping residential batteries to reduce peak demand

Here’s the latest wrinkle in the battery boom: National Grid Plc is paying consumers to tap electricity from their power-storage systems.




id

The 150,000-square-meter sky bridge of Shanghai’s 'Rafael Gallery' will be covered in solar

Solar company Hanergy announced that its thin-film solar modules will cover the 150,000 square meter roof of the ‘Rafael Gallery’ located at a Tech City in Shanghai.




id

Energy storage sites provide unique wholesale market participation

ENGIE Storage has announced it will supply and operate a 19 MW/38 MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target Program and participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets.




id

Disused South Australia zinc mine to pilot clean-energy storage for grids

Toronto-based Hydrostor Inc., a leader in advanced compressed-air energy storage (A-CAES), has announced a A$30 million technology demonstration project at the former Angas Zinc mine in Strathalbyn, Adelaide.




id

Japan–Australia tech partnership to fire new ideas for health and aged care

Aged care in Australia is set for a digital boost after a Japan–Australia IT group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australian universities to solve social challenges common to both countries.




id

US biotech injects 3D printing expertise into Victorian artificial kidney project

San Diego-based biotechnology company, Organovo Holdings (Organovo), has announced a tie up with a Melbourne research institute to help develop regenerative medicine in Australia.




id

Buffett Testing Smart Grid Technology for Home Energy Management

Warren Buffett wants to tell you the best time to wash your clothes. Or at least his energy company in the U.K does. Buffett’s Northern Powergrid Holdings Co. is working with Siemens AG to test a so-called smart grid that has the ability to control when consumer appliances will be used in the home.




id

How proper training programs can help prevent accidents at hydropower plants

With the potential for disaster at hydropower projects around the world, the lack of organized training programs becomes a prominent consideration in how companies manage their assets.




id

News and updates on wave energy, tidal energy, and ocean energy

News related to the worldwide marine hydrokinetics industry from November-December 2014




id

News and updates on wave energy, tidal energy, ocean energy

News related to the marine hydrokinetics industry in North America for December 2014




id

India Renewables Boom Aided by International Funds

India said cheaper credit along with foreign investment will help the world’s third-largest polluter fund an ambitious renewable energy program that would build green power plants faster than China.




id

Sweden, Norway Increase Renewable Target Amid Power Glut Concern

Sweden and Norway agreed to boost their target for renewable energy production amid concerns the additional capacity will exacerbate a power glut and strain the region’s electricity grid.




id

Tidal Lagoon’s Next Plant May Produce Power on Par with Nuclear

The U.K. company planning the world’s first tidal-lagoon power station said its next plant may generate electricity at almost half the price.




id

US Power Grid’s $2 Trillion Upgrade Needs European Efficiency

A $2 trillion push in the U.S. to blend renewable energy into the power supply and fortify transmission lines against extreme weather means that Americans must act more like Europeans to keep their power costs down.




id

Two Workers Die in “Landslide” at Hamzadere Dam Irrigation System in Turkey

Two construction workers died as the result of a landslide and additional workers were injured on May 22 at the construction site of the Hamzadere Dam Irrigation System in the Ipsala district of Edirne, Turkey. Edirne is in the northwestern-most part of the Turkey near its border with Greece.




id

Tidal power set for growth says report

Tidal power is set for growth in both the near and medium terms, according to new analysis.




id

Seattle City Light evacuates 711-MW Skagit hydropower project amidst wildfire

Safety concerns raised by wildfires have forced utility Seattle City Light to evacuate employees from the town of Diablo, the nearby 711-MW Skagit hydropower complex and the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center.