Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news
The Green Big Bang – “Will the 21st century be the last one for fossil fuels?” – Big business has a big reason to ask that question. Document is full of data. Check out the GIF at bottom of brief showing wind/solar growth. Another graphic – global battery manufacturing capacity by 2020 is expected to be 173GWh worth, with Tesla being the second largest at 35GWh worth. Later on, sobriety – coal took about 60 years to reach 50% as it took over from wood in the 1800s. There is a dearth of green alternatives to the fossil fuels used to make steel, cement or plastics, he adds. And replacing a global fossil fuel energy system that took an estimated $25tn to create over the 20th century with today’s crop of renewables is a job that will occupy us “for generations”. These fossil fueled businesses grew our population from one to greater than seven billion as the industrial revolution spread to almost all reaches of the planet. History will look at these quaint times with nostalgia.
California’s 2017 energy mix showing significant clean uptick relative due to hydroelectric and solar growth – And more importantly, natural gas way down. For most days so far in 2017, the share of CAISO’s electric power generated from natural gas has been near or below previous five-year (2012–16) minimums. These numbers of course don’t consider the 4GW’ish worth of residential/commercial behind the meter solar – that would up the solar number 30-50%.
GCL-Poly Energy to launch new products after acquisitions – “higher quality and better price” – “with the integration of the proprietary technology into its existing sites will be completed'” – my gut says they’re talking about higher efficiency panels based upon solar cell upgrades within industry trends of monocrystalline, PERC, and Bifacial – much like their competitors have done. If so, it’d be great to see a “new” vertically integrated player putting out large volumes (well priced) of high efficiency product. I put new in quotes because this company is the second largest polysilicon manufacturer on the plant. Looking forward to 20-22% efficiency solar panels at $0.50/W.
New book ranks the top 100 solutions to climate change – Onshore wind #2, solar power #8 – food related #1, 3, 4 – female education #6. There are a lot of things you can do – eat a bit less meat, repair things, drive your car longer, walk, open the windows – but if you want to get a perspective with data/research – enjoy.
ANU researchers develop light management technique inspired by butterfly wings – Engineers at the ANU have developed a cone shaped nanostructure to control the direction of light, the material could be applied to high efficiency solar cells – Specifically, the scientists talked about the perovskite-silicon tandem cell that hit 26.4% and how they’d like to send certain light colors to the perovskite, and other colors to the silicon. Seems like it’d be an interesting job working at a solar cell machine manufacturing company and looking at research deciding which pathways to follow.
Study Shows $2.5 billion in Subsidies Required to Keep Navajo Generating Station Open for 13 years – The plant’s owners recently voted to close it in 2019 because it’s no longer economical in the competitive energy market. The decision threatens more than 800 jobs and revenue for the Navajo and Hopi Nations – If only to acknowledge that we are in a new energy era. 800 regular people, their families and those who depend on their day to day spending will suffer – 7.3 billion will suffer if we don’t shut the plants.
Nice looking tool – Interactive (on the website, not the tweet below) – click the box that interests you more and get more data on the topic. Full report for you to download if that’s your thing. As an aside – nice to see that some are in the green, more in the red though.
Are we on track to <2C?
Out of 26 indicators:
* 3 on track
* 15 more efforts needed
* 8 not on trackhttps://t.co/DuxXWbFbOH pic.twitter.com/uLuQKyLEwO— Glen Peters (@Peters_Glen) May 18, 2017
The Green Big Bang as it moves across the Earth:
Header Image is solar system at Nellis Air Force Base
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