EGEB: EVs displacing 28,000 barrels of oil per day, Solar 1 – HOA 0, 80GW+ solar in 2017, more

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

How Much Oil Are EVs Displacing? – 28,000 barrels a day predicted by the end of 2017 is the short answer – EVs are displacing 17.8 thousand barrels of oil per day as of the end of 2016. We expect global annual EV sales to increase further by 39% in 2017 and increase their fuel displacement values by 60% as BEVs are becoming more popular. – Some perspective now: ~96 million barrels of oil a day, and around 50% of it going for vehicle fuel. 28,000 of half the world’s oil usage is about 0.06% of the supply – not a lot…however…40% a year growth is something to pay attention to. That rate holding would mean no oil for vehicles in 23 years.

Legislature says homeowners associations can’t bar rooftop solar – The state of Oregon has passed a law stating Homeowners Associations are no longer allowed to deny solar panel installations. This was made law in Florida about a decade ago. Article notes that the process to make this a law started in 2013 – be patient, stay strong.

This year’s new global solar capacity on pace to potentially pass 2016 record due to lower costs – Predictions of 2017 capacity installations are now consistently above 80GW. For a while, no one was predicting growth in 2017 after the huge 2016 growth year. However, with India kicking up the volume and China holding strong, plus price falls globally – we’re once again predicting growth in the industry. An increase from 76-80GW of solar is worth anywhere between $4-8 billion in revenue.

Financial firms lead shareholder rebellion against ExxonMobil climate change policies – On this day after hearing headlines that Trump wishes to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, its good to hear that large financial firms are taking deathly serious climate policies affecting long-term oil revenue – Although the identity of voters wasn’t disclosed, a source familiar with the vote said that major financial advisory firm BlackRock had cast its shares in opposition to Exxon management and that Vanguard and State Street had likely done the same. This doesn’t denote any sort of change in policy to burn less oil or anything, but instead is a fundamental recognition that global warming ins’t a hoax and these oil extraction limitations will affect the bottom line soon.

Ultra-stable perovskite solar cell remains stable for more than a year – EPFL scientists have now built a low-cost, ultra-stable perovskite solar cell that has operated for more than a year without loss in performance (11.2%) – I love the research coming along.

Canadian Solar Supplies 286MW of Double-glass Modules to Dubai – Posting this because its interesting that double glass solar panels are being used for large-scale solar projects. I’d always thought double glass would be defined as a premium product – even though it has less material. Now, it seems the chunk of aluminum surrounding the solar panel is seen as unnecessary. I wonder how much $/W that aluminum saves.

Soltec to supply 238MW of solar trackers for PV project in Mexico – Posted because single axis trackers are becoming a thing in utility-scale solar, and its a cheap way to effectively increase panel efficiency by 20-25%.

TPVIA requests FTC to probe solar cell price reporting by PVinsights, EnergyTrend – Taiwanese solar cell makers feel that the two websites that report solar cell pricing should focus more on local solar cell prices instead of Chinese solar cell prices. Enjoy this logic: since China is the world leader in solar cell pricing, but most of Chinese solar cells are consumed by the domestic market, then technically – Taiwan actually exports more solar cells to the world. As such, these website should report on Taiwanese solar cell pricing – which is higher than Chinese. I like the mental gymnastics that make Taiwan the world’s largest cell supplier. As an aside, this article taught me that PVInsights exists. 🙂

Batttery storage paired with wind farm in ground-breaking Spanish trial – The storage system has two batteries in separate containers: one a fast-response 1MW/0.39MWh battery that can maintain 1MW of power for 20 minutes; the other a slower-response battery with greater autonomy that can maintain 0.7 MW for 1 hour – The software needed to help a battery system understand when to collect the wind energy versus when to pump it out on the grid is the basis for the smart grid goals globally. It’s interesting to see one wind turbine being hooked up to a single battery system – installing them as a pair everytime would get rid of a lot of challenges. Cool video included.

Solar modules to be taxed 5% in India after GST clarification – I guess there was enough public outcry that solar panels would be taxed at 15% while coal is taxed at 5%. Analysts estimate this tax will increase the price of a solar project about 4%.

Tweet of the day showing good evidence that states working together can lower overall emissions. Personally living within an RGGI state – Massachusetts – I get to see some of the mechanisms and am exposed to the research showing off results. Today, the last coal plant in New England closes – this is good.

RGGI states original goal/cap was to cut power sector emissions 10% by 2018. Emissions were cut 45% by 2014. Huge success. pic.twitter.com/Y3wYBRQjbw

— John Raymond Hanger  (@johnrhanger) May 31, 2017

Header image from The Energy of Tomorrow Looks Strikingly Artistic from Above

Considering residential solar? Understand Solar will connect you with local contractors. Tweet me to pick apart quote.

For more electric vehicle, autonomous transport and clean technology news, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Newsletter, RSS or Facebook to get our latest articles.