EGEB: Solar car distance record, 50MW wind turbine – taller than Empire State Building, more

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

Nuon Solar Team‏ – With 882 km we officially set the 12 hrs world record for solar racing. We dare all other @WorldSolarChlg contesters to #BeatTheDutch – 882km (548m) in 12 hours. First, the naysayers will laugh and say – ‘Ha! 44mph over 12 hours.’ And I’ll agree. But then I’ll respond and say I only drive 20-50 miles per 24 hours, on average. Of course, these are super specialized cars with minimal weight – so they can’t really take a family of four shopping…but maybe a large, flat vehicle like this can deliver packages via a track? Entrepreneurial minds will see the use. Congrats Nuon! Main image of vehicle.

Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotors enable 50-megawatt wind turbines that may reduce off-shore energy costs by 50% – 50MW, 1/3 of a mile tall, 200M long blades and it flexes in the wind. That is immense.

Solar accounts for 2.2 per cent of US electricity generation in April – Large scale solar production in April across the US totalled 4.8 million megawatt hours (MWh), a jump of 63 per cent over the same month a year ago, and with the combination of rooftop solar contributed 6.9 million MWh, or 2.2 per cent of the monthly total – That’s 2.2% (or more) of your electricity for the next 25 or so years that will be produced with no further CO2. Good job people.

Earthquakes Stir Up Outcry Over Dutch Exxon-Shell Operations – Dutch public prosecutor is preparing to open a criminal investigation into responsibility for the earthquakes – Similar to what is happening in Oklahoma (except I am pretty sure OK earthquakes are a result of injecting wastewater – whereas here that isn’t mentioned). The homeowner having to build supporting structures to hold their home upright because of others extracting oil – that’s an externality. We’re altering the structure of the earth’s crust.

California invested heavily in solar power. Now there’s so much that other states are sometimes paid to take it – A great article that deserves much more attention than I can give it here. 1. California has installed so much solar power that their noon time peaks, are competing with fixed contracts and other types of energy. Sometimes this solar power is defined as excess and must be exported. 2. Some groups criticize CA for attacking so haphazardly – without deeper, more detailed plans – but CA politicians respond that the reality of politics and making things happen are messy and more complex (I lean this way, though for future groups maybe less messy because of lessons learned). Can we roll out solar+storage+cutting back fossils+etc are in perfect sync while we build this future? Nothing is perfect – especially on our Earth with our egos and moneyed interests.

New fees to start for solar owners in areas served by Southern California Edison – Starting July 1, Edison customers will face a $75 fee to connect to the electrical grid system. They also now will have to pay a public-benefit fee that will cost most homeowners about $10 a month, according to solar industry officials – $75 interconnection fee – that $ amount will be easily absorbed into a solar power installation cost. $10/month indefinitely – that’s tougher to stomach when some systems are saving less than $100 a month. The trade-off logic is net metering for these payments – at this point. This will continue to evolve.
Pile drivers are sexy! These metal poles will then have racking attached to the top, and the solar panels will lay on those.

Construction begins on 72-acre solar farm outside Nixa https://t.co/MShwcSA8Kp pic.twitter.com/Da8ihKS9VV

— SolarCollab (@solarcollab) June 25, 2017

Header image of the Nuon Solar Car in lead article

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