Michelle Lewis

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

• French oil giant Total changes its name to TotalEnergies to mark its shift to renewables.
• The first wind turbine has been erected at Hornsea Two offshore wind farm in the UK, and it will be huge.
• 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 first driverless electric shuttle buses hit the roads in the city of Cambridge in the UK yesterday as part of ground-breaking trials.

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

• A Montana cryptocurrency miner wants to use solar to power its energy-draining business.
• Can emission-free electric (and hydrogen) airplanes replace fossil-fuel-powered planes?
• 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.

New data from the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) reflects which parts of the UK are adopting electric vehicles the quickest, and it’s not London or its southeastern suburbs. And while there’s been a big jump in just a year, the mountain Britain has to climb to reach its 2030 target is still high.

A court in the Netherlands today ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. Previous to the ruling, Shell’s emissions reduction target was 20% by 2030.

It’s the first time activists have taken a major energy company to court to get it to overhaul its climate strategy, and they were successful.

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

• The US Pacific Coast is approved for commercial-scale offshore clean energy projects for the first time.
• New US wind and solar scheduled for connection to the grid has reached record levels.
• 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 Ohio State Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee will consider Senate Bill 52 today, which would allow townships to designate “energy development districts” for wind and solar farms or just veto them altogether. However, locals would not have the same rights when it comes to fossil fuel plants.

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

• South Korea has committed nearly $40 billion to build EV tech factories and expand R&D in the US.
• The UK will install 3,550 “ultra-rapid charging points” on motorways and in towns over two 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.

Hecate Independent Power (HIP) has announced it will build an enormous, $30 billion offshore wind project off the coast of Iceland that will power the UK using long subsea cables.

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

• The decline in natural gas generation in the first four months of 2021 is the first year-over-year decline since 2017.
• Here are 5 things US households can do this summer to ease stress on the grid 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.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory published research on how the supply chains of rare earth minerals respond to disruptions. This could include natural disasters, labor or trade disputes, construction delays – and pandemics.

The team found that mineral supply chain disruptions have long-range impacts that affect the costs and availability of electric vehicles.

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

• Wisconsin approves Alliant Energy’s Onion River solar farm, which will be one of the state’s largest.
• Southwest Florida launches a 74.5-megawatt community solar farm.
• 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.

Renewable resources provided 99.9% of Vermont’s electricity generation in 2019, the largest share for any state, but it has more than 100,000 homes that use fuel oil, the dirtiest fuel for home heating. US residential geothermal company Dandelion Energy wants to help Vermont ditch the fuel oil – it today announced that it’s expanding its services into the Green Mountain State. 

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

• Vermont’s Green Mountain Power is the first US utility to offer the Span Smart Panel in a pilot program.
• Chicago-based Energize Ventures leads its first investment in the battery sector.
• 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.

Singapore-based Maxeon Solar Technologies has announced that it will commercially release its Maxeon Air solar panels this summer. The company says the Air solar panels are frameless, thin, lightweight, and conformable, with efficiency and performance the same as standard solar panels.

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

• GE will provide 87 Haliade-X 14 MW for the third and final phase of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.
• Rhode Island gets more than 100 megawatts of solar as it works toward 100% clean electricity 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.

US President Joe Biden is making the case for his electric vehicle plan today during a visit to a Ford Motor electric vehicle plant in Dearborn, Michigan, this afternoon. It’s ahead of Ford’s big reveal on Wednesday of the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. He is also likely to make note of the fact that United Auto Workers will build the F-150 Lightning.

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

• The International Energy Agency’s new report details the global transition to clean energy by 2050.
• The Bahamas installs a hurricane-resistant solar hybrid microgrid on Highbourne Cay.
• 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.

Danish wind turbine giant Vestas has announced today that it, along with a coalition of industry and academic leaders, has figured out how to fully recycle wind turbine blades.

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

• California governor Gavin Newsom’s new proposal devotes $3.2 billion to boost EV adoption goals.
• John Kerry says technology to reduce emissions hasn’t been invented yet. He’s wrong.
• 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.

Roof-integrated solar company GAF Energy announced today that it will move all of its manufacturing from Asia to a facility in Silicon Valley. It’s a reversal of the solar industry trend of manufacturing solar panels in Asia due to lower labor costs.

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

• The Biden administration has approved Vineyard Wind 1, the first major offshore wind farm in federal waters.
• The IEA raises its forecast for global wind and solar growth by another 25% compared to six months ago.
• 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):

• Brown University researchers find a way to strengthen a key weak point in perovskite solar cells.
• Ørsted and Polish energy company PGE to build 2.5 GW Baltica 2 and 3 offshore wind 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.