EGEB

China’s largest offshore wind farm was connected to the grid at full capacity on Saturday, December 25. It transmitted power through undersea cables.

Clean energy sources generated a record 834 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, or about 21% of all electricity generated in the US in 2020, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported yesterday. That includes wind, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and geothermal.

The US Department of the Interior announced on Tuesday that it has approved two solar farms, with a third nearing final approval, on public lands.

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the largest coal mining union in the US, issued a statement yesterday that said they were “disappointed” in Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement on Sunday that he would not vote in favor of the Build Back Better (BBB) legislation. UMWA International president Cecil E. Roberts urged Manchin to “pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families, and their communities.”

Coal production is forecast to reach an all-time high in 2022, and then after a couple of years, plateau as demand flattens, according to the latest annual market report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), released today.

The UK’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, soon to be the world’s largest when it’s completed in 2022, will produce its first power before December 31 of this year.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed paper-thin biodegradable zinc batteries. Once the batteries are expended, they break down in soil within weeks.

Spanish-German wind giant Siemens Gamesa’s SG 14-222 DD prototype offshore wind turbine has produced its first electricity and delivered it to the grid at the test center in Østerild, Denmark.

Windpark Fryslân, the world’s largest freshwater wind farm that sits in the Netherlands’ Lake IJssel, is now fully commissioned.

China is the world’s biggest polluter – and it’s also the world’s leader in clean energy growth. China’s cumulative installed onshore and offshore wind capacity has now reached 302.2 gigawatts (GW), according to Windpower Intelligence (WPI), the data and research division of Windpower Monthly.

SEA Electric, an Australian company with US headquarters in Torrance, California, that makes battery electric power systems for commercial vehicles, and Illinois-headquartered Midwest Transit Equipment (MTE), one of the largest school bus dealers in the US, have partnered to update 10,000 school buses in the US Midwest with battery-electric power systems over the next five years.

British utility SSE and Norwegian energy giant Equinor announced late last week that they have secured financing to proceed with the construction of the $3.98 billion Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm off England’s northeast coast.

Despite the pandemic, supply chain challenges, and rising costs of materials, 2021 is going to be a record year for clean energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced today in a new report.

Australia has the world’s highest uptake of rooftop solar, but it also has a huge dependency on coal. And the country just threw open the door to another clean energy source: offshore wind. On Thursday, its Parliament passed a law that establishes a regulatory framework for offshore wind power.

A 76.5-megawatt solar farm in Farmington, Maine, the largest in New England to date, is now online.

Vineyard Wind 1, the US’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, has officially broken ground. It’s also the first project of its kind in the Americas region.

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

• Jaguar Land Rover will provide electric cars for delegates at COP26 in Glasgow.
• The floating offshore wind pipeline has reached 54 GW, and European countries lead.
• 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.

Spain-headquartered renewables giant Siemens Gamesa announced today that it will build a new offshore wind turbine blade factory in Virginia. The $200 million factory will be the first of its kind in the US.

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

• The US has enough usable rooftop space to deploy solar that would match current generation levels.
• Renewables will make up most global generation increases to 2050, but will coal still hang around?
• 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):

• Vattenfall says it will recycle all of its wind turbine blades by 2030.
• The US Department of Energy spends $61 million on 10 grid-interactive efficient buildings pilot projects.
• 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):

• Bighorn Solar is now powering a Colorado steel mill almost entirely with solar.
• sonnen and Rocky Mountain Power pioneer a new battery storage and solar program.
• Shell’s solar platform Silicon Ranch acquires Clearloop.
• 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.