Electrek Green Energy Brief

The 900 megawatt (MW) Nant de Drance pumped storage power plant in Valais, Switzerland, came online in July after 14 years of challenging construction and testing. The gigantic “water battery” is capable of storing enough hydroelectric energy to power as many as 900,000 homes.

Siemens Gamesa’s first recyclable blades are spinning on a wind turbine at the Kaskasi offshore wind farm in Germany. It’s the first commercial installation of recyclable wind turbine technology.

Birmingham, UK-headquartered housing developer St. Modwen plans to build up to 350 fully electric homes in Birmingham – on the MG Rover site that was once home to the MINI – and the development will pioneer smart grid technology.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has called for California to bump up its offshore wind target to at least 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2045, accelerating its 20 GW target by five years.

Solar energy jobs were up in 47 states and increased 9% percent across the United States from 2020 to 2021, reaching a total of 255,037 solar workers, reports the independent nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC).

US President Joe Biden today announced that his administration will pursue the development of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, which is already a hub for oil and gas production.

New Jersey recently surpassed 4 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar power, enough to provide electricity to over 500,000 households annually, according to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

GAF Energy, the sister company of GAF, the largest roofing and waterproofing company in North America, will build a 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Texas, to meet growing demand for its “world’s first” nailable solar shingle, the Timberline Solar Energy Shingle, which launched in January.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $56 million in funding to boost US solar manufacturing and recycling.

In 2021, 163 gigawatts (GW) – nearly two-thirds – of new renewable power added was cheaper than the cheapest coal-fired power plants in G20 countries, according to a new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

In 2020, 26% of US households – that’s 32.25 million out of 123.53 million homes – used electricity as their only source of energy, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But what the EIA doesn’t note is what fuels that “electricity as the only source of energy.”

Plans in Europe to place a small number of coal plants on temporary standby would only add 1.3% to EU emissions annually, even in the worst-case scenario where they run at the highest levels, according to London-based energy think tank Ember. 

Eleven US East Coast states have already committed to procuring nearly 40 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power. But increasingly powerful Atlantic hurricanes will be a threat to those future offshore wind farms. A team of scientists investigated how to make offshore wind turbines more resilient – they found that when they turned an offshore wind turbine around, it was better able to withstand violent storms.

Finnish startup Polar Night Energy and local Finnish utility Vatajankoski have together built the world’s first commercial sand-based, high-temperature heat storage system that can be powered by solar and wind.

For the first time ever, wind and solar produced 17.96% more electricity in the month of April than nuclear power plants. 

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas has installed the first wind turbine at Japan’s Akita Noshiro offshore wind farm. Akita Noshiro will feature 33 V117-4.2 megawatt (MW) wind turbines.

Rhode Island has passed a law requiring all of the state’s electricity to be offset by renewable energy by 2033 – the fastest timeline of any state in the US.

The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling this morning, “sharply curtailed” the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) options to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants – the second-largest source of emissions in the US. Greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change.

Stockholm-based wind farm and solar developer OX2 has applied for a permit to build a massive 5.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. If approved, it will be the largest single offshore wind farm in the world.

Italian startup Energy Dome has now begun to commercialize the world’s first CO2 Battery, which was launched earlier this month in Sardinia, Italy. The battery uses carbon dioxide to store renewable energy on the grid, and Energy Dome says the technology can be quickly deployed anywhere in the world.

Spanish-German wind giant Siemens Gamesa has been awarded a firm order for 60 of its SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbines, which will be installed at the 882-MW Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland. It will be the first installation of the world’s most powerful wind turbine, which has 14.7 megawatts (MW) of capacity.