Welcome to the Electrek Green Energy Brief. Put together by our Electrek authors, the Energy Brief is a daily technical, financial, and political review of important green energy news.
The US achieved a new record in April 2022 – for the first time, the US generated 20% of its electricity from wind and solar power, according to new data released today from global energy think tank Ember.
Expand Expanding Close
Europe’s largest floating solar farm – which is on the Alqueva hydroelectric dam’s reservoir in Portugal – is ready to produce power in July.
Expand Expanding Close
US Department of Energy-funded solar marketplace EnergySage and nonprofit accreditation body The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) just released the results of the 2021 Solar Installer Survey, which polled more than 500 residential and commercial solar installers across 43 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC. Here’s what they said.
Expand Expanding Close
Offshore construction work has officially started for the UK’s Dogger Bank, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with the installation of the first length of HVDC export cable off the Yorkshire coast. Dogger Bank will also be the first HVDC-connected wind farm in the UK.
Expand Expanding Close
Mexico’s largest opposition party proposed installing rooftop solar on houses for free on Sunday. That pitch was in response to a run-in with the president’s party over a constitutional overhaul of the power market.
Expand Expanding Close
The US Department of Commerce (DOC) is investigating whether Southeast Asian solar cell manufacturers are using parts made in China that would normally be subject to a tariff. A group of bipartisan senators today joined most of the US solar industry in asserting that the DOC investigation will devastate solar businesses, as they rely on solar module imports to meet growing demand.
Expand Expanding Close
For the first time ever, California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, was powered by 100% clean energy on Saturday, April 30. That milestone was driven largely by solar power.
Expand Expanding Close
Last month, the US generated 18% of its electricity from wind and solar (59 TWh) for the first time. That beat the previous record set in March 2021 (53 TWh), according to new data from global energy think tank Ember.
Expand Expanding Close
Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed a bill, which the state’s Republican-majority House and Senate passed, that would have slashed rooftop solar credits in the state. It would have denied many homeowners net metering in the Sunshine State, and harmed its solar industry.
Expand Expanding Close
All 10 offshore wind turbines have now been installed by Dutch maritime company Van Oord off Italy’s Puglia coast – the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s Italy’s first offshore wind farm, and the first in the Mediterranean Sea.
Expand Expanding Close
The Biden administration set a goal of permitting 25 gigawatts (GW) of solar, onshore wind, and geothermal energy on public lands by 2025. It’s well on its way to exceeding that goal.
Expand Expanding Close
The US Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday issued a request for information (RFI) to support $84 million in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) pilot demonstration projects. It’s part of the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed last year.
Expand Expanding Close
Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island is the United States’ first offshore wind farm. The 30-megawatt, five-turbine offshore wind farm began commercial operations in December 2016 and generates enough energy to power 17,000 homes. And it turns out, it’s perfectly safe, and sometimes even beneficial, for fish.
Expand Expanding Close
GE Renewable Energy announced yesterday on Twitter that the first GE Haliade 150-6 megawatt (MW) wind turbine has now been installed at St. Nazaire, France’s first offshore wind farm.
Expand Expanding Close
First Solar, the largest US-owned solar panel manufacturer, today announced that it’s going to provide 260 megawatts (MW)DC of Ohio-made solar modules to Nevada Gold Mines, the single largest gold-producing complex in the world.
Expand Expanding Close
Boston-based solar company ClearPath Energy and Maitland, Florida-based Castillo Engineering, a solar engineering firm, are building six community bifacial solar farms in New York State.
Expand Expanding Close
Eco Wave Power, which produces clean electricity from ocean and sea waves, today announced that it has entered an official agreement with Port Adriano, Spain, to build Spain’s first wave-energy power plant.
Expand Expanding Close
Danish wind giant Ørsted and Danish offshore wind service and support company ESVAGT announced on Friday that they will invest in the world’s first service operation vessel (SOV) that can operate on green fuels.
Expand Expanding Close
West Virginia’s largest solar farm will sit on the site of the 5,800-acre Hobet Mine, one of the state’s largest former coal mines, which went bankrupt in 2015.
Expand Expanding Close
Germany’s economy and climate ministry today announced a more ambitious target of clean energy making up 80% of its power mix by 2030 – a bump up from its previous target of 65%. Currently, 40.9% of Germany’s power mix consists of clean energy.
Expand Expanding Close
Portugal’s new Socialist Party-majority government has moved its target of reaching 80% clean energy in electricity production forward to 2026, four years earlier than previously planned.
Expand Expanding Close
Spanish-German wind giant Siemens Gamesa has started production of its first B115 blades at its facility in Aalborg, Denmark. The blades will be used on its SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbine, which will have an output of 14 megawatts (MW) and a rotor diameter of 236 meters (774 feet).
Expand Expanding Close
President Joe Biden will today authorize the use of Title III of the Korean War-era Defense Production Act (DPA) to rapidly step up US production of minerals for electric vehicle and storage batteries.
Expand Expanding Close