Solar power

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

• Heating homes with hydrotreated vegetable oil is now under way in pilots in the UK.
• New software from the DOE and NREL will greatly speed up residential solar permitting across the US.
• 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):

• Charging an electric vehicle with rooftop solar in the US is cheaper than using grid power or public chargers.
• El Salvador commissions its very first wind 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.

A site the size of greater Sydney may host a $100 billion project to convert wind and solar into green hydrogen in Western Australia. If built, it will become the world’s largest clean energy hub.

Landfill, aka garbage dumps or tips, can, under the right conditions, be converted into solar farms once they’re capped. (Capping means putting a cover or barrier between the contaminated material and the surface.) There has been a nearly 80% increase in landfill solar projects built in the US over the past five years. But there are some factors that first need to be considered.

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

• Dubuque may adopt a pilot program to help low- to moderate-income households install solar.
• In 2020, US fossil fuel consumption was at its lowest level since 1991.
• 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.

Sin City is going solar, thanks to MGM Resorts International ($MGM), who just launched a new 100-megawatt (MW) solar array capable of offering up to 90% of daytime power to the company’s 13 resorts scattered across the Las Vegas Strip. This includes hotels like Aria, MGM Grand, and The Mirage. The solar array will support the hospitality company’s climate-conscious goals set for 2030.

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

• Caterpillar agrees to develop all-electric mining machines for Nouveau Monde Graphite.
• Democratic Republic of Congo will build two solar farms in the copper- and cobalt-rich southeast.
• 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):

• Tesla models make up more than half of US EV sales in 2021.
• A Michigan utility wants to be one of the first in the US to go coal-free.
• 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):

• EV100 businesses call for strong US emissions standards and all new-vehicle sales to be net zero by 2030.
• Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduces legislation to rapidly boost US solar manufacturing.
• 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 solar roof industry is such a new – yet burgeoning – industry that it’s not really included in local, state, or federal policy. Updating incentives, policies, and regulations could help expand the adoption of solar roofs. With the Biden administration’s strong focus on carbon reduction, the solar investment tax credit (ITC) seems to be safe through 2024. But as it’s written today, integrated solar roofing does not fully qualify. 

The ITC was meant to encourage greater adoption of solar and reduce the cost and access to consumers. Electrek spoke with Keally DeWitt, vice president, marketing & public policy at GAF Energy, about why updating the ITC to include new technologies will spur innovation and speed the US transition to 100% clean energy.

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

• After running into glitches last week, ISS astronauts successfully installed Roll-Out Solar Arrays yesterday.
• IKEA and The Rockefeller Foundation start a $1 billion fund for small-scale clean energy.
• 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):

• Technical delays kept ISS astronauts from fully installing a new pair of solar arrays.
• Enevate says its next-gen battery tech provides lower carbon footprint during EV manufacturing.
• 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.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) yesterday demolished its last coal-fired plant, the Indiantown Cogeneration Plant in Martin County, east of the Everglades. And right before the plant imploded, FPL CEO Eric Silagy announced that the utility will build a solar center near the site.

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

• US special interest groups and utilities are working to stall the growth of rooftop solar.
• Why Penn State University won the US Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition.
• 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):

• GM and Wabtec will work together to develop and commercialize electric locomotives.
• The US consumed a record amount of clean energy in 2020, reports the EIA.
• 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):

• Clean energy made up nearly 100% of all new Q1 electric capacity, but problems are looming.
• The largest utility in Kansas will make its first solar investments and says it will reach net zero by 2045.
• 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):

• Vertical Aerospace has pre-orders for around 1,000 of its electric VA-X4 vertical takeoff aircraft.
• Most Americans support expanding solar and wind energy, but there’s a significant partisan split.
• 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.

First Solar, the largest US-owned solar panel manufacturer, today announced that it’s opening a third manufacturing plant in Ohio in the first half of 2023.

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

• Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions breaks ground on its largest solar project to date, in Texas.
• Fast charging is needed in all types of communities to speed up the EV transition, finds a new study.
• 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.

An uncrewed SpaceX Dragon CRS-22 cargo ship launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 3 and arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) two days later. It was carrying, among many other things, two new solar arrays that will power the ISS.

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

• US president Joe Biden’s electric vehicles plan includes boosting battery recycling in the US.
• Germany is upping its wind and solar 2030 targets, according to a draft law seen by Reuters.
• 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.