Wind power

Here’s where the world’s seven largest economies stand in their clean energy transitions ahead of the 48th G7 Leaders’ Summit next week in Germany.

Rivian plans to install a 2.8 megawatt wind turbine on the east side of its Normal, Illinois, manufacturing plant. The wind turbine will provide clean energy to charge new R1 vehicles for the first time.

Construction has started on the 1,026-megawatt (MW) MacIntyre Wind Precinct, the largest wind farm to ever be built in Australia. It’s also one of the largest wind farms in the southern hemisphere.

The EU plans to transition to renewables more than twice as fast as Japan by 2030, according to new analysis released by global energy think tank Ember ahead of the G7 environment, climate, and energy ministers meeting, which kicks off today in Berlin. The ministers will decide whether and how G7 countries will commit to clean power by 2035. 

GE Renewable Energy yesterday announced the 3 megawatt (MW) Sierra, its newest onshore wind turbine platform that will only be sold in North America.

New capacity for generating electricity from renewables such as solar, wind, and other clean energy increased to a record level worldwide in 2021. And clean energy will continue to grow in 2022, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

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.

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.

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.

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.

A 10.5 gigawatt (GW) solar and wind farm will be built in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region, and it will supply the UK with clean energy via subsea cables. The twin 1.8 GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables will be the world’s longest.

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.

In the landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today, there’s good news and bad news. We’re spotlighting the good news: EVs and clean energy can help us limit climate change.

Wind and solar, the fastest-growing sources of electricity, reached a record 10% of global electricity in 50 countries in 2021, according to a report released today by independent energy think tank Ember. Overall, clean sources generated 38% of the world’s electricity in 2021, beating coal, at 36%.

As UK prime minister Boris Johnson is due to unveil his energy plan this week, a British cabinet minister made a suggestion yesterday on a news program that he thinks would win the support of communities who live near onshore wind farms. Could it work?

Columbus, Ohio, headquartered American Electric Power’s 998-megawatt (MW) Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma is now online. It’s the largest single wind farm built at one time in North America.

The UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects has now reached 86 gigawatts (GW), according to new research published today by not-for-profit renewable energy trade association RenewableUK.

Almost half of Ukraine’s renewable energy facilities, which have a combined capacity of almost 4 gigawatts (GW) and worth of more than $5.6 billion, are in the firing line due to Russian aggression, according to the Ukrainian Association of Renewable Energy (UARE).

Danish wind turbine manufacturing giant Vestas will suspend work on four Russian wind projects in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vestas will also suspend all new commercial activities in Russia.

The US offshore wind industry is ramping up quickly, and so too are the essential industries that will support it. Danish wind giant Ørsted, New England energy company Eversource, and Louisiana-based marine transport company Edison Chouest Offshore yesterday announced that shipbuilding has started on the Eco Edison, the first Jones Act-qualified offshore wind farm service operations vessel in the US.  

Norwegian energy giant Equinor and UK-headquartered bp announced yesterday that they have made an agreement with New York City to transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a major offshore wind operations and staging hub.