Global clean energy technology investment reached a record $500 billion in 2020 Energize Weekly, August 11, 2021 Global investment in clean energy technologies reached a record $501.3 billion in 2020, with renewable energy generation accounting for 60 percent of the total, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. The 2020 figure represents…
As Maui approaches 100% renewables, NREL models grid options AUGUST 2, 2021 Maui’s electric power grid is expected to operate with 100% solar and wind on an instantaneous basis as early as 2024, and NREL is helping the island plan to reliably supply electricity. Read more
Bipartisan $1T Senate infrastructure bill focuses on nuclear, carbon capture, transmission Aug. 3, 2021 A bipartisan group of senators on Sunday unveiled its nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, formalized into text following a 67-32 consensus to advance the legislation. The vote to advance the bill included the support of 17 Republicans. Read…
Incentives, reliability concerns spur adoption of home solar+storage, but not economics Energize Weekly, August 4, 2021 The twinning of residential solar arrays and batteries, which rose from near zero in 2016 to about 550 megawatts (MW) of combined storage by 2020, is being driven by government and utility incentives and…
The US’s largest solar farm is canceled because Nevada locals don’t want to look at it Jul. 26th 2021 The Battle Born Solar Project in Nevada – what would have been the largest solar farm in the US – is now canceled because nearby residents said it would be an…
U.S. Power Sector Sees Biggest One-Year Drop in Emissions in More Than Two Decades JULY 23, 2021 U.S. power sector emissions dropped 10 percent between 2019 and 2020, owing to greater energy efficiency, less reliance on coal, and the coronavirus pandemic suppressing demand for electricity, according to a new report. This…
Hydropower worries grow as Colorado River reservoirs continue to dry up July 19, 2021 The water levels behind the Colorado River’s biggest dams are fast-approaching or already at record lows, thanks to a 21-year megadrought that’s squeezing water supplies across the Southwest. But the effects of drought are likely to…
Clean electricity standard carries $1.8T upside – study July 12, 2021 A national clean electricity standard would save thousands of lives and yield other health and climate benefits that would outweigh the policy’s costs, according to a first-of-its-kind study. Read more
Western drought hurts hydropower production, California among the hardest hit states Energize Weekly, July 14, 2021 The drought conditions smothering the West are crippling hydropower production with hydro-generation’s share of energy production forecast to be 6.5 percent this year – the lowest it has been since 2015, according to the…
NJ Board of Public Utilities awards 2,658 MW of offshore wind July 02, 2021 The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) awarded 2,658 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind capacity this week, bringing the state closer to Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of 7,500 MW of offshore wind by 2035. Read…
More than half the U.S. faces electricity supply problems in the face of a long, hot summer Energize Weekly, July 7, 2021 More than half the U.S. – primarily in the West, Texas, Midwest and to a lesser extent, New England – is at risk of energy emergencies this summer,…
NJ set to award second massive offshore wind project JUNE 29, 2021 In a decision that could make New Jersey a leader in wind power, the state is poised to award a deal for the second-largest procurement of new offshore turbine projects yet to be developed anywhere in the U.S.…
IOUs cut carbon emissions in 2020, though the footprint remains big for some Energize Weekly, June 30, 2021 Coal-fired generation and carbon emissions are down among the largest investor-owned utilities, but even with sharp drops in emissions, the carbon footprint for some companies remains large, according to survey data from…
Solar installations break records in Q1 of 2021, but face rising costs and supply chain issues Energize Weekly, June 23, 2021 A record-breaking 5 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity was installed in the first quarter of 2021, pushing total installed U.S. capacity to 100 GW – more than doubling in…
North Carolina joins other East Coast states in push for 36 gigawatts of offshore wind Energize Weekly, June 16, 2021 North Carolina is the latest state to set big offshore wind power goals – 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of generation by 2020 and 8 GW by 2040 – joining seven other…
Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions Breaks Ground on Pisgah Ridge Solar June 7, 2021 Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions, a nonregulated commercial brand of Duke Energy, has started construction of the 250 MW Pisgah Ridge Solar project in Navarro County, Texas. Once in operation, it will be the largest utility-scale solar facility in…
Xcel Energy Cuts Emission, Set to Attain Carbon Neutrality June 8, 2021 Xcel Energy announced that it has achieved more than 50% of the carbon neutrality target and is among the few utilities that have pledged to cut emissions from the electricity generation process by 100%. Read more
New England offshore wind could shift Canada-US power trade balance 28 May, 2021 A flood of cheap power generated by planned U.S. offshore wind projects could find its way onto Canada’s power grid, reversing a long-standing trend of mostly one-way trade that sees massive exports of Canadian hydropower to the…
Queue for electric generation and storage projects is growing across the U.S. Energize Weekly, June 2, 2021 The queue of electricity generation and storage projects is growing year-on-year, reaching a total of 950 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by the end of 2020, according to a survey by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.…
Biden Administration Strikes Deal To Bring Offshore Wind To California May 25, 2021 The Biden administration plans to open the California coast to offshore wind development, ending a long-running stalemate with the Department of Defense that has been the biggest barrier to building wind power along the Pacific Coast. Read…
Duke Energy to test novel approach to turn coal plants into energy storage stations MAY 19, 2021 Funded by a Department of Energy grant, the project will evaluate Malta Inc.’s thermal energy storage system as a viable, scalable solution. Read more
Green push presents cybersecurity problems of its own May 17, 2021 The shift to cleaner energy forebodes greater cybersecurity challenges as the economy adds new technologies and relies increasingly on electricity to fuel vehicles and heat homes. Read more
New strategy for greener TVA will close coal plants, add solar and nuclear Thu, May 6, 2021 Nearly a century after the Tennessee Valley Authority was created to harness the power of the Tennessee River, America’s biggest public utility is planning to turn more to the sun, splitting atoms and…
Pandemic leads to solar industry job losses, as installations set a record Energize Weekly, May 12, 2021 Solar industry employment dropped 6.7 percent last year to 231,474, despite a record-setting year for installations, according to the 2020 National Solar Jobs Census. The cross trends are explained by increases in labor productivity…
AES to Build 500MW in Clean Power for Google’s Virginia Data Centers May 04, 2021 Google’s moving forward with its goal of becoming carbon-free by the end of the decade after AES Corp. agreed to supply the tech giant with renewable energy to power its data centers in Virginia. Read more
New York advisory panel recommendations to include gas-fired plant moratorium 03 May 2021 New York’s Power Generation Advisory Panel will recommend a moratorium against new fossil fuel-fired plant construction to the state’s Climate Action Council, the panel’s chair said May 3. Read more
Biden administration to provide $8.25 billion in loans for grid overhaul Energize Weekly, May 5, 2021 In an effort to jumpstart the overhaul of the nation’s electric grid, the Biden administration has announced two new initiatives – including $8.25 billion in federal loans. “After the Texas transmission debacle this winter,…
Global energy demand is forecast to rebound in 2021, IEA says Energize Weekly, April 28, 2021 Global energy production and demand is set to rebound from their pandemic doldrums in 2021with energy consumption up 4.6 percent, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency said in its annual Global…
First Solar claims lowest module degradation rate in the industry APRIL 19, 2021 EMILIANO BELLINI US cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar module manufacturer First Solar has announced that its most powerful products — the Series 6 CuRe panels — have achieved what it claims to be the lowest degradation rate in the PV…
Cost of winterizing Texas electricity grid worth the expense, Dallas Federal Reserve says Energize Weekly, April 21, 2021 The cost of weatherizing the Texas electric power system – which faced a major collapse during a February freeze – could run into hundreds of millions of dollars, but the expense would…
Global wind market sets records for new installations and orders in 2020 Energize Weekly, April 14, 2021 Wind turbine orders and installations soared to new records in 2020, despite the pandemic, according to new market reports from BloombergNEF and Wood Mackenzie. Orders for wind turbine capacity reached nearly 100 gigawatts…
By Rod Walton – 4.2.2021 NextEra Energy utilities Florida Power & Light and Gulf Power are taking steps to cut down their carbon emissions dramatically this year through 2030, but they are not forsaking fossil or conventional generation completely. Read more
Energize Weekly, April 7, 2021 Cities and towns across the U.S. installed or purchased a record 3.7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in 2020, a 23 percent increase over 2019, according to the clean energy consultant, RMI. The RMI analysis was based on data from the Local Government Renewables Action…
Energize Weekly, March 24, 2021 Solar installations in the U.S., even in the face of the pandemic economy, set a record in 2020 with 19.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity – a 43 percent increase over 2019, according to an industry market report. “The year 2020 was a record-setting year for…
By Irina Slav – Mar 03, 2021 The blame game for the massive power outages in Texas last month continues. The dominant argument is that renewables had an ignorable part to play in the crisis, with natural gas and coal the indirect culprits due to their reduced availability resulting from infrastructure freezing…
MARCH 1, 2021 BY EMILY HOLBROOK Georgia Power has announced its first sustainability bond, and the first sustainability bond for a domestic utility in the United States. Bond proceeds will be allocated to fund the company’s environmental, renewable, and social initiatives. The 3.25% coupon represents the lowest 30-year coupon for a publicly traded bond ever…
Energize Weekly, March 3, 2021 Xcel Energy – in one of the country’s most sweeping initiatives to reconfigure a gird – has announced an $8 billion plan to double its renewable energy generation and storage in Colorado, add transmission and close all its coal-fired power plants in the state by…
Energize Weekly, February 24, 2021 The near collapse of Texas’ electric grid was caused in the main by a failure of the natural gas system from the wellhead to pipeline to gas turbine, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Texas has a power shortage because it…
Energize Weekly, February 17, 2021 European oil companies are continuing their push to reorient and rebrand themselves as comprehensive energy companies and not just producers of oil and natural gas. On Feb. 9, French oil company Total announced it was changing its name to TotalEnergies to reflect a broader strategy…
Energize Weekly, February 10, 2021 It will take years for U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to return to 2019 levels after the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the global energy sector, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Energy consumption in…
Energize Weekly, January 27, 2021 The U.S. electricity generation fleet will continue its transformation in 2021 with wind and solar dominating new installations and nuclear and coal-fired plants steadily being retired, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Power plant developers and utilities are planning for 39.7 gigawatts (GW)…
Energize Weekly, December 23, 2020 The U.S. solar industry – led by utility-scale projects – rebounded in the third quarter from its midyear pandemic doldrums, according to an industry market report by consultant Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Solar’s performance is part of a broader trend…
Energize Weekly, November 18, 2020 The novel coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the global economy and the energy industry, but renewable energy generation set records in 2020, according to two analyses. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that new, installed renewable generation worldwide set a record, as did…
Energize Weekly, November 11, 2020 Election returns on state and local energy issues were both literally and figuratively all over the map last week on issues ranging from renewable energy to oil and gas taxes. Voters in Alaska rejected a tax on oil operations while the industry was denied a…
Energize Weekly, October 28, 2020 As Election Day nears, analysts are starting to focus on what the administration of front-running Joe Biden will mean for energy and find it could accelerate the decline of coal, stabilize near-term oil markets, as well as boost renewables and new jobs. A Biden administration,…
Energize Weekly, October 21, 2020 The global pandemic will cut worldwide energy demand 5 percent in 2020 and result in an 18 percent decline in energy investment, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts. If the novel coronavirus is brought under control in 2021, energy demand will return to its…
Energize Weekly, October 14, 2020 Corporate solar generating capacity continued its rapid growth in 2019 with nearly 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity – a 10 percent year-on-year increase, according to a survey by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). There is now a total of 8.3 GW of corporate…
Energize Weekly, September 30, 2020 A growing number of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have pledged to sharply reduce their carbon emissions or even cut them to zero, but two studies have found a gap between the pledges and those utilities’ performance. Forty-three of the country’s 55 IOUs have emission-reduction targets, and…
Energize Weekly, September 16, 2020 In a pair of September rulings, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has undercut the development of clean energy projects, according to environmentalists and a dissenting commissioner. A Sept. 1, FERC decision limited the flexibility of small, renewable energy projects to get certification that assures…
Energize Weekly, September 9, 2020 Joe Biden becoming president of the U.S. could be a boost for clean energy and perhaps somewhat ironically, for oil and gas – at least in the short run. That was the conclusion of energy industry consultants Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy in separate analyses.…
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