Updated roadmap for solar development will help meet President Biden’s goals for net-zero electric grid by 2035.

Biden administration expands solar energy development throughout West

The Department of the Interior today announced an updated roadmap for solar energy development across the West, designed to expand solar energy production in more Western states and make renewable energy siting and permitting on America’s public lands more efficient. The Bureau of Land Management also announced the next steps on several renewable projects in Arizona, California and Nevada, representing more than 1,700 megawatts of potential solar generation and 1,300 megawatts of potential battery storage capacity.

Together, these milestones represent continued momentum from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda – a key pillar of Bidenomics – which is working to accelerate the clean energy and transmission buildout to lower consumers’ energy costs, prevent power outages in the face of extreme weather, create good-paying union jobs, tackle the climate crisis, advance the priorities of clean air and environmental justice for all, and achieve the President’s goal of a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2035. During the Biden-Harris administration, the BLM has approved 47 clean energy projects and permitted 11,236 megawatts of wind, solar and geothermal energy on public lands – enough to power more than 3.5 million homes.

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Source: US Department of the Interior

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The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy.

The Pentagon will install rooftop solar panels as Biden pushes clean energy in federal buildings

The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy and “reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader.”

The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites that are receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants that are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean-energy capacity while leveraging more than $361 million in private investment, the Energy Department said.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, announced the projects Wednesday at the Pentagon.

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Source: KTLA

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Acumen, the $250M blended finance facility, plans to give 16 sub-Saharan African countries access to electricity with off-grid solar energy.

Building a solar power ecosystem in 16 sub-Saharan African countries

How to give households in the poorest and toughest-to-reach countries in sub-Saharan Africa access to electricity? How to do that, while also building a sustainable and thriving solar power industry in those markets?

Those questions are what the Hardest-to-Reach Initiative aims to address. Launched late last year by “patient capital” pioneer Acumen, the $250 million blended finance facility plans to give 16 sub-Saharan African countries access to electricity with off-grid solar energy. The goal is both to help Acumen-backed enterprises already providing solar energy in Kenya expand to these nations and to incubate small local companies.

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Source: Forbes

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A Tesla Model Y owner decided to build his own solar roof that can add over 20 miles of range to the electric SUV per day.

Tesla owner builds his own deployable solar roof for Model Y

A Tesla Model Y owner decided to build his own solar roof that can add over 20 miles of range to the electric SUV per day.

Tesla, like many other automakers, had previously explored adding solar to electric vehicles, but it has never pulled the trigger on the feature.

Other automakers offer it as an option, but the solar roof systems either only power auxiliary features and not the actual powertrain’s battery pack, or they only provide a few miles of range per day.

In 2017, CEO Elon Musk said that he pushed his Tesla engineers to look into integrating solar cells on Model 3, but they concluded that it wasn’t worth it at the time.

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Source: electrek

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Replacing water-intensive crops with water-efficient and drought-tolerant alternatives can allow farmers to continue working their fields in the face of water shortages and drought.

How farmers and ranchers are innovating in response to a shrinking Colorado River

The Colorado River has been a source of power, growth, and dispute in the southwestern United States since its waters were first diverted by European settlers in the early 1800s. Over the last two decades, increasing temperatures, urban growth, and a lengthy drought have contributed to rising tensions between the river’s stewards and those who hold rights to water withdrawals. The river’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, hit historic lows in 2021 and again in 2022, spurring a decision to renegotiate the Colorado River Compact of 1922 to prevent the reservoirs from reaching “dead pool”—the level at which their waters no longer flow downstream and their dams can no longer produce electricity.

The compact, or agreement, establishes water allotments for the seven “basin” states—Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Arizona—that rely on the river, as well as for 30 federally-recognized tribal nations and Mexico. In May of 2023, the most recent round of negotiations concluded with guidelines for water management through 2026. The resulting agreement saw the river’s Lower Basin states, Arizona, California, and Nevada, volunteer to cut their withdrawals by an aggregate 3 million acre-feet of water. These cuts promise to secure potable water for 40 million people, maintain electricity production in the two reservoirs, and send ripples through the region’s thirstiest industry, agriculture.

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Source: EESI

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Jim Gillum, a consultant on the project said that it would provide 130,000,000 kWh per year. The developer says it would power 12,000 homes.

Sacramento County approves 372-acre solar development

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The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a permit for a 372-acre solar development project on agricultural land near Wilton, the same day that the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially announced that 2023 was the hottest year on record. The project would power thousands of homes.
The new 50-megawatt solar project, Sloughhouse Solar, is being developed with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments by the intersection of Meiss and Dillard roads. SMUD has a goal to reach zero carbon emissions by 2030. Climate change is primarily driven by carbon dioxide emissions.
The design will allow sheep to graze the land under and around the panels. Additionally, Jim Gillum, a consultant on the project, told the board that the development would provide 130,000,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The developer says it would power 12,000 homes.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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US EIA forecasts new capacity will boost the solar share of total generation to 5.6% in 2024 and 7.0% in 2025, up from 4.0% in 2023.

US EIA: Solar will supply almost all growth in US electricity generation through 2025

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We expect solar electric generation will be the leading source of growth in the U.S. electric power sector. In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which contains new forecast data through December 2025, we forecast new capacity will boost the solar share of total generation to 5.6% in 2024 and 7.0% in 2025, up from 4.0% in 2023.

The STEO includes two Between the Lines articles that discuss how our forecast for Brent crude oil prices performed in 2023 and a closer look at our Brent price forecast for 2024 and 2025. We expect U.S. crude oil and natural gas production growth to slow, but both continue to reach new records.

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Source: Clean Technica

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Solar cells that combine traditional silicon with cutting-edge perovskites could push the efficiency of solar panels to new heights.

Super-efficient solar cells: 10 breakthrough technologies in 2024

WHO

Beyond Silicon, Caelux, First Solar, Hanwha Q Cells, Oxford PV, Swift Solar, Tandem PV

WHEN

3 to 5 years

In November 2023, a buzzy solar technology broke yet another world record for efficiency. The previous record had existed for only about five months—and it likely won’t be long before it too is obsolete. This astonishing acceleration in efficiency gains comes from a special breed of next-­generation solar technology: perovskite tandem solar cells. These cells layer the traditional silicon with materials that share a unique crystal structure.

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Source: Technology Review

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Costco Wholesale has deployed its first US fleet of off-grid electrified structures at its Mira Loma, California, distribution center.

Costco installs off-grid electrification at California distribution center

Costco Wholesale has deployed its first U.S. fleet of off-grid electrified structures at its Mira Loma, California, distribution center, according to a press release. Trinity Structures, based in Snohomish, Washington, achieved the groundbreaking in just four months, including design, construction and deployment with electrified structures that create, convert and conduct solar energy. Data has shown such projects take up to 24 months to complete, according to the press release..

The ecosystem creates energy with solar power, converts energy with inverters and batteries and conducts energy through EV charging or backup power.

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Source: Kiosk marketplace

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Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio will save thousands of dollars a month in electricity costs after covering most of its roof with solar panels.

Churches discover solar power delivers spiritual and financial benefits

Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio will save thousands of dollars a month in electricity costs — multiplied many times annually — after covering most of its roof with solar panels in 2023.

But saving money wasn’t what Senior Pastor Garrett Vickrey emphasized in a video made to celebrate installation of the panels in September. Instead, he opened with the spiritual benefits of solar power.

“We wanted to make this move because we believe this is a great opportunity to be good stewards of God’s green earth. For us, this is a theological and an ethical issue,” Vickrey said. “It’s been exciting to see the response of our congregation — the excitement — and to hear their testimonials of experiences with solar power.”

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Source: Baptist News Global

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