A Swiss team called Peak Evolution successfully climbed the western edge of Ojos del Salado in their solar-powered electric truck.

This solar electric truck climbed the world’s highest volcano and set a world record

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A solar electric truck climbed the world’s highest volcano using solar power alone – and set a new world record for altitude for an EV.

A Swiss team called Peak Evolution, which is sponsored by Austrian transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss, successfully climbed the western edge of Ojos del Salado, 6,500 meters above sea level in Chile, in their solar-powered electric truck.

Two months ago, the electric truck was transported to Chile from Switzerland via Rotterdam by sea freight. From there, it was transported overland to the Atacama region, where the team began to prepare for their ascent at Chile’s Maricunga salt lake, which is at an altitude of 3,400 meters (11,155 feet).

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Source: electrek

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The BLM is seeking public comment on new project in eastern Riverside County that could generate and store up to 117MW of pv solar energy.

BLM welcomes input on proposed Sapphire Project in California

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The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment on new solar energy work in eastern Riverside County. If approved, the Sapphire Project could generate and store up to 117 megawatts of photovoltaic solar energy and deliver renewable electricity to the statewide transmission grid.

The project would include approximately 41 acres of public lands for access roads, facilities, and lines to transmit the power. The planned solar panel arrays, battery energy storage, and related facilities would sit on about 1,082 acres of adjoining private land.

“Clean energy remains a BLM top priority,” said California Desert District Manager Shelly Lynch.  “BLM-managed public lands offer a tremendous opportunity to advance solar technology, and we value public input in the process.”

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Source: BLM.gov

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Amped Innovation developed a solar-powered fridge to be deployed in rural Africa, where millions of people have limited electricity.

These fridges are powered by solar panels and ice batteries

Until recently, a store selling groceries in a village in Zambia couldn’t sell cold drinks: It didn’t have access to electricity to power a fridge. But the store now has a solar panel on the roof connected to a solar fridge that’s stocked with drinks and ice. The business owner has nearly doubled overall sales.

The store was one of the first to get a new fridge designed by Amped Innovation, a Bay Area-based company that’s now scaling up production of the appliance. They wanted to help tackle a widespread problem—even though the energy grid is quickly growing in Africa, millions of people still aren’t connected or have to deal with frequent outages.

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Source: Fast Company

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Two solar cycle paths came online in the Netherlands, and they’re the country’s first to have 1,000 square meters of solar surface area each.

The Dutch are riding their bikes on two new solar cycle paths

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Two solar cycle paths came online in the Netherlands, and they’re the country’s first to have 1,000 square meters (10,764 square feet) of solar surface area each.

Colas Group company Wattway and Dutch construction company BAM Royal Group installed the solar cycle paths in the North Holland and North Brabant provinces. Wattway makes solar road surfaces that produce clean electricity while bearing vehicle traffic.

Wattway, which claims to be the world’s first solar road surfacing company, has been running around 40 trial sites in multiple countries since its founding in 2015. As a result, it’s been making improvements to its solar roads.

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Source: electrek

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Of 131 million US households, about 4.5 million have added rooftop solar. 2023 set a record with more than 1 million EVs sold in the US.

Electric vehicle owners and solar rooftops find mutual attraction

When Jim Selgo moved to his home in Goodyear, Arizona in 2019, he quickly had rooftop solar installed, having had a positive experience with solar at his previous home.

Less than a year later, motivated to take more action to address climate change, he said, Selgo bought his first electric vehicle, a Nissan Leaf. He hasn’t paid for electricity or gasoline since.

With solar, “You take advantage of what you’re producing at your own house,” he said. “Adding an EV just increases your savings and adds to the value of the whole project.”

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Source: US News

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Solar panel owners are still more likely to have higher incomes and live in wealthier states, but a few trends are changing things.

The income gap among households with solar panels is shrinking, study finds

Rooftop solar panels continue to be more popular among Americans with above-average incomes, but that trend is changing, according to a new report.

The median household income of a solar adopter in the US was about $117,000 in 2022, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found. By contrast, the median income for all households was $69,000, and $86,000 for all owner-occupied households.

While the typical household with solar panels was wealthier than the average household, that trend is changing just a bit. In 2010, the median income for a solar adopting household was $140,000.

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Source: CNET

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CA’s risk of blackouts has fallen as more renewable energy & batteries are added to electric grid, reducing the need to import electricity

California is less likely to have blackouts thanks to solar and big batteries

California’s risk of power shortfalls and blackouts has fallen as more renewable energy and batteries are added to its electric grid, while such threats in New York rose thanks to higher electricity demand and new restrictions on gas-fired power plants, industry regulators said.

“The challenge in New York is the New York City area,” Mark Olson, a manager at the North American Electric Reliability Corp., said Wednesday on a call with reporters about its latest reliability report. “Under high demand, getting transmission to flow into the load centers could be a challenge.”

In California, on the other hand, the risk of blackouts has fallen as more renewable energy and batteries are added, reducing the need to import electricity from other regions, NERC said. The grid has been designated “elevated risk,” which means it has enough energy for normal conditions though could fall short in extreme weather.

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Source: Bloomberg

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The state of Maryland offers financial support so people with less money can still have a chance to own and benefit from having their own home solar power.

Free home solar power in Maryland

In the United States, there are some people who have less financial means and therefore have reduced access to technology. Around the year 2000, the term “digital divide” was floating around to reference this gap. For consumers today there is something of a clean energy divide, in that home solar power is not affordable for every homeowner. Fortunately, there are some government programs that provide support to homeowners to solve this problem. The state of Maryland offers such financial support so people with less money can still have a chance to own and benefit from having their own home solar power.

The non-profit organization and Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) grantee Building Change and SunPower answered some questions about the Maryland home solar power program for CleanTechnica.

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Source: Clean Technica

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EU negotiators reached a huge milestone to accelerate renewable deployment by inking a deal on the EU Solar Standard.

EU agrees to a rooftop solar standard

Yesterday in the late evening, the EU negotiations on the European Performance of Building Directive concluded. The Directive defines energy efficiency targets aiming at decarbonising the EU building stock and key measures to use rooftop solar to cover the remaining electricity demand. SolarPower Europe has issued the following statement:

Jan Osenberg, Policy Advisor at SolarPower Europe, said: 

“EU negotiators reached a huge milestone to accelerate renewable deployment, yesterday, by inking a deal on the EU Solar Standard. Across all EU countries, it will require solar installations on all new public and commercial buildings by 2026, on all new residential buildings by 2029, on non-residential buildings that undergo a relevant renovation by 2027, and on all existing public buildings in a stepwise approach by 2030. The Commission presented the measure as part of the EU Solar Rooftop Strategy to counter the energy crisis.

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Source: Solar Power Europe

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One of the largest battery storage projects in Southern California opens this week, a commercial facility capable of storing 68.8MW of power.

New battery facility in Stanton supports California’s transition to renewable energy

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With California increasingly relying on renewable energy, how can we keep the lights on even when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow?

One key to avoiding those dreaded rolling blackouts is batteries, which can store energy harnessed by solar panels and wind turbines and then dispatch that electricity when and where it is needed. So, along with a need for new solar and wind farms to generate electricity, and new power lines to distribute it, California also is projected to need 52,000 megawatts of storage capacity to meet its goal of running entirely on clean energy by 2045.

We’re only starting to reach that goal. The state has 6,617 megawatts of storage capacity, according to an online dashboard the California Energy Commission launched in October. But that number is rising quickly, the agency said, with a nearly eight-fold jump over the past four years.

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Source: The Orange County Register

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