Recovered silver, polysilicon, copper, and aluminum from re-hashed panels can fetch the most cash on the recycling market.

Dead solar panels are about to become a lot more valuable

In the coming years, recyclers will hopefully be able to mine billions of dollars worth of materials from discarded solar panels, according to a new analysis published this week. That should ease bottlenecks in the supply chain for solar panels while also making the panels themselves more sustainable.

Right now, most dead solar panels in the US just get shredded or chucked into a landfill. The economics just don’t shake out in recycling’s favor. The value you can squeeze out of a salvaged panel hasn’t been enough to make up for the cost of transporting and recycling it. That’s on track to change, according to the recent analysis by research firm Rystad Energy.

Click here to read the full article
Source: The Verge

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Last April, sustainable wind and solar energy sources produced 17.96 percent more electricity than nuclear power plants for the first time

US produces more power from wind and solar than nuclear for the first time

In April of this year sustainable wind and solar energy sources produced 17.96 percent more electricity than nuclear power plants, the first time the former have overtaken the latter in U.S. history.

This surge in wind and solar-generated electricity meant that clean energy, which also includes geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass energy, comprised nearly 30 percent of the total electricity in the whole U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. In 2021, clean energy only made up around 20 percent of the total electricity across the country.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Newsweek

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

A solar-powered machine capable of sucking CO2 from the atmosphere could help us alleviate some of our climate woes.

World’s first solar-powered carbon capture systems could help remove tons of CO₂

A solar-powered machine capable of sucking CO2 from the atmosphere could help us alleviate some of our climate woes. And good news is that it just secured a $700,000 contract to capture and store carbon in Australia, according to a press release.

The technology was developed by a carbon dioxide capture company called AspiraDAC, with its first customer, global financial infrastructure company Stripe, aiming to install it this year.

Stripe purchased the system through Frontier, a partnership between Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey. In case you missed it, Frontier plans to invest $925 million in carbon removal technology over the next nine years to encourage the development of carbon removal technologies.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Interesting Engineering

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Four companies are joining the board of directors of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

US Solar Trade Association expands board of directors

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four companies, CEP Renewables, Kiewit Energy Group, Monarch Private Capital, and Moss & Associates, are joining the board of directors of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Additionally, the association named Laura Stern, co-CEO of Nautilus Solar Energy, vice-chair of its executive committee.

SEIA’s board of directors now consists of more than 50 companies from across the solar value chain, including installers, developers, manufacturers, financiers and service providers. SEIA is the national trade association for the U.S. solar and storage industries.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Clean Technica

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

The maximum grant sizes of the CalAPP program ranges between $40,000 and $100,000 depending on population and the application is simple.

California Energy Commission to give grants to cities, counties that adopt SolarAPP+

California recently launched a first-in-the-nation initiative to spur growth in rooftop solar and reduce consumer costs by cutting red tape that impedes solar installations.

The California Energy Commission’s “CalAPP” program will provide incentives to cities and counties to adopt SolarAPP+, software designed by the federal Dept. of Energy using innovative technology that issues building permits for rooftop solar in real time. SolarAPP+ eliminates permitting delays, standardizes the permitting process between jurisdictions and reduces the cost of solar, leading to solar on more roofs.

Properties that install solar first need to receive a permit from the local building department, but outdated and bureaucratic permitting requirements in many areas combined with chronic staffing shortages can add months of delays and thousands of dollars to solar projects. In many cases, property owners give up on solar entirely. Even in the several cities and counties with streamlined solar permitting, different processes and requirements unique to that jurisdiction can add significant costs to contractors who pass those on to their customers.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Solar Power World

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Fitch forecast that total installed solar power capacity globally will rise from 836GW at the end of last year to 2,044GW by 2031

World’s solar capacity to top 2TW by 2031, with China accounting for nearly half of all new additions

The world’s total solar capacity will reach 2,044GW by 2031, with China continuing to lead the way in deployment, making up nearly half (47%) of the world’s 1,190GW net solar capacity additions through to 2031, according to research firm Fitch Solutions.

Fitch forecast that total installed solar power capacity globally will rise from 836GW at the end of last year to 2,044GW by 2031, pushing up solar’s share of the global power mix by more than six percentage points from 27.5% in 2021 to 33.9% by 2031.

Moreover, solar PV will experience greater growth in capacity than other power types over Fitch’s forecast period, making up 43% of all capacity additions globally from 2021-2031.

Click here to read the full article
Source: PV Tech

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Investor-owned utility SDG&E and the City of San Diego are launching a dozen microgrid projects with energy storage across San Diego, CA.

Storage-enabled microgrid projects proliferate in California

,

Investor-owned utility SDG&E and the City of San Diego are launching a dozen microgrid projects with energy storage across San Diego, California, following similar announcements elsewhere in the state.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) received approval on June 24 from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to build four microgrid projects at existing substations in the San Diego region, with a combined 39MW/180MWh of energy storage capacity.

The units will help the state of California meet high energy demand, particularly on hot summer days and during peak demand evening hours when solar generation is low. They will be able to operate independently or in parallel with the larger regional grid ensuring critical community facilities remain powered during grid-level outages.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Energy Storage News

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

The consortium will invest $6B as it recruits solar panel manufacturers in a long-term strategic plan to supply up to 7GW of solar modules per year from 2024

US solar developers to spend $6B to boost domestic panel supplies

A group of U.S. solar energy project developers on Tuesday said they would jointly spend about $6 billion to support expansion of the domestic solar panel supply chain.

The U.S. Solar Buyer Consortium, which includes developers AES Corporation AES.N, Clearway Energy Group, Cypress Creek Renewables and DE Shaw Renewable Investments, said in a statement that the funds would address current supply chain issues.

Since the start of the pandemic, companies that buy solar panels for large power plants have struggled with global supply chain disruptions that have driven up costs, as well as potential U.S. tariffs on imported panels from Asia. Duties on those products, which supply most U.S. projects, would make solar energy more expensive and less competitive with power produced by fossil fuels.

Click here to read the full article
Source: VOA News

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

The new decision from the CPUC is one of the most significant changes to the interconnection process in decades.

Groundbreaking California rule transforms how renewables connect to the grid

A new decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) marks a significant milestone by dramatically simplifying the interconnection process for distributed energy resources (DERs), like solar and batteries, and providing valuable transparency for project developers.

This is one of the most significant changes to the interconnection process in decades and offers a model for other states, at a time when interconnection has increasingly become a bottleneck to renewable energy development around the country.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Clean Technica

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

The Bay Area city is partnering with BlocPower to install thousands of heat pumps, solar panels and batteries by 2030.

Silicon Valley’s Menlo Park plans to electrify 10,000 buildings

,

Facebook’s hometown of Menlo Park, California, has struck a deal to decarbonize 95% of its buildings by 2030, replacing the city’s fossil-fuel infrastructure with climate-friendly heat pumps, solar panels and electric car chargers.

The wealthy Silicon Valley enclave on Wednesday announced a partnership with BlocPower, a New York-based company that, in founder Donnel Baird’s words, “turns buildings into Teslas.” In New York City, the startup coordinates and finances retrofits of apartment buildings, replacing natural-gas and oil boilers with high-efficiency heat pumps and solar panels. BlocPower has focused on low-income communities and last year the city of Ithaca, New York, chose the company to lead an initiative to decarbonize its building stock.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Bloomberg

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.