Tag Archive for: renewableenergy

Texas has seen a boom in solar power in recent years, and experts say that’s helped the state grid weather an intense June heat wave.

Solar power proves its worth as heat wave grips the state

While Texans drag through another punishing heat wave, people have nervously watched the state’s power grid, hoping it will hold up as the triple-digit days wear on. Under the blazing sun, the state has produced significant amounts of electricity from solar panels to help avoid shortfalls.

The heat pushed demand to a new record — topping 81,000 megawatts on Tuesday — but the state’s grid operator has only requested that residents lower their power use one day during the heat wave, when electricity from wind and power plants that use coal, nuclear or natural gas fell short of their past output.

Solar power provided nearly 20% of the Texas grid’s power needs on Tuesday before demand reached a new high.

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Source: The Texas Tribune

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The microgrid will help provide additional energy storage to improve the hospital’s ability to withstand long duration outages.

Valley children’s healthcare to install microgrid on California hospital campus

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Located in a rural part of Central California, Valley Children’s Healthcare, which delivers care to more than 1.3 million children, regularly faces the threat of rolling blackouts, unsteady water supplies, and wildfires.

This volatility impacts the organization’s ability to deliver services at its 358-bed standalone Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, Calif., as well as its specialty and primary care practices.

“Our doors need to stay open because these kids don’t have anywhere else to go,” says Danielle Barry, chief operating officer at Valley Children’s, adding that the hospital has a 45,000-mile catchment area.

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Source: Health Care Design Magazine

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For the first time in US history, US-made wind and solar components are now cheaper than imports, according to a new study.

US-made wind and solar components are now cheaper than imports

Dartmouth and Princeton researchers just released a study called, “Effects of Renewable Energy Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act on Technology Costs, Materials Demand, and Labor” that was funded by the BlueGreen Alliance, which unites labor unions and environmental organizations.

The report examines the estimated impacts the Inflation Reduction Act will have on the US wind and solar industries. Specifically, the report analyzes the impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act’s 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (45X MPTC), as well as the clean electricity production and investment tax credits.

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Source: electrek

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The US government is greenlighting a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send primarily wind-generated electricity from the rural plains of New Mexico to big cities in the West.

US greenlights major transmission line for renewable energy in Western states

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The U.S. government is greenlighting a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send primarily wind-generated electricity from the rural plains of New Mexico to big cities in the West.

The Interior Department announced its record of decision for the SunZia project Thursday. It comes about a year after an environmental review was completed as part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to clear the way for major transmission projects as it looks to meet climate goals and shore up the nation’s power grid.

The SunZia transmission project in New Mexico has been more than a decade in the making. The U.S. Defense Department and others initially raised concerns about the path of the high-voltage lines, prompting the developer to submit a new application in 2021 to modify the route.

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Source: AP News

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California needs to think creatively and find ways to put more solar energy in already built-out places, including rooftops and parking lots.

Editorial: California needs a lot more solar. Why not put panels along highways and parking lots?

California is racing to build enough solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage to meet its carbon-cutting mandates and prepare its electrical grid for worsening heat waves and growing energy demand.

But increasing renewable energy by covering far-off, undeveloped areas with solar and wind farms raises its own environmental concerns. That’s why California needs to think creatively and find ways to put more solar energy in already built-out places, including rooftops and parking lots, canals and agricultural fields, so we can slow the climate crisis without harming sensitive land, like the habitat of threatened Joshua trees or Mojave Desert tortoises.

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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Miller Milling Co., a part of Japan-based Nisshin Seifun Group, plans to expand its solar power capabilities at its flour mill in Fresno, CA.

California flour mill to add more solar power

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Miller Milling Co., a part of Japan-based Nisshin Seifun Group, plans to expand its solar power capabilities at its flour mill in Fresno, Calif.

Company officials said the expansion will add 1.01 megawatts of DC electricity that will be transformed and used at the mill. This amount plus the existing 1.01 megawatts of electricity being produced through solar will satisfy roughly 33% of the total electrical demand of the facility, the company said.

Miller Milling Co.’s solar power system became operational toward the end of 2017, Damon Sidles, plant manager, said in a 2018 article in World Grain, a sister publication of Milling & Baking News. The project involved the installation of 2,340 solar panels required for the project on 5 acres located adjacent to the mill, he said.

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Source: Food Business News

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Agrivoltaics has other benefits besides dual land use and food security; it could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make more efficient use of water.

Could growing crops under solar panels provide food and energy at the same time?

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Imagine growing greens in your back yard under a solar panel, and then juicing them in a blender powered by the same energy. A new University of Alberta project is working to make that a reality.

By growing spinach under different solar panels, two U of A researchers are measuring how the process affects both plant growth and the electrical output of the panels.

Known as agrivoltaics, the fairly new sustainable practice integrates solar panels with crops, making simultaneous use of land for both food and energy production.

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Source: University of Alberta

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially inaugurated what is said to be Europe’s biggest solar power plant built on a single site and one of the five largest in the world

Türkiye officially launches Europe’s largest solar power plant

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially inaugurated what is said to be Europe’s biggest solar power plant built on a single site and one of the five largest in the world on Tuesday. In another landmark announcement during the ceremony, he also announced that Türkiye has also discovered high-quality petroleum in southeastern Anatolia with a daily production capacity of 100,000 barrels.

“Türkiye will no longer be a country in need of energy resources but will rather be a country capable of energy export,” the president told the audience attending the inauguration ceremony.

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Source: Daily Sabah

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With solar farms, the US agriculture industry once again demonstrates its ability to embrace new technologies and practices.

Army of butterflies to win solar farm wars, despite opposition

The rising tide of opposition to large-scale solar farms has been impacting the US solar industry, but over the long run, PV stakeholders have the butterflies on their side. Solar developers are eager to pitch their projects as pollinator habitats that replace cultivated crops and neglected land with native plants, benefiting the property owner and nearby farms. The pollinator angle helps to undercut complaints that solar arrays are an inappropriate use of farmland, and it supports the case for farmers to adopt new technologies that benefit their industry.

Minnesota has become the epicenter of the solar-plus-pollinator trend, with local electric cooperative Connexus Energy leading the way. That’s no accident. A 2016 state law set up Minnesota’s Habitat Friendly Solar program, which incentivizes property owners and solar developers to claim benefits for gamebirds as well as songbirds and pollinating insects.

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Source: Clean Technica

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Wind & solar combined now produce more electricity than coal in the US, according to new data from the EIA and the FERC.

Wind and solar are now beating coal in the US

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Wind and solar combined now provide more generating capacity and produce more electricity than coal in the US, according to new data from the EIA and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which was reviewed by the nonprofit SUN DAY Campaign.

In the first two months of 2023, electrical generation by solar (including small-scale solar PV such as rooftop) grew by 6.7%, compared to the same two-month period in 2022 – faster than any other energy source, according to the latest issue of the US Energy Information Administration’s “Electric Power Monthly” report, which contains data through February 28. This was driven in large part by growth in “estimated” small-scale solar PV whose output increased by 23.6% and accounted for 32.5% of total solar production.

The mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar PV plus utility-scale solar thermal provided 3.9% of the US’s electrical output.

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Source: electrek

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