Tag Archive for: solarpower

Solar panels provide more than electricity to Indigenous people, with renewable energy now reaching most villages in Brazil's Xingu territory

Solar power to the people: how the sun is bringing light – and TV – to Amazon villages

At dusk, Piyulaga village starts to wake up. Families gather at the entrances of their huts, children play and cycle around, and Brazilian country music fills the air as lights flicker on in the small settlement in the Xingu Indigenous territory of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Some residents watch TV while others relax in hammocks with their phones, illuminated by spotlights in the communal area.

It would be trivial but for one detail: lights have only been available for a few weeks, thanks to the installation of new solar panels on each home.

In recent years, solar projects have multiplied in remote communities in several Amazonian countries, mainly with funding from civil society organisations, helping to democratise electricity in off-grid areas of Latin America.

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Source: The Guardian

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Two weeks after Hurricane Helene, volunteers are providing solar power to hard-hit areas in NC, helping those affected by the storm.

Volunteers bring solar power to North Carolina communities still lacking electricity after Hurricane Helene

Two weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern United States, killing hundreds of people across multiple states and knocking out electricity for millions, volunteers are bringing solar power to hard-hit areas in North Carolina.

Helene made landfall Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm, causing disastrous flooding and landslides that destroyed neighborhoods and left at least 225 dead in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. North Carolina’s death toll accounted for around half of all of the victims as the hurricane brought several days of severe, torrential rainfall to the western part of the state. Around 1.5 million electricity customers in that region lost power during the storm, and many remain without it in Helene’s aftermath.

For Bobby Renfro, the constant din of a gas-powered generator is getting to be too much.

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Source: CBS News

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Aetherflux aims to launch a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit to collect solar power and beam it to Earth using infrared lasers.

Startup takes new approach to space-based solar power

A startup led by a founder of a financial services company is taking a new approach to space-based solar power intended to be more scalable and affordable than previous concepts.

Aetherflux announced Oct. 9 plans to develop and ultimately deploy a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit that will collect solar power and beam it to Earth using infrared lasers. The company is planning to demonstrate this technology with a small satellite launching by early 2026.

The concept is a departure from many previous concepts for space-based solar power (SBSP), which have involved large arrays in geostationary orbit. Those systems would transmit their power using microwaves to large rectennas on the ground. Such concepts have been studied for more than half a century but have not advanced beyond the drawing board.

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Source: Space News

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Solar energy potential is immense with solar tech improving and costs dropping. Global installations are surging but challenges remain.

Even solar energy’s biggest fans are underestimating it

Every day, the sun’s rays send 173,000 terawatts of energy to Earth continuously, 10,000 times the amount used by all of humanity. Which is to say, the potential for solar energy is immense, and we’re nowhere near the limit.

That’s why solar energy is such an appealing prospect, particularly as an alternative to the fossil fuels that cause climate change. And over the past decade, solar energy technology has vastly improved in performance and plummeted in cost.

As a result, photovoltaic panels have cropped up like dandelions across fields and rooftops at a stunning pace. Yet even the people most plugged-in to the energy industry and most optimistic about solar power continue to underestimate it. In fact, it’s a long-running joke among energy nerds that forecasters keep predicting solar will level off as it continues to rocket up to the sun.

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Source: Vox

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US electricity generation is expected to increase by 3% – 121B kilowatthours – this year compared to 2023, largely driven by solar power

US generation projected to rise 3% this year, mostly driven by solar

U.S. electricity generation is expected to increase by 3% – 121 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) – this year compared to 2023, largely driven by solar power, and natural gas to a lesser extent, according to Short-Term Energy Outlook analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“Significant” capacity expansions are driving the increase in solar generation, EIA said, with solar accounting for 59% of U.S. generating capacity additions in the first half of 2024. The increase in solar capacity was also supported by the development of new battery storage capacity, EIA said.

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Source: Renewables Energy World

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Solar power can help 400M Africans access groundwater, but care is needed to ensure smaller projects aren't overlooked in the tech push.

The solar pump revolution could bring water to millions of Africans

It’s a truly dreadful irony: for many of the 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to even a basic water supply, there is likely to be a significant reserve in aquifers sitting just a few metres below their feet.

Groundwater – the water stored in small spaces and fractures in rocks – makes up nearly 99% of all of the unfrozen fresh water on the planet. Across the African continent, the volume of water stored underground is estimated to be 20 times the amount held in lakes and reservoirs.

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Source: The Guardian

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Carnival and Port of Barcelona teamed up with a Catalonia solar provider to install 1,350 panels at Palacruceros & Helix Cruise Center.

Carnival installing solar power at two Barcelona cruise terminals

The roof-mounted solar panels, a first for the port, are capable of supplying more than 100% of the energy needed to power daily operations and will reduce overall electricity consumption.

Palacruceros and Helix Cruise Center

Carnival and the Port of Barcelona teamed up with a Catalonia-based solar provider to install the 1,350 panels at Palacruceros (Terminal D) and Helix Cruise Center (Terminal E), which will collectively produce 866,000-plus kilowatt-hours per year.

Installation work began in July at Palacruceros and the full project across both terminals is set for completion by the end of 2024.

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Source: Seatrade Cruise News

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A cricket stadium, Utilita Bowl is to switch to solar power in a bid to become "the greenest cricket ground in the world".

Cricket ground goes green in solar power switch

A cricket stadium is to switch to solar power in a bid to become “the greenest ground in the world”.

Utilita Bowl in Southampton began installing the 1,044 panels in July, after it received planning approval from Eastleigh Borough Council.

The stadium sponsor, Utilita Energy, funded the project which it hopes will cover 25% of the annual electricity used in the venue.

The switch-on will take place before England host Australia in the first of their three T20 internationals this month.

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Source: BBC

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Amid 100°F heat, California avoided emergencies, thanks to a battery boom that now bolsters the nation's top solar power producer.

Batteries power California’s newly reliable grid

California has long been an easy mark for Republicans eager to criticize clean energy policies.

The nation’s most populous state struggled with rolling blackouts in a 2020 heat wave, handing political fodder to opponents of California’s ongoing transition to a carbon-free grid. Then-President Donald Trump accused Democrats of “forcing Americans in the dark.”

But four years later, how the tables turn.

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Source: POLITICO

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A report published by the SEIA and Wood Mackenzie highlights how effective the administration has been in advancing solar power in the US.

US solar power booms under Biden

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One of the core areas of focus of the Biden–Harris administration has been growing cleantech — getting more solar power plants build, getting more solar panel factories up and running in the United States, installing more EV chargers, selling more electric cars and trucks, getting offshore wind power going in the country, and much, much more. A report published today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie highlights how effective the administration has been in advancing solar power in the States, and especially solar panel production capacity.

The big headline: solar panel production capacity has almost quadrupled in the last two years, since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in mid 2022. Solar module production capacity has risen above 31 gigawatts (GW) a year.

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Source: Clean Technica

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