Tag Archive for: solar

Meet the power plant of the future: solar + battery hybrids are poised for explosive growth

America’s electric power system is undergoing radical change as it transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy. While the first decade of the 2000s saw huge growth in natural gas generation, and the 2010s were the decade of wind and solar, early signs suggest the innovation of the 2020s may be a boom in “hybrid” power plants.

A typical hybrid power plant combines electricity generation with battery storage at the same location. That often means a solar or wind farm paired with large-scale batteries. Working together, solar panels and battery storage can generate renewable power when solar energy is at its peak during the day and then release it as needed after the sun goes down.

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Source: The Conversation

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Working out the details of a circular solar economy

As solar grows rapidly as an energy source, the number of photovoltaic (PV) modules that are manufactured and installed each year will continue to expand. By 2050, the United States may have installed 1,600 gigawatts of PV (or more) to decarbonize its electricity system, about 20 times the amount installed today. Even before 2050, many of these PV modules may start retiring from service. What happens to those modules?

Many researchers and members of the PV industry, including researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), have begun to consider solutions to the end-of-life question for PV modules. Most envision a circular economy for PV materials in which modules (or the glass, silicon, aluminum, and other materials that compose them) are recaptured at the end of their life for reuse or recycling.

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Source: Clean Technica

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California utility SDG&E sees utility scale solar growing greater than 10x by 2045

California utility San Diego Gas & Electricity (SDG&E) has released new projections for meeting California’s decarbonization goals. The study, The Path to Net Zero: A Decarbonization Roadmap for California, predicts that in order to reach the mandated carbon neutrality by 2045, the state will need to quadruple its electricity generating capacity from 85 GW to 365 GW, add 40 GW of energy storage, and integrate 20 GW of green hydrogen – while also adding 4 GW of fossil gas with carbon capture and sequestration technology.

The utility said that they believe a mix of resources will be needed to “maintain electricity system reliability in the SDG&E service area” as total consumption increases by an estimated 100%, and peak demand grows by 85%.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Batteries, solar, wind and hydropower: Why renewable energy is essential to curbing climate change

The pace in which the world needs to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy needs to urgently accelerate as the threat from rising global temperatures increases each day, experts say.

There is a more than 50% chance that temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius unless the ambitious climate pledges made leading up to the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference are not strictly adhered to, a study published this month in the scientific journal Nature found.

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Source: ABC News

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AI method learns from experienced staff on perovskite solar production lines

Academics from MIT and Stanford who have posited a new production method for perovskite solar cells have also developed a machine learning system which benefits from the experience of seasoned workers – and they’ve posted it online for anyone to use.

There’s no substitute for experience and researchers in the US have acknowledged the fact by coming up with a machine learning method for producing perovskite solar cells which can incorporate the observations of seasoned production line staff.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Solar soars as renewables chip away at American power kingpin gas

US electricity generation from renewable sources will increase to 23% in 2023 from 20% last year, as solar and wind begin to erode the leading market share of natural gas, according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

That shift, if lasting, would end the steady market gains of natural gas that began in 2014, enabling it to surpass coal two years later as the leading generation source in the world’s largest electricity market. Renewables will take 22% of the US power market this year.

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Source: RECHARGE

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How San Diego will feed its appetite for solar energy

San Diego is going to need lots of renewable energy if it’s going to nix planet-warming emissions from its economy in the coming decades, as it has pledged to do. One new study shows the county could technically generate what its people will need within its borders, but San Diego will probably need help from its neighbors.

Enter Imperial County. With a population 18 times smaller than San Diego, this 4.4 thousand square mile swath of land is rich in resources. It has first dibs on Colorado River water over entire western states, fueling a $2 billion agricultural industry that provides much of America’s winter vegetables.

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Source: Voice of San Diego

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Visualizing solar capacity, performance across the US

Solar capacity factors rose across all independent system operators in 2020, pushing the weighted U.S. average up 1.8 percentage points year over year as more than three-quarters of the states housing utility-scale solar projects experienced increases.

The 2020 weighted U.S. solar capacity factor comes in at a calculated 24.4%, based on S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates. The California ISO tops the ISO leaderboard at nearly 27%, but Utah leads the pack across state lines, with solar plants in the Beehive State averaging almost 30%. Wisconsin, meanwhile, logged the largest gains from 2019 to 2020, up an estimated 8.6 percentage points.

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Source: S&P Global

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Solar energy production increased by 20 percent in 2021

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In 2021, Americans used 5% more energy than in 2020, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Last year, Americans used 97.3 quads (quadrillion BTU) of energy, which is 4.4 quads more than last year’s 92.9 quads – equivalent to a 5% increase.

Both 2020 and 2021 annual energy consumption totals are less than 2018 and 2019, where Americans used more than 100 quads per year.

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Source: Solar Industry

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Blockstream and Block to harness solar for bitcoin mining facility

Blockstream and Block to harness solar for bitcoin mining facility

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Block (formerly Square) and Blockstream (a long-time Bitcoin company) have agreed to co-finance a pilot project to mine bitcoin off the electric grid in an all-solar facility.

Why it matters: The energy overhead of Bitcoin has become hotly controversial, but some bitcoiners argue the technology can help finance further development of renewable energy.

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Source: AXIOS

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