Tag Archive for: solarpanels

The Dutch province of North Brabant will deploy a 500-meter-long solar bike line and test its performance over a 5-year period.

Construction begins on solar cycling path in Netherlands

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The Dutch province of North Brabant has announced the start of construction of a 500-meter-long, ground-mounted solar cycle path along the provincial N285 road near Wagenberg.

The PV system will be integrated into the asphalt top layer and will consist of 600 solar panels of an unspecified type. “This project is mainly intended to gain more experience with the deployment of solar cells on bicycle paths,” the provincial government said, noting that two similar systems have already been deployed along the N395 road near Oirschot and along the N324 road near Grave, in North Brabant itself. 

During a 5-year period, provincial government experts will assess, in particular, the resistance of the solar modules to the mechanical stress applied by the presence of pedestrians and bikers, the costs for their maintenance, and the PV system energy yield.

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Source: PV Magazine

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The microclimate created underneath the solar panels conserves the water and protects plants from excess sun, wind, hail and soil erosion.

How shading crops with solar panels can improve farming, lower food costs and reduce emissions

If you have lived in a home with a trampoline in the backyard, you may have observed the unreasonably tall grass growing under it. This is because many crops, including these grasses, actually grow better when protected from the sun, to an extent.

And while the grass under your trampoline grows by itself, researchers in the field of solar photovoltaic technology — made up of solar cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity — have been working on shading large crop lands with solar panels — on purpose.

This practice of growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels is called agrivoltaic farming. And it is happening right here in Canada.

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Source: The Conversation

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US Senator Padilla announced $7 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 5 CA solar projects.

Padilla announces $7M to enhance solar manufacturing, recycling & the grid in CA

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced $7 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for five projects across California to strengthen domestic solar supply chain. These research, development, and demonstration projects will help to enhance domestic solar manufacturing, support the recycling of solar panels, and develop new American-made solar technologies.

“As we continue to grapple with the impacts of climate change, it is critical that we invest in domestic clean energy projects that improve our energy grid resilience and strengthen our energy independence,” said Senator Alex Padilla.“The funding for these California projects will help create the smart and accessible solutions we need to grow our clean energy production in order to help us meet President Biden’s goal of a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

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Source: Padilla Senate

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San Francisco-based Built Robotics launched the "RPD 35," a robot based on an excavator. It can carry heavy solar piles used to support solar panels and install them on a solar farm.

How this new robot will help build solar farms in a fast, effective way

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A Bay Area company recently launched a robot that will help build solar farms.

San Francisco-based Built Robotics launched the “RPD 35,” a robot based on an excavator. It can carry heavy solar piles used to support solar panels and install them on a solar farm.

The company said the robot helps build solar farms in a faster, safer and more cost-effective way.

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Source: ABC7 News

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Today, the United States is running a natural experiment in electricity generation, with a patchwork of policies and power grids.

America needs clean electricity. These states show how to do it.

If humans escape climate scientists’ gloomiest projections, if we buy ourselves time to adapt to higher seas and fiercer heat waves, we will likely use more electricity than we do now, and we will make it without emitting greenhouse gases.

Today, the United States is running a natural experiment in electricity generation, with a patchwork of policies and power grids. To eliminate electricity’s greenhouse gas emissions, it makes sense to ask: What can we learn from the states that make cleanest power?

The chart below shows how the United States has made electricity for the past twenty years, represented as the percentage of power generated from each fuel source. To show how their relative usage has shifted, the fuels are stacked each year from top to bottom in order of percentage.

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Source: The Washington Post

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Tom Steyer's Galvanize Climate Solutions will acquire residential properties and retrofit them with the goal of deep emissions reductions.

Billionaire Tom Steyer plans net zero apartment upgrades across US

An arm of billionaire Tom Steyer’s investment firm Galvanize Climate Solutions will begin buying and upgrading property across the US this summer and fall, aiming to cut the portfolio’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in three years without the use of offsets.

“This is a real estate strategy with a decarbonization goal,” said Joseph Sumberg, the head of Galvanize Real Estate, who joined Galvanize last October from Goldman Sachs. “Capitalism will look at this successful strategy, and replicate it, creating ripples through the built environment.”

While Sumberg and Galvanize — a firm co-founded by Steyer and Katie Hall that plans to invest billions of dollars — declined to provide a figure for the size of the investment, Sumberg said it will be sizable and will focus on markets including the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, California, Arizona and Texas.

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Source: Bloomberg

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Researchers in Australia say they have found a way to make nano-silicon from recycled solar panels in a way that is highly profitable.

Researchers in Australia find a new reason to recycle solar panels — money!

Recently, we reported on the efforts of SolarCycle, a California startup that is struggling to recycle solar panels and do it profitably. Figuring this out is going to be hugely important as the number of solar panels that are no longer productive increases dramatically over the next several decades.

In 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency forecast that by the early 2030s, the global quantity of decommissioned PV panels will equal some 4% of the number of installed panels. By the 2050s, the volume of solar panel waste will rise to at least 5 million metric tons a year. China, the world’s biggest producer of solar energy, is expected to have retired a cumulative total of at least 13.5 million metric tons of panels by 2050 — the largest quantity among major solar-producing nations and nearly twice the volume retired in the US by that time.

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Source: Clean Technica

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Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to deploy 1,200 tiny homes to four cities throughout the state to help house the large homeless population.

Foldable tiny homes powered by solar help house homeless population

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced plans to deploy 1,200 tiny homes to four cities throughout the state to help house the large homeless population, which numbered at least 170,000 last year according to federal data. The state will spend about $30 million to build the homes which will go to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento.

One of the housing companies involved in the effort is Foldum-NetZero Energy Systems, which says their new semi-permanent tiny homes are equipped with beds, a kitchenette and full bathroom and can provide much needed housing for the homeless with more amenities than a tent or pallet shelter.

The units, which cost from $25,000 to $65,000, are self-powered with renewable clean energy from solar panels and a battery storage system and can operate off the grid. The tiny homes can also easily fold-up for transport.

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Source: Spectrum News 1

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Rep. Boylan drafted a bill that requires all new single-family homes in RI & new outdoor parking lots larger than 16,000sq ft to install solar

Rhode Island lawmaker wants to require solar on new homes and parking lots

A freshman lawmaker in Rhode Island has opened a provocative discussion: why not mandate solar panels on most new construction?

Rep. Jennifer Boylan, a Democrat who has solar panels on her home in Barrington, said she sees every instance in which a new building goes up without solar panels as “a missed opportunity.”

So she drafted a bill that would require all new single-family dwellings in the state to have a solar energy system large enough to meet at least 80% of the dwelling’s estimated annual average electricity use. The mandate would also apply to multifamily dwellings and commercial buildings up to 10 stories high.

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Source: Energy News

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New study finds that an optimal arrangement of solar panels on farms can cool the panels down by 10 degrees—crucial for their efficiency.

Solar panels handle heat better when they’re combined with crops

It’s an ironic fact that sun-harvesting solar panels function better when they’re not too hot. But luckily researchers have now discovered precisely how to cool them down. Building solar panels at a specific height above crops can reduce surface temperatures by up to 10 °C, compared to traditional panels constructed over bare ground, they’ve found.

The results, published in the journal Applied Energy, are the latest contribution to a growing body of research on agrivoltaics: a farming method that aims to maximize land use by pairing solar panels with cropland, thus minimizing competition between energy production and food. We already know that agrivoltaics can increase land-use efficiency, produce plenty of electricity on minimal land, and may also improve crop yields by shielding plants from heat and wind.

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Source: Anthropocene

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