Tag Archive for: solarenergy

Solar power capacity in the US has grown from just 0.34 GW in 2008 to an estimated 97.2G W today, providing enough energy to 18 million homes.

US solar capacity has grown 28,500% since 2008

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The U.S. has plans to expand its solar energy market exponentially in support of its optimistic climate change policies. The country has already established several widescale solar projects, and with the introduction of the recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), renewable energy companies are being provided with the funding and tax cuts needed to encourage more rapid expansion of a variety of green energy projects. With a massive solar pipeline over the next few years, the U.S. will soon become a regional solar power hub.

The solar power capacity in the U.S. has grown from just 0.34 GW in 2008 to an estimated 97.2 gigawatts (GW) today, providing enough energy to power 18 million homes. However, at present, just 3 percent of the country’s electricity comes from solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), demonstrating the potential to expand the industry much further.

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Source: Oil Price

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Sunrun will build the first virtual solar power plant in Puerto Rico. It will be 17 megawatts and designed to strengthen the power grid.

Solar company to build Puerto Rico’s first virtual solar power plant

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Sunrun, a solar power and battery company based in San Francisco, will build the first virtual solar power plant in Puerto Rico. The virtual power plant (VPP) will be 17 megawatts and is designed to strengthen the power grid with solar energy aggregated from more than 7,000 customers’ residential solar and battery systems.

During 2023, Sunrun will work on enrolling customers into the VPP program and expects network dispatches to begin in 2024. According to the company, the enrolled customers receive cost savings from generating solar energy, and any backup power also earns customers money for sharing stored energy with the power grid.

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Source: EcoWatch

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French farmers are covering crops with solar panels to produce food and energy at the same time.

French farmers are covering crops with solar panels to produce food and energy at the same time

Agrivoltaics – the practice of using land for both solar energy and agriculture – is on the rise across France.

In the Haute-Saône region, in the northeastern part of the country, an experiment is being conducted by solar-energy company TSE.  It is hoping to find out whether solar energy can be generated without hindering large-scale cereal crops.

Previous attempts to experiment with agrivoltaics have been through smaller-scale projects. But, keen to see if it can thrive on an industrial level, 5,500 solar panels are being spread over this farm in the commune town of Amance by TSE.

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Source: euronews

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A professor is reporting on a new type of solar energy harvesting system that breaks the efficiency record of all existing technologies, clearing the way to use solar power 24/7

Solar harvesting system has potential to generate solar power 24/7

The great inventor Thomas Edison once said, “So long as the sun shines, man will be able to develop power in abundance.” His wasn’t the first great mind to marvel at the notion of harnessing the power of the sun; for centuries inventors have been pondering and perfecting the way to harvest solar energy.

They’ve done an amazing job with photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight directly into energy. And still, with all the research, history and science behind it, there are limits to how much solar power can be harvested and used — as its generation is restricted only to the daytime.

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Source: Science Daily

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The record 99.4 TW hours the EU generated in solar electricity this summer meant it didn’t need to buy 20 billion cubic metres of fossil gas.

Here’s how solar energy saved Europeans $29 billion this summer

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Solar power is helping Europe navigate an energy crisis of “unprecedented proportions” and save billions of euros in avoided gas imports, a new report finds.

Record solar power generation in the European Union this summer helped the 27-country grouping save around $29 billion in fossil gas imports, according to Ember, an energy think tank.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine severely threatening gas supplies to Europe, and both gas and electricity prices at record highs, the figures show the critical importance of solar power as part of Europe’s energy mix, the organization says.

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Source: World Economic Forum

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Cream on Chrome has created the Solar Energy Kiosk to demonstrate how much solar power is needed to complete simple tasks.

Solar Energy Kiosk by Cream on Chrome serves orange juice made using solar power

Dutch design studio Cream on Chrome has created the Solar Energy Kiosk, which uses sun rays to make orange juice as a way of demonstrating how much solar power is needed to complete simple tasks like squeezing fruit.

The installation was commissioned for The Energy Show in Rotterdam, part of The Solar Biennale festival. It was first previewed at Milan’s Salone del Mobile design fair in June.

Intended to explore what the world would look like if it ran purely on solar energy, Cream on Chrome’s kiosk resembles a conventional drinks van with two large, curved solar panels attached to its roof.

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Source: dezeen

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The US IRA stands to make solar energy a more viable option for renters and to people whose homes are not suitable for rooftop arrays.

You don’t have to own a home to go solar

Over the past decade, a boom in renewable energy made rooftop solar increasingly practical for US homeowners — but it largely left out the 44 million households that rent, and those unable to afford to go green. The Inflation Reduction Act is now poised to change that dynamic, expanding access to low-cost, carbon-free solar energy by providing generous incentives for what’s known as community solar.

Developers of these smaller-scale projects install solar panels on vacant land in or near communities, or on the rooftops of commercial buildings. Renters, apartment dwellers and people whose homes are not suitable for rooftop arrays can then subscribe to a community “solar garden,” paying a monthly fee based on their electricity consumption. In exchange, they receive a discount on their utility bills for the clean power they’re helping supply to the grid.

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Source: Bloomberg

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More than 8,400 public and private schools serving 6 million students are now using solar power generating significant cost savings.

Nearly 1 in 10 US schools now using solar power

Thousands of schools across the U.S. are beginning to make the switch to solar power, generating significant cost savings and helping them meet their hefty energy needs, a new report has found.

More than 8,400 public and private schools serving 6 million students — or about 1 in 10 institutions nationwide — are now using solar power, according to the report from the nonprofit Generation180.

Since 2015, the number of solar panels installed at the country’s K-12 schools has tripled, while the number of schools that use solar has doubled, the report found.

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Source: The Hill

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Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy purchased 2,000 acres in WV that will provide solar energy, creating as many as 1,000 jobs.

How Berkshire Hathaway Energy escaped ‘The Coal Trap’

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B +1.5% Energy purchased 2,000 acres in West Virginia, where the company will provide solar energy to an aerospace enterprise, creating as many as 1,000 jobs. The $500 million project is a potential magnet for similar businesses and helps to diversify the state’s economy and energy base.

Despite the optimism, economic expansion remains an uphill battle. West Virginia’s Public Service Commission is under the thumb of coal companies that still have political muscle. Examples abound, underscoring that point. The state’s citizens are paying more for electricity as a result, while their communities may forego growth.

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Source: Forbes

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Africa leads the way in terms of the average potential of solar energy around the world, finds Statista.

Africa leads the world in solar power potential, research finds

Figures from the Global Solar Atlas for The World Bank, as analyzed by Statista, reveal the average potential of solar energy around the world and as this infographic shows, Africa is out in front. When combining the average long-term practical yield of a utility scale solar energy installation in each country, Africa’s 4.51 kWh/kWp/day is ahead of second-placed Central & South America’s 4.48, while North America is further behind on 4.37.

The assessments “exclude areas due to physical/technical constraints, such as rugged terrain, presence of urbanized/industrial areas, forests, and areas that are too distant from the centers of human activity”, but do not consider “soft constraints, i.e., areas that might be unsuitable due to regulations imposed by national or regional authorities (such as conservation of cropland or nature conservation)”.

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Source: World Economic Forum

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