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This solar panel can go on drones, car roofs
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have come up with a new solar photovoltaic technology. It uses materials that can be curved and are flexible enough to be molded into electric vehicle rooftops, providing electricity that can extend their range between recharging. The new technology’s market may also extend to diesel-powered refrigerated trucks, where a solar-powered roof could provide enough energy to help power the cooling system and reduce the use of diesel fuel. A third application would be for the wings and bodies of unmanned aircraft that companies use to provide internet coverage for remote areas, as well as other applications. [ read more … ]
Solar Energy
Trump moves to raise solar tariffs, nix major exemption
President Trump called for ramping up tariffs on solar imports and ditching an exemption for two-sided panels over the weekend, prompting indignation from industry representatives and potentially raising the stakes for clean energy in the November election. In a proclamation Saturday, Trump wrote that existing tariffs on solar panels should be raised from 15% to 18% next year, and he gave trade authorities permission to investigate whether tariffs should be extended past their original four-year period. [ read more … ]
White House slows solar tariff for final year
The White House on Saturday issued a proclamation that will set the tariff on solar panels and cells 18 percent starting in February, rather than letting it fall to 15 percent as scheduled. The tariff began at 30 percent in 2018 and stepped down 5 percentage points each year and is presently 20 percent. The decision comes as part of a legally required mid-term review of the tariff. [ read more … ]
Solar Pushes Aside Coal as the Cheapest Fuel for Power, IEA Says
Renewables are set to overtake coal this decade as the world’s favorite fuel to generate electricity, the International Energy Agency says. Solar photovoltaics are now cheaper than plants fired by coal and natural gas in most nations, the Paris-based researchers concludes in its annual report on global energy trends. Those cheaper costs along with government efforts to slash climate-damaging emissions will increasingly push coal off the grid and give renewables 80% of the market for new power generation by 2030, the IEA says. [ read more … ]
IEA Prediction
Energy in the next 10 years
“The era of global oil demand growth will come to an end in the next decade,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “But without a large shift in government policies, there is no sign of a rapid decline. Based on today’s policy settings, a global economic rebound would soon push oil demand back to pre-crisis levels.” Under all four scenarios in the report , renewable energy continues to gain market share. In the announced policy intentions scenario, renewables meet 80 percent of global electricity demand growth over the next decade, overtaking coal by 2025 as the primary means of producing electricity. Hydropower will remain the largest renewable source over that period, but solar is the main source of growth. “I see solar becoming the new king of the world’s electricity markets,” Birol added. Solar is on track to set new records for deployment every year after 2022 under current policy. [ read more … ]
Four Big Takeaways From the IEA’s World Energy Outlook
Once a year, the International Energy Agency attempts to impose some order on the chaotic world of oil, gas, power and carbon by publishing detailed scenarios on how the next few decades might unfold. Here are the four big takeaways from the 2020 World Energy Outlook, published on Tuesday: [ read more … ]
IEA: Energy demand may not recover until 2025
The coronavirus has scrambled the global energy industry, lowering emissions temporarily while still not putting the world on a long-term path to reduce climate-changing pollution, according to the International Energy Agency. This year’s edition of the Paris-based agency’s World Energy Outlook paints an especially shaky portrait of the sector’s future. [ read more … ]
Markets
Coronavirus Pandemic Speeds Shift to Cleaner Energy
The world’s transition to cleaner sources of energy is gaining speed as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates a shift in investment away from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Capital spending on energy this year is set to plunge by 18%, as global energy demand is expected to fall by 5% in 2020, a pullback not seen since World War II, the Paris-based agency said in its annual report on the future of the industry. [ read more … ]
Global fuel standards are pushing the dirtiest oil out of the market
That variation in carbon intensity promises to shake up the global oil market, writes energy economist Philip Verleger in a report to investors. Governments concerned about climate change generally aren’t banning fossil fuels outright; they’re creating low carbon performance standards, which allow for taxing of fuels based on their carbon content. A steadily rising price for carbon means the dirtiest fuels—from places as disparate as Canada, Venezuela, and Alaska—will eventually be pushed out of those systems. [ read more … ]
Future of massive Western coal plant at stake in $1 sale
A utility’s plan for meeting the state of Washington’s clean energy standards could end up extending the life of one of the largest coal plants in the West. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has said it intends to sell its share in Montana’s Colstrip Generating Station for $1 to one of the plant’s co-owners, NorthWestern Energy. If approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and the Montana Public Service Commission, the sale would allow PSE to eliminate coal-burning resources by the end of 2025 as required by Washington’s clean energy policies. [ read more … ]
Grid
How Trump grid orders ran aground
In the past two years, President Trump has issued two executive orders meant to break through obstacles to developing defenses against unlikely but potentially devastating attacks on the nation’s electric power networks. With time running out in Trump’s first term, neither order has opened a clear path toward meeting the shadowy threats the policies targeted. The executive orders haven’t met with executive action, according to critics of Trump’s handling of the grid security risks. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.