Solar

Renewable generation is usually characterized as more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels, and in many respects, that’s true. But there is a growing recognition that solar and wind generation have their own impacts, and an increasing number of manufacturers and generators are looking for ways to minimize them. Iceland might be about the last place […]

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada today announced an unprecedented goal to procure 50% of North America’s total power generation from renewables, nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and energy efficiency technologies by 2025. President Obama, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, and the President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, announced the continental goal, part of […]

Enrico Viale, head of global thermal generation for the Italian energy company Enel, kicked off an international power industry event yesterday with a keynote presentation describing the “needs” of utilities in the future.

Diablo Canyon, the two-reactor nuclear power plant on the central California coastline, will be permanently shuttered by 2025 under a renewables-boosting initiative announced today by its owner, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). The company on June 21 unveiled a “joint proposal” with labor and environmental groups that seeks to increase investment in energy efficiency, energy […]

  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled details of the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP), a voluntary measure central to the judicially stalled Clean Power Plan that seeks to provide guidance to states and tribes that want to meet goals under the plan when it becomes effective. The final Clean Power Plan, finalized in […]

Panels at the 2016 Edison Electric Institute convention focused on technologies and policies at what’s often called the “grid edge.”

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) approved Minnesota Power Co.’s integrated resource plan (IRP) on June 9, which calls for the economic idling of the company’s Taconite Harbor Energy Center—a two-unit 150-MW facility (Unit 3 was retired in June 2015)—this fall and ceasing coal operations at the site in 2020. The MPUC also adjusted the […]

  Even though it may dominate forecasts, natural gas–fired generation faces a troubled expansion in the U.S., according to experts from a variety of stake-holding entities—including an industry group, a utility, a generator, and a pipeline company. Challenges that have few solutions—from price volatility, to gas transport concerns, to rule uncertainty—may upend the nation’s dependence […]

China unveiled its 13th Five-Year Plan this March. The official proposal that will guide the country’s economic and social development from 2016 through 2020 lays out targets and other measures to address a number of climate change, air pollution, and water policies that will build on progress to transform its power sector. The plan sets […]

Misaligned mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California caused electrical cables to catch fire about two-thirds of the way up the Unit 3 tower on May 19, according to several media reports of statements attributed to fire department personnel. The San Bernardino County (Calif.) Fire Department (SBCFD) reported on its Facebook page […]

The world’s frenzied economic growth through 2040 won’t be matched by electricity demand growth, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in the International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016 ) released on May 11. World net electricity generation will jump 69% by 2040, the IEO2016 reference case projects, but that is still well below “what it would […]

Hands down, 2015 was a record year for global investment in renewable energy. Excluding large hydroelectric projects, the amount of money committed to renewables rose 5%, to $285.9 billion, exceeding the previous record of $278.5 billion reached in 2011.

Uncertainty concerning a number of environmental rules is clouding planning measures, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said on May 3. Citing its latest Capacity, Demand, and Reserves (CDR) report—a snapshot of existing and planned resources and load forecasts for the next 10 years—the grid entity that manages about 90% of Texas’ electric load […]

After a very busy March, I just wanted to run a collage of puppy photos in this editorial. After all, baby animals are proven to generate engagement on social media, so why not in print? Then I saw a Twitter

One of Russia’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities has been grid-connected in Abakan, located in the Republic of Khakassia. The Khakass capital in central Russia just north of Mongolia, historically

In 2000, the world had installed just 1 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity (in DC terms—see the sidebar, “AC or DC?”), a number that had surged to 39 GW by 2010 and 176 GW in 2014. Fueled by

Two renewables giants with a hefty global reach are facing debilitating financial crises. SunEdison on the Verge of Bankruptcy California-headquartered solar project developer SunEdison, a company that has 1,000 operational sites worldwide and is staffed by 3,000 employees, is facing a liquidity crisis so dire, the company’s yieldco TerraForm Global warned in a March 29 […]

The Edison Electric Institute has come under fire for a new communications plan that was intended to depict utilities as more community-minded.

“My sense as I speak to you here today is that nuclear energy is toast,” said New York Times Reporter Eduardo Porter, as he opened a panel discussion titled “Nuclear Energy and the Clean Energy Future” held at the New York University School of Law on March 23. “Despite the challenge from climate change that […]

Whether utilities, technology providers, or independent third-party upstarts are best suited to create a reliable recipe for microgrid development remains an open question.

Although new microgrid configurations, technologies, and business models are still evolving in the U.S., some lessons have been learned in the past few years. Aside from the fact that financing nontraditional/non-campus microgrids is hard, if there’s one overarching lesson, it’s that a microgrid designed to provide only one benefit or rely on only one generation source is unlikely to succeed.

On March 13, three of Germany’s 16 states held regional elections that were largely seen as a referendum on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s increasingly controversial refugee policies as well as the waning importance of energy and climate policies. Perhaps the biggest challenger and winner in this election was the far right, those against both the Energiewende […]

NRG and NRG Yield Unveil New 20 MW Solar Facility in Southern California New Solar Installation Helps California Move Closer to Clean Energy Goal March 07, 2016 08:00 AM Eastern Time  PRINCETON, N.J.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG), the country’s largest independent power producer, and its subsidiary NRG Yield, Inc. (NYSE:NYLD, NYLD.A), today announced that […]

Distributed energy firm Vivint Solar has terminated an agreement under which it would have merged with renewables giant SunEdison in a $2.2 billion deal. The Lehi, Utah–based company told investors on March 8 that it had delivered a letter notifying SunEdison that the merger agreement had been terminated, owing to SunEdison’s “failure to meet obligations” […]

Utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) generation has exploded over the past few years. From nearly nothing in the late 2000s, the U.S. now has more than 10 GW of utility-scale solar PV in operation according to the Energy Information Administration. That figure should continue to grow strongly because of the recent extension of the investment tax […]

In a growing number of regions, power plants are competing with many other users for scarce freshwater supplies, and the situation is likely to get worse. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently

New reports released this week see big growth in renewables from the recently extended federal tax credits, but big uncertainty due to the possible end of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). New York-based consulting firm Rhodium Group says investment plans in the power sector will be radically different if the Clean Power Plan doesn’t happen. […]

A proposal put forth by China—and one that it says has received “positive responses” and substantial backing from international groups, including the United Nations—foresees a global smart ultra-high-voltage (UHV) grid that transmits only “clean energy.” The Global Energy Interconnection (GEI) outlined by State Grid Corp. Chairman Zhenya Liu on February 25 at the IHS CERAWeek […]

The OPEC secretary general and Saudi Arabia’s minister of petroleum shared their views on low oil prices, shale, and climate change at IHS CERAWeek.