Articles for Solar Farms

Hawaiian Electric Company’s shaky credit prompts proposal for help from state
3 days, 3 hours ago

Hawaiian Electric Company’s shaky credit prompts proposal for help from state

Associated Press  

Still reeling financially from the devastating wildfires that killed at least 102 people and destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023, Hawaiian Electric Co. wants the state to back the utility’s contracts with wind and solar farms. “Right now, we’re completely stalled out.” Hawaii Rep. Nicole Lowen, chair of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, said HECO’s proposal makes sense …

Energy Credit Money Power Projects State Electric
Letters to the Editor: ‘Solar glut’ isn’t a solar problem — it’s a transmission and battery problem
3 weeks, 3 days ago

Letters to the Editor: ‘Solar glut’ isn’t a solar problem — it’s a transmission and battery problem

LA Times  

The Westlands Solar Park near the town of Lemoore in California’s San Joaquin Valley. To the editor: Every month, California throws away enough solar and wind energy to power half a million homes — not because we don’t need it, but because our system is designed to waste it. Until we align our grid operators’ incentives with our clean energy …

Energy Clean Energy Power Storage Solar Utilities California
Driving a Ford Mustang EV along Interstate 5, but charging up at Tesla station. Is that a thing?
4 weeks ago

Driving a Ford Mustang EV along Interstate 5, but charging up at Tesla station. Is that a thing?

LA Times  

I’m Russ Mitchell, climate and transportation reporter, filling in for Sammy Roth this week. But until recently, non-Tesla drivers couldn’t use Tesla Superchargers, in part because Tesla nozzles don’t fit into non-Tesla cars, and in part because Elon Musk wouldn’t let them. Recently I made the same trip in a Ford Mustang Mach E equipped with an adapter that allowed …

Car Tesla Power Solar California State Elon Musk
Solar power glut boosts California electric bills. Other states reap the benefits
1 month ago

Solar power glut boosts California electric bills. Other states reap the benefits

LA Times  

California is making so much solar energy that large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production, raising questions about the state’s costly plan to shift entirely to carbon-free sources of electricity. The waste would have been even larger if California had not paid utilities in other states to take the excess solar energy, documents from the state’s grid operator …

Energy Electricity States Renewable Energy Power Prices Solar
Farmers besiege Welsh Labour conference
1 month, 1 week ago

Farmers besiege Welsh Labour conference

The Telegraph  

Mr Bletcher said the policies unveiled in Labour’s budget had scuppered his children’s dreams. If this comes in, it will be devastating.” Farmers and rural residents from Cornwall’s green belt converged on New County Hall in Truro to voice their opposition to a plan to build a 125,000-panel solar farm near Fairpark, by the A30 between Carland Cross and Landrine. …

Solar Farms Welsh Labour
Boiling Point: Burrowing owls and solar farms will need to coexist
2 months, 1 week ago

Boiling Point: Burrowing owls and solar farms will need to coexist

LA Times  

If you don’t love burrowing owls, you’ve probably never seen a burrowing owl. As my L.A. Times colleague Lila Seidman reports, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously last week to make the bird a candidate for protection under the state’s Endangered Species Act. It’s rural residents who don’t want solar in the backyards, and farmers who don’t want …

Climate Trump Renewable Energy Solar California Nevada Western
Sun Machines
6 months ago

Sun Machines

The Economist  

Your browser does not support this video. ↓ Here comes the sun the past and a possible future Global useful energy consumption* 1880 1900 1920 Traditional biomass Coal 1940 1960 Other renewables 1980 Nuclear 2000 Coal Gas Oil 2020 Fast- transition scenario† 2040 Solar P2X‡ Wind 2060 25 0 50 75 100 125 Terawatt hours, ’000 Sources: Rupert Way; Our …

Global India Energy China Electricity Coal Sun
Column: DWP’s new leader wants to shake things up. It won’t be easy
6 months, 1 week ago

Column: DWP’s new leader wants to shake things up. It won’t be easy

LA Times  

An honest-to-goodness map of the American West would show L.A.’s tentacles everywhere. Quiñones generally avoided getting too specific when I asked her about particular energy projects that might be in DWP’s future — partly because she’s still getting up to speed on all things Los Angeles, and partly because she answers to a five-member board of commissioners appointed by the …

Energy Climate Renewable Energy Plants Gas Power Solar
Boiling Point: Six months until November, climate change looms large
7 months ago

Boiling Point: Six months until November, climate change looms large

LA Times  

Actor Jane Fonda, at center in red coat, rallies at the White House in 2019 to protest the Trump administration’s inaction on climate change, as part of her “Fire Drill Fridays.” We’ve got six years to cut global carbon pollution nearly in half — and less than six months until a presidential election that could have long-lasting consequences for whether …

Climate Change Change Climate Water Trump Gas Solar
GREEN SHANXI
7 months, 1 week ago

GREEN SHANXI

China Daily  

Province famous for coal mining embraces eco-friendly power, diversified industries and opening-up The North China province of Shanxi, which used to be an economy dominated by coal mining and related heavy industries, is now entering an era of green, sustainable, diversified and high-quality development. What makes this change possible is an economic transformation that features campaigns to reduce its reliance …

Energy China Local Wind Battery Power Coal
NT government flags possibility of buying idle solar farms from private operators amid renewable energy push
9 months, 2 weeks ago

NT government flags possibility of buying idle solar farms from private operators amid renewable energy push

ABC  

In short: Four large-scale solar farms near Darwin and Katherine have sat idle because of concerns they could destabilise the Top End grid. Four large-scale solar farms near Darwin and Katherine have sat idle because of concerns they could destabilise the Top End grid. Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler says government-owned Power and Water Corporation could purchase four privately …

Solar End Farms Lawler Solar Farms Eva Lawler Ms Lawler
Column: Biden’s Western solar plan sounds scary. But it’s better than climate change
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Column: Biden’s Western solar plan sounds scary. But it’s better than climate change

LA Times  

An America flag flutters in the breeze at the Daggett solar farm in San Bernardino County, seen in October. Weiner also described the federal government’s maps as “grainy,” saying they offer “more of a 30,000-foot view than a ground-level view” of which public lands are suitable for solar. As an example, Donnelly pointed to the desert lands surrounding Nevada’s Ash …

Energy Climate Change Development Clean Energy Projects California New York
England's GREEN and pleasant land: Interactive map reveals the locations of renewable energy projects in the UK
11 months, 3 weeks ago

England's GREEN and pleasant land: Interactive map reveals the locations of renewable energy projects in the UK

Daily Mail  

England is known for its 'green and pleasant land' - but just how green is it really? The interactive map reveals that the UK's wind power projects are mainly built along Scotland's East coast and the South West coasts of Cornwall and Wales Where does the UK get its electricity? The interactive map shows how strong winds, shown in red …

Energy England Wales Renewable Energy Land Power Scotland
Column: How I learned to stop worrying and love rooftop solar
1 year ago

Column: How I learned to stop worrying and love rooftop solar

LA Times  

As global leaders celebrated a hard-fought agreement to triple the world’s renewable energy production and transition away from fossil fuels, an attorney for the state of California was in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday, defending a decision by appointees of Gov. I don’t buy the argument made by some rooftop solar advocates that those net metering critics — and academic …

Energy Climate Change Benefits Clean Energy Climate Solar California
Native Americans are building their own solar farms
1 year ago

Native Americans are building their own solar farms

BBC  

Native Americans are building their own solar farms Indigenized Energy Cody Two Bears founded Indigenized Energy, a native-led energy company installing solar farms for tribal nations in the US For decades, Native Americans were reliant on the US government to bring them power. Getty Images Native Americans have spent decades protesting against the expansion of fossil fuel production on their …

Energy Renewable Energy Native American Indigenous Communities Solar Power Native Americans Tribal Nations
New study brings us closer to solar space farms that beam renewable energy back to Earth
1 year, 1 month ago

New study brings us closer to solar space farms that beam renewable energy back to Earth

Salon  

It sounds like a long shot to some: The idea of solar power plants orbiting the Earth and beaming renewable energy back to us. "This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power stations deployed in space, bringing clean energy back to Earth." "This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power …

Technology Energy Space Tech Renewable Energy Power Earth
Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?
1 year, 5 months ago

Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?

LA Times  

An aerial view of Glendale, with the Grayson gas plant in the foreground, the 134 Freeway on the right and the Verdugo Mountains on the left. When I posed my dagger-to-the-heart question to Mark Rothleder — chief operating officer at the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s main electric grid — he responded that spurring power outages by …

Energy Climate Change Change Clean Energy Climate Electricity Plants
Solar sprawl is tearing up the Mojave Desert. Is there a better way?
1 year, 5 months ago

Solar sprawl is tearing up the Mojave Desert. Is there a better way?

LA Times  

High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields. It was the entrance to a desert tortoise burrow — one of thousands catalogued by her employer, Primergy Solar, during construction of one of the nation’s largest solar farms on public …

Energy Climate Change Clean Energy Solar California Nevada Public Lands
Renewable energy company threatens to sue Biden over endangered toad
1 year, 9 months ago

Renewable energy company threatens to sue Biden over endangered toad

LA Times  

This story originally published in Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment. Geothermal plants are costlier to develop and build than wind or solar farms, but they can generate electricity around the clock — crucial to meeting President Biden’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2035. Ormat’s contract to supply power to Los Angeles originally referenced …

Energy Climate Change Climate Water Renewable Energy Plants Interior
Want to solve climate change? This California farm kingdom holds a key
1 year, 11 months ago

Want to solve climate change? This California farm kingdom holds a key

LA Times  

The barren dirt is littered with petrified carrots, blackened and barely recognizable after four years baking in the Imperial Valley’s legendary heat. Clean energy advocates see Imperial as an ideal place for solar farms and battery projects that can help solve the American West’s energy and water crises. “Why are we being called selfish for wanting the same thing?” Jackeline …

Energy Climate Change Change Clean Energy Climate Renewable Energy Solar
California just slashed rooftop solar incentives. What happens next?
2 years ago

California just slashed rooftop solar incentives. What happens next?

LA Times  

California sharply reduced incentive payments for rooftop solar power Thursday, taking a sledgehammer to a program that helped 1.5 million homes and businesses put solar panels on their roofs and made the state a leader in fighting the climate crisis. Solar installers and clean energy activists call that argument flawed, saying the technology’s benefits — including less air pollution in …

Energy Climate Change Climate Power Solar Utilities California
The floating solar panels that track the Sun
2 years, 1 month ago

The floating solar panels that track the Sun

BBC  

The floating solar panels that track the Sun SolarisFloat Proteus' 180 panels meticulously track the Sun as it moves across the sky, to catch as many rays as possible In the search to find space for large solar arrays, many countries are looking to floating systems. A 2021 study found that floating solar panels on a reservoir in Jordan, one …

Technology Japan World Netherlands Water Renewable Energy Land
France’s Macron seeks ‘massive’ boost for renewable energy
2 years, 3 months ago

France’s Macron seeks ‘massive’ boost for renewable energy

Associated Press  

SAINT-NAZAIRE, France — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for a “massive acceleration” of renewable energy development in his country, including offshore wind farms and solar power, via a new plan that seeks to bring lagging France closer to the energy policies of its European neighbors. “I want us to go at least twice as fast for renewable energy …

Energy France Russia Renewable Energy Wind French European
Get ready for a new American West — like it or not
2 years, 3 months ago

Get ready for a new American West — like it or not

LA Times  

This is the Aug. 25, 2022, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. As I’ve written previously, building solar projects on farmland is one way to avoid damaging pristine wildlife habitat, while also reducing water use in drought-stressed regions such as California’s Central Valley. It’s pretty much impossible …

Energy Climate Change Global Warming Clean Energy Climate Water Wind