Science and Technology:
¶ “Humans, Not Nature, Are The Cause Of Changes In Atlantic Hurricane Cycles, New Study Finds” • The idea of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation may have been dealt a deadly blow by Michael Man, who had named it. He concludes the AMO is likely an artifact of climate change in the modern era and big volcanic eruptions in pre-industrial times. [KLFY]
Storm (Arto Marttinen, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Relectrify Launches 120-kWh to 2-MWh Commercial And Industrial Second-Life Battery Product” • Relectrify has released its first commercial & industrial storage product. It is a modular 120-kWh system made from used EV batteries. The ReVolve™ range is scalable and designed for installations in the 120-kWh to 2-MWh range. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “How Kenya Is Harnessing The Immense Heat From The Earth” • An expansion of 86 MW will push the total production of Kenya’s Olkaria Geothermal Project to 791.5 MW. That’s about 27% of all the energy in Kenya, according to the plant’s operator, KenGen. Kenya relies on geothermal steam for 38% of its power, the greatest proportion of any nation. [BBC]
Great Rift Valley (Peter Dowley, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Volvo CEO: Totally Convinced No One Will Want A Gas Car In 2030” • When Volvo Cars revealed the fully electric Volvo C40 Recharge, CEO Håkan Samuelsson made such a strong statement about the change to 2030, that it warranted an extra article: “I am totally convinced there will be no customers who really want to stay with a petrol engine.” [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Wave Energy To Gild The Floating Wind Turbine Lily In Ireland” • A new floating wind-plus-wave project off the coast of Ireland could demonstrate how nations with coastlines can accelerate the clean energy transition and meet their 2050 net zero carbon goals just in time to thwart catastrophic climate change. [CleanTechnica]
CorPower wave energy device (Courtesy of Simply Blue Energy)
¶ “Canada Invests In Renewable Energy With Geothermal Exploration In The Yukon” • A Member of Parliament for Yukon announced $2 million in funding for the Government of Yukon to explore the potential of geothermal energy as a long-term source of renewable energy for communities currently powered by diesel. [JWN]
¶ “Renewables Nudge 50% In Northern Ireland” • Almost half of all electricity generated in Northern Ireland last year came from renewable sources, according to Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy. The 49.2% figure is a 5.6% increase on the previous year, with around 84.9% generated by wind power, up slightly from 84.5% in 2019. [reNEWS]
Corkey wind farm near Clogh Mills (Albert Bridge, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
US:
¶ “Tesla Building Super Supercharger In Santa Monica” • Years ago, Tesla talked about large solar-powered Supercharger stations with lounges, restrooms, and much, much more. Now, one is reportedly being built in Santa Monica, California, and it is said that it will be the company’s largest Supercharger station in North America. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “California, Texas, And Florida Had Large Small-Scale Solar Capacity Increases In 2020” • As of December 2020, the states with the most small-scale solar PV capacity were California (10.6 GW), New Jersey (1.9 GW), and Massachusetts (1.8 GW). Of the 4.5 GW of small-scale solar capacity added in the US in 2020, 31% was in California. [CleanTechnica]
Increase in small-scale PVs (EIA image)
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
¶ “BlackRock Investment Institute Is Bullish On Tackling Climate Change” • The leaders of BlackRock Investment Institute issued a Capital Market Assumptions whitepaper in February that begins with this assertion: “The popular notion that tackling climate change comes at a net cost to the global economy is wrong, we believe.” [CleanTechnica]
¶ “New York State Adopts Rules To Streamline Large Renewable Energy Project Reviews” • New York State has adopted new rules designed to streamline the siting and construction of renewable energy facilities of 25 MW or more. The regulations result from a law enacted in April 2020 to consolidate environmental review and permitting processes. [pv magazine USA]
Worker at a solar farm (Cypress Creek Renewables image)
¶ “Clean Energy And Total Finalize JV For Carbon-Negative Fuel” • Clean Energy Fuels Corp and its largest shareholder, Total SE, have finalized a 50/50 joint venture to develop carbon-negative renewable natural gas production facilities in the US, as well as credit support to build additional downstream RNG fueling infrastructure. [Energy Digital]
¶ “Ørsted Inks US Wind Offtakes With Target And Hormel” • Ørsted signed power purchase agreements with retailer Target and Hormel Foods for output from its 298-MW Haystack wind farm, which is under construction in Nebraska. The two new offtakers join PepsiCo, which signed a PPA earlier this year for output from Haystack. [reNEWS]
Wind farm (Ørsted image)
¶ “US Energy Regulator Focuses On Access To Renewable Power To Reduce Climate Impact” • Richard Glick, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told the virtually-held CERAWeek conference he is focused on enabling construction of long-distance power transmission lines to bring more renewable power onto the grid to support cities. [Nasdaq]
¶ “Energy Dept To Restart Obama-Era Loans To Renewable Energy Companies” • Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Biden administration will resume an Energy Department loan program that gave billions in loans to clean-energy companies during the Obama years. She said the program “as of today, is back in business.” [The Hill]
Have a super groovey day.
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