Opinion:
¶ “Will Russia’s Attack On Ukraine Help Thaw US-Venezuela Relations?” • These are desperate times, and desperate measures are needed. Oil helps make the world go round and Venezuela has a lot of it – and when the world is in crisis, such as with the ban on Russian oil exports causing prices to surge, leaders start revisiting those awkward friendships. [BBC]
Oil tanker (Wilfredor, CC0 1.0, public domain)
¶ “CleanTechnica Tested: The EBL Portable Power Station” • Battery producer EBL is moving into providing portable power stations with the powerful new 1 kWh, 1,000-W EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 1000. EBL sent us one of their new power stations for us to run through the paces in the real world to see how it held up. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Traditional Automakers Could Face ‘Kodak Moment’ If They Fail To Catch Up With Tesla” • Legacy automakers are serious about EVs. But do they have what it takes to catch up with Tesla? According to Rob Hull at the UK’s This is Money media outlet, “Tesla’s ability to continue delivering EVs in 2022 could see it extend its stronghold over the market.” [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model 3 (Vlad Tchompalov, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Lucid CEO Shares Details On Lucid’s Battery Pack In All New Series, “Tech Talks”” • Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson has opened up about Lucid’s battery pack. The automaker recently launched an all-new series called Tech Talks that will share some of the key details behind its EV technology. A video focuses on the battery pack. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Rusty Metal Could Be The Battery The Energy Grid Needs” • An electrochemistry professor at the MIT, Yet-Ming Chiang, with his colleagues are working on a low-cost iron-air battery that will provide multi-day storage for renewable energy by 2024. When the battery is charged rust turns to iron, and discharging returns the iron to the form of rust. [Popular Science]
How an iron air battery works (Form Energy Image)
World:
¶ “Panasonic To Begin Mass Production Of Tesla 4680 Batteries In Fiscal Year April 2023” • Panasonic plans mass production of Tesla’s 4680 battery cells for fiscal year April 2023, reports say, with two more production lines and facilities at its Wakayama factory. There’s also a rumor that Panasonic is planning a major gigafactory somewhere in the US. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Ayana Renewable Power And Maxeon Solar Technologies Announce Completion Of The 192-MW Indian Bikaner 1 Project” • Ayana Renewable Power and Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd, announced that the 192-MW Bikaner 1 Solar Farm is now in commercial operation. The power plant was built in the state of Rajasthan in the second half of 2021. [WFMZ]
Solar farm (Red Zeppelin, Unsplash)
¶ “DOE Pushes Dispatch Of Renewable Energy Plants In Spot Market” • The Philippine Department of Energy is pushing for the preferential dispatch of all renewable energy plants in the wholesale electricity spot market to lower electricity prices. The DOE has added geothermal and impounding hydro plants in the priority dispatch for the spot market. [Philippine Star]
¶ “WWEA And Global100RE Call For Renewable Energy Equipment For Immediate Humanitarian Relief In Ukraine” • The World Wind Energy Association and the Global 100% Renewable Energy Platform are calling for donations of equipment which can supply off-grid power to bring relief to civilians in the Ukraine. [Evwind]
Solar panels (Erik Karits, Unsplash)
¶ “Government Plans To Meet 85% Of Energy Demands Using Renewables” • A 25-year vision paper by India’s renewable energy ministry proposes that coal-fired capacity expand to 2030. That coal-based power capacity would be replaced by renewable energy generation base to 85% of total demand by the end of 25 years, officials said. [Krishi Jagran]
¶ “Finland Opens Nuclear Power Plant Amid Concerns Of European Energy War” • Europe’s first nuclear power plant to open in 15 years, Olkiluoto 3, began production in Finland, at a crucial moment for energy supply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The plant is seen as possibly helping to reduce the need to import gas from Russia. [The Guardian]
Olkiluoto 3 construction, 2009 (kallerna, public domain)
US:
¶ “Tesla Prioritizing Deliveries Of Cars With FSD” • Interest in electric cars is surging as the price of gasoline rises into the stratosphere because of Putin’s assault on Ukraine. There are reports that demand for Tesla EVs has increased by 100% since the invasion began. And why not? The economic case for EVs was strong; now it’s twice as strong. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “NM wind project creating the ‘Route 66 of renewable energy'” • Pattern Energy officially dedicated its Western Spirit wind project in late February. The project includes four sprawling wind farms with a total of 377 turbines scattered throughout the three counties. It will support the electricity needs of nearly 1 million people in central New Mexico. [Yahoo News]
Wind turbines in New Mexico (Deb Haaland, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Bill Would Require RI To Get All Electricity From Renewable Sources By 2030” • Experts say that when it comes to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as required by a landmark climate change law enacted last year, the conversion of Rhode Island’s electric system to a reliance on renewable sources is the logical first step. [The Providence Journal]
¶ “Dozens March To Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station To Protest Planned Nuclear Waste Dumping” • Dozens of people rallied outside Plymouth Town Hall and marched to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Saturday to protest planned nuclear waste dumping into Cape Cod Bay off the Massachusetts coast. The plant is being decommissioned. [WCVB-TV]
Have an inexpressibly superior day.
geoharvey 