Opinion:
¶ “The Alleged Electric Car Sales Slowdown Is A Fiction – The EV Revolution Is Alive And Well” • “The EV revolution is over! We must run and tell the king!!” Hogwash, Bloomberg says in market analysis. Six of the ten biggest EV makers in the US saw sales grow at a scorching pace compared to a year ago. EV sales were up 86% at Ford. [CleanTechnica]
Ford Mustang Mach-E (Alexandre Prevot, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “EV Sales Are Outpacing The Growth Of EV Chargers” • The US needs to build out its EV charging capacity to reach the point where everyone who wants to drive an EV has the electrification to do so – on urban and rural roads, in busy communities and suburbs, in nearly any major intersection where you’d expect to find a gas station. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Wildfire Near Canada’s Oil Sands Hub Under Control, Alberta Officials Say” • A wildfire that forced thousands of residents from their homes in western Canada’s oil sands hub of Fort McMurray earlier this month is now under control, Alberta officials said. In 2016, wildfires forced a mass evacuation of the city and burned more than 2,000 homes. [ABC News]
Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016 (DarrenRD, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Volkswagen Group Launches Project for €20,000 All-Electric EV” • The Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group has decided to make all-electric entry-level mobility more popular. The Brand Group Core will bring affordable EVs from Europe, for Europe, into the market. The world premiere for €20,000 models is scheduled for 2027. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Volvo EX30 Ends April in 2nd Place – Europe EV Sales Report” • Some 219,000 plugin vehicles were registered in Europe in April, up 11% year over year. And while Tesla isn’t helping, with deliveries down 2% YOY in April, the plugin tally from Volvo, Volkswagen, and Peugeot, among others, is pulling the market upwards. [CleanTechnica]
Volvo EX30 (Rutger van der Maar, CC-BY-SA 2.0, cropped)
¶ “Empowering Tomorrow: UK Energy Storage Ready To Plug-In” • Earlier this year, the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero conducted a consultation on Long Duration Energy Storage. Through the consultation, the government detailed a “cap and floor” mechanism to make LDES projects attractively financeable. [Environment Journal]
¶ “Offshore Wind Farms Could Have Averted The Fukushima Disaster” • A review conducted at the University of Surrey found that offshore wind farms could have averted the Fukushima nuclear disaster by maintaining the cooling systems to prevent a meltdown. The study shows that wind farms are less vulnerable to earthquakes than nuclear plants. [Energy Live News]
Turbine foundations in port (Einsamer Schütze, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Australia:
¶ “Spain’s X-Elio Proposes 350-MW Solar Plant With 120-MW, 240-MWh Big Battery In Queensland” • Spanish renewables developer X-Elio applied for environmental approval to build a 350-MW solar farm with a two-hour big battery of 120 MW. The Sixteen Mile solar farm and battery, would be in the Western Downs region of Queensland. [ETN News]
¶ “Australian Developer Plans 2 GW Renewables Project” • The Australian developer Squadron Energy filed documents with the New South Wales planning authority for its proposed Koorakee Energy Park. The project is to have 1 GW of PV capacity, 1 GW of wind capacity, and a battery system with a capacity of up to 1 GW and up to 12 hours of storage. [pv magazine International]
Land in New South Wales (Squadron Energy image)
¶ “Australia Unveils Ambitious National Battery Strategy To Power Clean Energy” • The Australian government unveiled the country’s first National Battery Strategy. Some key elements of the strategy are building battery systems to bolster renewable generating capacity and leveraging industry expertise to develop safer, more secure batteries. [CarbonCredits.com]
US:
¶ “US Floating Offshore Wind Industry To Tackle Maine” • The big news for Maine comes with the environmental review for a new offshore lease area. A statement by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that a Final Environmental Assessment was awarded for a research-scale offshore wind site southeast of Portland, Maine. [CleanTechnica]
Screenshot from Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap February 2023
¶ “Nearly $900 Million for 3,400 Clean Electric School Buses” • With the 2023 Clean School Bus Program rebates, the EPA chose roughly 530 school districts, in nearly all states, several Tribes, DC, and territories for nearly $900 million in funds to replace older, diesel-fueled school buses that harm the health of students and surrounding communities. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Increasing Use Of Renewable Energy In US Yields Billions Of Dollars Of Benefits” • By increasing its use of renewable energy, the US has not only reduced its planet-warming emissions but also improved its air quality, yielding hundreds of billions of dollars of benefits, a report published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability has found. [The Guardian]
Solar array (Raphael Cruz, Unsplash)
¶ “CPUC’s Revised Proposed Decision Could Ruin California’s Community Solar Market” • The Community Renewable Energy Act was sponsored by the Coalition for Community Solar Access and supported by a large number of solar and environmental organizations. But the California Public Utilities Commission opposed the bill. [pv magazine USA]
¶ “New Law With Bipartisan Support Weans American Power Plants From Russian Uranium” • Signed by President Joe Biden after a year of delays in Congress, the bill bans the import of Russian-enriched uranium. Despite many setbacks, the bill passed unanimously, the New York Times reported. The delays were because of political gameplaying. [Yahoo]
Have an appropriately valuable day.
geoharvey 