In Details – For pronghorn, those antelope-like creatures of the American West, this grassland north of Flagstaff is prime habitat. It gives the animals the food and conditions they need to survive fall and winter. But for a nation racing to adopt renewable energy, the land is prime for something else: solar panels. The sun shines strong, the terrain is flat and high-voltage transmission lines are already in place from a decommissioned coal plant. Energy collected here could speed to major metropolitan regions across the West, part of a colossal wave of clean power needed to stave off the worst effects of global warming.

Animals need humans to solve climate change. But they also need places to live. Loss of habitat is the top driver of a staggering global decline in biodiversity, the variety of life on earth. The boom in solar, set to be the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, is predicted to fence off millions of acres across the nation, blanketing them in rows of glassy squares. The good news for wildlife is that there are ways for solar developers to make installations less harmful and even beneficial for many species, like fences that let some animals pass, wildlife corridors, native plants that nurture pollinators, and more. But at this pivotal moment, as solar farms sprout across the country, those measures often go unused. Among the reasons: a patchwork of local and state regulations governing large-scale solar, not enough research on how animals interact with it, and an absence of federal guidelines on siting or design.

“We’re faced with two truths: We have a climate change crisis, but we also have a biodiversity crisis,” said Meaghan Gade, a program manager at the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. “We have to be mindful that there’s wildlife that are dependent on these habitats, and we have to be smart and thoughtful about how we’re doing this deployment so that we can hold both of those crises at the same time.” Eighty percent of states rely on voluntary approaches to minimize impacts to species and habitat, according to the association. As developers race ahead, the decisions they make today will reverberate for decades. On the grassland north of Flagstaff, a ranching family, solar developers and state wildlife biologists have come together to try out solutions on the fly. One sunny day last fall, a helicopter descended over a herd of pronghorn streaking across shrubby grasslands near the site of a planned solar farm.

Pronghorn are exceptional for their combination of speed and endurance. If there was a global mammal marathon, a pronghorn would probably win. Even though they look like antelopes, they’re more closely related to giraffes. While Arizona’s pronghorn population is stable, it’s a small fraction of the species’ historic numbers. A net shot from the helicopter, a buck fell and a wrangler jumped out. He tied the buck’s feet and a biologist blindfolded the heaving animal, hoping to calm him. Monitoring his temperature for signs of dangerous distress, they worked quickly to attach a tag to his ear and a GPS collar around his neck. The collar will track how he responds to the solar farm, which will be broken up into sections. Fifteen corridors ranging from a quarter-mile to more than a half-mile will offer habitat and passage for pronghorn, mule deer and elk. A moment later the pronghorn galloped away, an unknowing participant in an experiment in coexistence.

In Detail : WASHINGTON : The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it is seeking developers for a commercial solar project in Nevada on federal lands where there nuclear bomb tests occurred from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The request for information for the project at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site closed on Jan. 12. The DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration got six responses from interested developers and said it will next issue a request for qualifications to identify suitable ones.

Last July the DOE said the largest U.S. solar power site and other clean energy projects could be built on lands owned by the DOE across five states including at the Hanford Site in Washington state where the U.S. government produced plutonium and uranium for atomic bombs under the Manhattan Project.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has said the sites cleared for renewable power development are safe and “completely clean.” The atomic tests at the site in Nye County, Nevada occurred mostly underground. But distant mushroom clouds could be seen in Las Vegas during above ground tests.

The NNSA and DOE have identified about 2,000 acres of contiguous land at the Nevada site that could be used for photovoltaic or concentrating solar and power storage.

In Detail : First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA has agreed to supply Boston-based utility-scale clean energy developer, owner and operator Swift Current Energy with 500MW of Series 7 cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules. Swift Current Energy previously placed orders for 3.3GW of First Solar modules in 2022. This latest order, which was booked prior to the release of First Solar’s third-quarter 2023 results on 31 October, will see modules delivered between 2027 and 2028.

Swift Current Energy has commercialized more than 2.5GW of renewable energy projects, has a project pipeline of more than 10GW of solar, wind and energy storage, and owns 1.4GW of renewable energy projects currently in operation or in advanced construction.

“As we continue to progress our US development pipeline, certainty of pricing and supply is essential to ensuring that we deliver capacity as planned,” says Swift Current Energy’s co-founder & CEO Eric Lammers. “This latest agreement with First Solar supports our effort to build a resilient, competitive value chain, while supporting investments in domestic manufacturing, along with the jobs and economic benefits that come with it.”

First Solar’s modules are claimed to set industry benchmarks for quality, durability, reliability, design and environmental performance, with the Series 7 modules having the lowest carbon and water footprint of any commercially available PV module. The firm is reckoned to be the first PV manufacturer to have its product included in the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) global registry for sustainable electronics.

“Swift Current Energy has chosen to extend its partnership with First Solar to 2028, entrusting a significant portion of its development pipeline to our technology,” notes First Solar chief commercial officer Georges Antoun. “Their decision speaks volumes to the competitive value that we are able to deliver in terms of energy, certainty of pricing and supply, and an advanced PV module that is responsibly produced in America, for America.”

First Solar is the largest solar manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere, with about 6GW of operational, fully vertically integrated nameplate capacity in the USA. The firm has embarked on an expansion strategy that is forecast to grow its footprint to 14GW of nameplate capacity in the USA and 25GW globally by 2026. In addition to its third Ohio factory, commissioned earlier this year, First Solar expects to further expand its footprint in the state by 0.9GW while building new manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, each with an expected annual nameplate capacity of 3.5GW.

The Alabama and Louisiana facilities, which are expected to represent over $2bn in investment and are forecast to begin commercial shipments in 2024 and 2026 respectively, are designed to produce the Series 7 modules ordered by Swift Current and expected to be made with 100% US-made components identified in the current domestic content guidance issued by the US Department of the Treasury. First Solar anticipates that, once its Louisiana factory is completed and ramped, Series 7 modules will account for over two-thirds of its annual domestic nameplate capacity. Series 7 modules currently produced at the firm’s Ohio facility are already manufactured with US-made glass and steel.

In Detail : The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasingly curtailing solar- and wind-powered electricity generation as it balances supply and demand during the rapid growth of wind and solar power in California.

Grid operators must balance supply and demand to maintain a stable electric system. The output of wind and solar generators are reduced either through price signals or rarely, through an order to reduce output, during periods of:

• Congestion, when power lines don’t have enough capacity to deliver available energy
• Oversupply, when generation exceeds customer electricity demand

In CAISO, curtailment is largely a result of congestion. Congestion-related curtailments have increased significantly since 2019 because solar generation has been outpacing upgrades in transmission capacity.

In 2022, CAISO curtailed 2.4 million megawatt hours (MWh) of utility-scale wind and solar output, a 63 per cent increase from the amount of electricity curtailed in 2021. As of September, CAISO has curtailed more than 2.3 million MWh of wind and solar output so far this year.

Solar accounts for almost all of the energy curtailed in CAISO—95 per cent in 2022 and 94 per cent in the first seven months of 2023. CAISO tends to curtail the most solar in the spring when electricity demand is relatively low (because moderate spring temperatures mean less demand for space heating or air conditioning) and solar output is relatively high.

CAISO has increasingly curtailed renewable generation as renewable capacity has grown in California. In 2014, a combined 9.0 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar capacity had been built in California. As of July 2023, that number had grown to 17.6 GW. Developers plan to add another 3.0 GW by the end of 2024.

CAISO is exploring and implementing various solutions to its increasing curtailment of renewables, including:

The Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) is a real-time market that allows participants outside of CAISO to buy and sell energy to balance demand and supply. In 2022, more than 10 per cent of total possible curtailments were avoided by trading within the WEIM. A day ahead market is expected to be operational in Spring 2025.

CAISO is expanding transmission capacity to reduce congestion. CAISO’s 2022–23 Transmission Planning Process includes 45 transmission projects to accommodate load growth and a larger share of generation from renewable energy sources.

CAISO is promoting the development of flexible resources that can quickly respond to sudden increases and decreases in demand such as battery storage technologies. California has 4.9 GW of battery storage, and developers plan to add another 7.6 GW by the end of 2024, according to our survey of recent and planned capacity changes. Renewable generators can charge these batteries with electricity that would otherwise have been curtailed.

In Detail : SAN DIEGO & ODESSA, Texas : EDF Renewables North America, one of the largest renewable developers in North America, has signed an agreement with SOLARCYCLE, a technology-based solar recycling company, to recycle solar panels damaged or broken during construction and operation, from their grid-scale, distribution-scale, and onsite solar sites.

“Today’s agreement is part of EDF Renewables’ long-term ESG roadmap and commitment to producing zero carbon energy that also contributes to a circular economy in the sector,” said Edgar Puerto, Associate Director, Strategic Procurement at EDF Renewables. “As a company, we have committed to developing the recycling capability of our clean energy assets, starting with solar. We view this as a key strategy for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and catalyzing a new domestic supply chain for made-in-America solar products.”

After a comprehensive evaluation of solar recycling solutions, EDF Renewables selected SOLARCYCLE as a preferred partner because of their deep commitment to innovation and proven high-value recycling process.

SOLARCYCLE’s proprietary technology allows for the extraction of 95% of the value from recycled panels, including silver, silicon, copper, aluminum, and glass from recycled panels, a significant increase over the industry standard—which is currently below 50%.

The recycler’s patented processes are increasingly extracting value from each panel so that, combined with reverse logistics, they can provide the lowest-cost recycling solution to EDF Renewables that maximizes environmental benefits and supply chain resilience.

EDF Renewables also chose SOLARCYCLE as a preferred recycling partner because the company offers transparency and verification through advanced environmental reporting. SOLARCYCLE will, in turn, help EDF Renewables close the loop on the life of their solar systems by selling the recycled raw materials to the next wave of solar manufacturing in North America.

“As one of the largest clean energy companies in the world, we are thrilled that we were selected for this important initiative,” said Jesse Simons, Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder of SOLARCYCLE. “We are proud to partner with EDF Renewables, who went deep with us, with multiple visits to our factory, extensive audits, and a competitive RFP process. Today’s announcement should be a sign to other global companies that recycling technology is ready today, and SOLARCYCLE is a preferred choice for companies with a commitment to safety, quality, environmental compliance, sustainability, and price.”

About EDF Renewables North America

EDF Renewables North America is a market leading independent power producer and service provider with 35 years of expertise in renewable energy. The Company delivers grid-scale power: wind (onshore and offshore), solar photovoltaic, and storage projects; distribution-scale power: solar and storage; asset optimization: technical, operational, and commercial expertise to maximize performance of generating projects, and onsite solutions, through the Company’s PowerFlex subsidiary, offering a full suite of onsite energy solutions for commercial and industrial customers: solar, storage, EV charging, energy management systems, and microgrids. EDF Renewables’ North American portfolio consists of 16 GW of developed projects and 13 GW under service contracts. EDF Renewables North America is a subsidiary of EDF Renewables, the dedicated renewable energy affiliate of the EDF Group.

About SOLARCYCLE

SOLARCYCLE is a technology-driven platform designed to maximize solar sustainability by offering solar asset owners a low-cost, eco-friendly, comprehensive process for recycling retiring solar panels and technologies and repurposing them for new uses. The company’s proprietary technology allows it to extract 95% of a solar panel’s valuable materials, such as silver, silicon, copper and aluminum, and to recycle or repurpose panels for new uses. Experts in solar technology, recycling and sustainability founded SOLARCYCLE in 2022 to accelerate the circular economy for solar and renewables.

“At this time, we continue to evaluate the NACS standard and look forward to discussing more in the future,” Stellantis said in a statement to Reuters, referring to Tesla’s charging design, the North American Charging Standard (NACS).

“Our focus is to provide the customer the best charging experience possible. Our Free2Move Charge brand will offer seamless, simple solutions whether at home or on-the-go through partnerships with charging providers,” it said.

GM said last week it would join Ford in adopting Tesla’s previously proprietary North American Charging Standard (NACS), which is set to dominate about 60% of the U.S. EV market with the partnerships.

A flurry of electric vehicle charging equipment makers subsequently said they would offer chargers with Tesla’s connector, adding momentum to the NACS in a charging standard war.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a conference in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday that opening up its exclusive charging networks “might be actually competitive disadvantage,” but doing so would “help the rest of the industry.”

“I think it’s morally right, but (whether) it’s financially smart remains to be seen,” he said.

In the meantime, he said Tesla does not expect to produce its Semi electric trucks in large volume until sometime next year, because of the need to ensure a sufficient battery supply for the model, which uses larger batteries than a passenger car.

In December, Musk delivered the long-delayed Semi to PepsiCo without offering updated forecasts for the truck’s pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul. Musk previously said Tesla would aim to produce 50,000 of the trucks in 2024.

Source: Reuters

Banga told CNN‘s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program that efforts now under way to stretch the World Bank’s lending capacity and revamp its business model could potentially free up “tens of billions” of dollars, not the estimated trillions of dollars needed to ensure a just energy transition.

Private sector capital was critical since funds from governments, philanthropies, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) would never suffice to help poor countries adapt to and mitigate climate change, said Banga, a former Mastercard CEO who took office on June 2.

“The only way forward is to find a way to get the private sector to believe that this is part of their future,” said Banga, who will visit Peru and Jamaica this week as part of a tour to visit countries in every region where the bank operates. “What I think we have to do is … to find ways in the MDB system to think of a different playbook – to take on the risks that they cannot take on,” he said, noting that private companies were bound to deliver returns for shareholders and could not take on the risks involved, but the bank could help.

Source: Reuters

At an investor conference, Farley said that, for many automakers, EVs will remain more costly than their internal combustion engine counterparts until the second and third generation models go into production later in this decade.

Analysts have predicted that EV cost parity could come as soon as 2025.

Between 2030 and 2035, Farley added, much of the industry’s EV cost savings will come from “dramatically lower labor content” because the vehicles will be simpler to build with fewer parts, and will be fitted with smaller batteries that use cheaper materials.

He also predicted the industry could realize lower distribution costs from selling EVs online, as well as higher revenue from new software-driven digital services.

Farley said Ford’s software services business has 600,000 subscribers, triple the number a year ago.

That includes 200,000 retail customers paying for the company’s Blue Cruise driver assistance system and 400,000 Ford Pro commercial customers paying for a range of services including fleet management, EV charging, dynamic routing and more.

As the company expands its ability to harvest data from vehicles and drivers, Ford could follow other automakers, including Tesla Inc and General Motors Co, in offering insurance, he said.

Asked about the potential for industry-wide consolidation over the next five years, Farley instead predicted an “acceleration of cooperation,” citing such deals as Ford’s recent agreement to use Tesla’s supercharger network for its future EVs.

“Cooperation is essential,” he said, especially for companies that may not have the resources to build out a full EV ecosystem.

Source: Reuters

The trip is the latest return by a top U.S. CEO to China since the country reopened its borders and reversed its zero-COVID policy in December. Apple’s Tim Cook visited in March, while JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and Starbucks’ Laxman Narasimhan are also in China this week.

Musk met Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang hours after landing in Beijing.

Qin told Musk China was committed to improving the business environment for investors, including Tesla, and used an elaborate driving metaphor to describe China-U.S. relations, according to a statement from his ministry.

“We must step on the brake in time, avoid dangerous driving and be skillful at using the accelerator to promote mutually beneficial cooperation,” Qin said.

The foreign ministry quoted Musk as saying he was willing to expand business in China and opposed a decoupling of the U.S. and China economies, adding he described the world’s two largest economies “conjoined twins.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on Musk’s trip, his itinerary or his meeting with Qin. China is Tesla’s second-largest market after the United States.

Musk, who also owns Twitter, was quiet on the platform after arriving in China, where Twitter is banned but accessible to some users through a virtual private network. He had not posted on his official Weibo account either.

He is expected to meet other senior Chinese officials and visit Tesla’s Shanghai plant during his trip, Reuters reported on Monday, though it was not clear who exactly he would meet or what issues they would discuss.

A source with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday that a meeting with Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, the Chinese battery giant and a key Tesla supplier, was also planned in Beijing. CATL did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters reported in March that Musk had been planning a trip to China and seeking a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

In a 2019 trip to China, Musk met with then-Premier Li Keqiang. A year later, he created a buzz on Chinese social media for dancing onstage to celebrate the opening of Tesla’s Shanghai factory.

INCREASING COMPETITION FOR TESLA

Tesla faces intensifying competition from Chinese-made electric vehicles and some uncertainty about expansion plans for the Shanghai plant, its largest production hub.

Tesla investors have questioned whether and by how much the electric carmaker will increase output in Shanghai.

Investment firm Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said he expected Tesla to “aggressively focus on building out its China footprint”.

Despite increasing competition, China’s market for electric vehicles, the world’s largest, has become “the golden goose EV market”, he said, a reference to a source of continued profit.

He called Tesla’s Shanghai plant “the heart and lungs” of the company’s global production in a note for investors.

Another issue for investors is whether China regulators will clear the release of Tesla’s advanced driver assistance features available in the United States as part of the “Full Self Driving” software it sells for $15,000 per vehicle.

Musk’s space company, SpaceX, and the military applications of its Starlink satellite network have also been watched with interest and concern by Chinese researchers since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

State-owned Chinese companies are rushing to follow Starlink by launching their own low-Earth orbit, communications satellites. Chinese military researchers have studied Starlink as a potentially threatening technology, according to research reviewed by Reuters.

Source: Reuters

The deliberations are part of a broader rethink at the German power conglomerate to expand its foothold in the United States, where it makes 15% of sales, as favourable regulation is providing a boost to renewables and hydrogen capacity that requires state-of-the-art energy networks.

It also comes at a time when the United States and Europe are drawing up competing plans to make it more lucrative for industry, ranging from utilities to steelmakers, to expand businesses despite soaring energy and raw materials costs.

“What drives the U.S. market is the long-term predictability of subsidy conditions under the IRA. Any investor can fairly quickly do the maths on the back of an envelope to figure out the benefits,” Chief Executive Christian Bruch said.

“This is much simpler and clearer than in Europe,” he told reporters following a town-hall with staff in Hamburg.

While Bruch tried to assuage fears that a bigger presence in the United States would not come at the expense of investments in Europe, he said that the company would have to think carefully where to allocate its resources going forward.

U.S. power grids are not directly benefiting from the IRA but will require around $2 trillion in investments by 2050 to make sure that energy sources eligible for support, including renewables and hydrogen, can be integrated.

“This means that one has to invest in manufacturing capacity,” Bruch said.

So far, Siemens Energy has catered for the U.S. power grid market out of Europe and Latin America, Bruch’s fellow board member Tim Holt, who is in charge of Siemens Energy’s U.S. business, said.

SUBSIDY RACE

But the group is now assessing whether to set up production of network equipment such as transformers, a key component of energy grids, locally, Holt said.

Depending on whether these would be greenfield sites or building on the group’s existing 26 locations that include hubs in Florida, North Carolina and Texas, a factory could cost a triple-digit million euro sum.

“Customers would be willing to enter into firm off-take agreements even now if we were to build plants in the United States,” Holt said.

The comments follow recent plans to restart two idled onshore wind turbine component plants and build two new offshore wind turbine production sites in the United States, provided the group is successful in local government tenders.

Building local offshore wind turbine factories was costing “substantially less” under the IRA than in Europe, Bruch said, also noting the legislation’s positive impact on the hydrogen value chain, a field where Siemens Energy is active, too.

The group is currently ramping up electrolyser capacity at its Berlin plant in a joint venture with France’s Air Liquide AIRP.PA, with Bruch saying U.S. customers had already made capacity bookings.

The Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, a key component of the IRA, provides a 10-year federal tax credit of up to $3 per kilogram for clean hydrogen produced after 2022 from facilities that begin construction prior to 2033.

Bruch said the hydrogen credit was similar to a $160 subsidy on each barrel of oil, adding that while the U.S. market would be served from Berlin for the time being, the assembly of stacks could take place locally if the group wins big projects.

“The U.S. is now driving commercial projects in hydrogen that really fly for the first time.”

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

Source: Reuters

A record-setting 3,330 megawatts (MW) of solar power was produced during the noon hour on May 18, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) said.

That amount of power could provide electricity to between 2.7 million and 3.3 million homes, with the peak load on May 18 logging at 16,166 MW, the NYISO said.

Behind-the-meter solar resources accounted for 3,200 MW of the power generated, while front-of-the-meter resources made up 130 MW, the NYISO added.

“New York is one of the most robust solar markets in the U.S. with programs such as NY-Sun driving significant growth across the state,” said Doreen Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

The record moved the state closer to meeting its Climate Act mandates, Harris added. The act requires all power generation to come from clean sources by 2040, including 70% from renewable energy by 2030.

Last month, Justin Driscoll, CEO of New York Power Authority, the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, said switching to clean energy from natural gas-fired electricity is the New York power industry’s top challenge this year.

Source: Reuters

Tesla’s website showed both rear-wheel drive Model Y vehicles and the long-range, all-wheel drive version of the Model 3 available for immediate delivery in British Columbia, with codes showing they were manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai.

Both models qualify for federal incentives of C$5,000 ($3,700) in Canada, which, unlike the United States, does not link electric-vehicle subsidies to the location of the plant that made the car.

Tesla representatives in China and at the company’s headquarters in the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company and other electric car manufacturers have a cost advantage in China as exports from that market boom. The China-made version of the Model Y was listed for C$61,990 in Canada. That is about 22% more than the equivalent vehicle costs in China before incentives.

Tesla’s move to export to Canada from Shanghai could help it keep vehicles made at its plants in California and Texas for sale in the United States, where they qualify for potential tax incentives of up to $7,500 under the Biden administration’s subsidy program.

It also opens a new market for Tesla Shanghai, which last year accounted for more than half of the company’s production.

Tesla’s Shanghai factory manufactures EVs for sale in China and exports to overseas markets, including Europe. But Tesla faces growing competition on price and features from EV makers in China, and its Berlin factory has been ramping up output of the Model Y for customers in Europe.

Tesla uses a code when listing vehicles for sale that corresponds to the first three digits of the vehicle identification number, or VIN. The VINs for Tesla models built by the Shanghai factory all start with the letters “LRW.”

It was not clear how many China-made, Tesla vehicles were available for purchase in Canada or how many had been sold.

Tesla said last month that it would offer a new, cheaper version of its Model Y in Canada, a rear-wheel drive variant of the SUV-styled crossover that would qualify for Canadian government incentives.

The cars qualifying for that subsidy on Tesla’s website carry a VIN code showing they were built by the company’s Shanghai factory.

A Tesla production plan reviewed by Reuters showed the automaker had designed and tested Model Y vehicles for export to North America, with a target of producing nearly 9,000 for export this quarter. A person with knowledge of the development said those Model Y cars were bound for Canada. The person declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

It was not immediately clear what the equivalent target was for exports to Canada for the Model 3.

Reuters had reported in November Tesla had considered plans for exporting made-in-China vehicles to North America.

After the Reuters report was published, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in a Twitter post, had said “False,” without elaborating.

Source: Reuters

The AES Corporation coal plant produced up to one-fifth of the electricity on Oahu — the most populous island in the state. Taking it offline meant an end to the 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases that were emitted annually, then-Gov. David Ige said as it was about to shutdown in September.

The company said potential new uses for the 8.5-acre property in Kapolei include battery storage, solar and even wind power, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday.

Energy storage farms are increasingly taking the place of old coal plants.

Nearby, the largest stand-alone energy system in the state has been under construction since last year. The project has an energy storage capacity of 565 megawatt-hours and is being developed by San Francisco-based Plus Power.

Storage projects allow utility operator Hawaiian Electric to accept and use more intermittent power from renewable sources, including rooftop solar.

Electricity generated by burning oil remains the largest source of power for Hawaiian Electric, which serves Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui, Molokai and Lanai. The utility company reported that 32% of power generation in 2022 was from renewable sources.

Like other Pacific islands, Hawaii has suffered the cascading impacts of climate change. The state is experiencing the destruction of coral reefs from bleaching associated with increased ocean temperatures, rapid sea level rise, more intense storms and drought that is increasing the state’s wildfire risk.

In 2020, Hawaii’s Legislature passed a law banning the use of coal for energy production by the start of 2023. Hawaii has mandated a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045 and was the first state to set such a goal.

Source: AP

The result of Biden’s veto is that a two-year delay on tariffs will continue until at least June 2024.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about what they call unfair competition from China, which has long dominated the global market for manufacturing solar panels. Some U.S. manufacturers contend that China has essentially moved operations to four Southeast Asian countries — Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia — to skirt U.S. anti-dumping rules.

A Commerce Department inquiry last year found likely trade violations involving Chinese products and recommended steep penalties. Biden halted tariffs for two years before the Commerce investigation was completed, saying his action was needed satisfy demand for renewable energy while providing “certainty” for the solar supply chain and solar installation market.

The mere threat of up to $1 billion in retroactive tariffs and higher fees led to delays or cancellations of hundreds of solar projects across the U.S. last year. Solar installations are a key part of Biden’s agenda to fight climate change and achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035.

“America is now on track to increase domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity eight-fold by the end of my first term,″ Biden said in his veto statement Tuesday. “But that production will not come online overnight.″

A two-year pause on tariffs will provide a temporary “bridge” to ensure that when new U.S. factories are operational, “we have a thriving solar installation industry ready to deploy American-made solar products to homes, businesses and communities across the nation,″ Biden said.

Biden said he intends to allow the tariffs to take effect when the current suspension expires in June 2024.

The U.S. industry applauded Biden’s action, calling solar panel imports crucial as solar installations ramp up to meet increased demand for renewable energy. Less than 30% of solar panels and cells installed in the U.S. are produced here, although that number is increasing as U.S. manufacturers take advantage of tax credits included in the landmark climate law adopted last year.

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said the congressional resolution threatened up to 30,000 American jobs while weakening U.S. energy security.

“The solar and storage industry must build more manufacturing capacity in America, and the two-year tariff moratorium provides a bridge for us to do just that,″ Hopper said. “Curbing supply at this critical time (would) hurt American businesses and prevent us from deploying clean, reliable energy in the near-term.″

The measure on solar tariffs is among several legislative efforts being pushed by newly empowered Republicans to rebuke the Democratic president and block some of his administration’s initiatives, including a rule on clean water and a measure that allows federal retirement plan managers to consider climate change in investment plans. Biden vetoed both legislative measures aimed at undoing his administration’s actions.

Nine Democratic senators supported the reinstatement of solar tariffs, along with 12 Democrats in the House. Only one Republican senator and eight GOP House members voted against the tariff plan.

Presidential vetos and overrides

President Joe Biden has cast three vetoes during his tenure in office. The Constitution gives the president the right to reject legislation passed by Congress, which can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, said restoring U.S. tariffs on the four Southeast Asian nations would hold China accountable while protecting U.S. jobs and workers. American manufacturers are facing unfair competition from China, which is subsidizing its panels and selling them at low prices, Smith and other lawmakers said.

“It’s disgusting that Biden’s actions would shield Chinese solar companies — many of which are using child and slave labor — and allow them to circumvent U.S. trade laws,″ said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida.

Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat whose state has the nation’s most solar jobs per capita, said reinstating the tariffs would have been disastrous for the U.S. industry. Retroactive tariffs would eliminate thousands of jobs “and kill any chance we have to meet our climate goals, ‘’ she said.

Source: AP

Brazil, the host to the next year`s G20 summit, has the highest share of clean electricity in the G20, said a report by energy think-tank Ember on Monday. In 2022, Brazil generated 89 per cent of its electricity from clean sources, which includes 63 per cent hydro, 12 per cent wind power and three per cent solar power.

Fossil fuels accounted for 11 per cent of Brazil`s generation in 2022, the majority of which was gas (seven per cent).

India, the current host, is much further behind in decarbonising its electricity system. It has the second highest coal reliance, after South Africa, but is already getting nine per cent of its electricity from solar and wind.

“Brazil is way ahead of India in securing a clean electricity system,” said Dave Jones, Ember`s Head of Data Insights.

“G20 hosts can both learn from each others` successes. India is stepping up as a solar king, with generation growing by 45 times in the last decade to reach five per cent of its power in 2022. Brazil had a headstart with a strong base in hydroelectric power, but they haven`t rested on their laurels, with a truly impressive growth in wind power, which has grown by 16 times in the last decade and reached 12 per cent of its power in 2022.”

Wind and solar replacing coal power`s share in G20 countries. Pathways aligned with 1.5C require rapid reduction in coal power this decade.

Wind and solar have reduced the share of coal power in G20 countries since the Paris Agreement, according to an analysis of data from the fourth annual Global Electricity Review published by energy think-tank Ember.

However, the transformation is not yet happening fast enough for a pathway aligned with 1.5C, although there are positive signs.

The data reveals that in G20 countries, wind and solar reached a combined share of 13 per cent of electricity in 2022, up from five per cent in 2015. In this period, the share of wind power doubled and the share of solar power quadrupled. As a result, coal power fell from 43 per cent of G20 electricity in 2015 to 39 per cent in 2022.

Shares of other sources of electricity remained broadly stable, with fluctuation of just 1-2 percentage points.

According to the IPCC, wind and solar can deliver more than a third of the emissions cuts required in 2030 to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. Encouragingly, half of these emissions reductions from wind and solar would actually save money compared to the reference scenario.

“Replacing coal power with wind and solar is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for the climate,” said Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, senior analyst at Ember.

“Not only do solar and wind cut emissions fast, they also bring down electricity costs and reduce health-harming pollution.”

Across the G20, progress towards wind and solar power is mixed. The leaders are Germany (32 per cent), the UK (29 per cent) and Australia (25 per cent). Turkey, Brazil, the US and China have consistently held above the global average. At the bottom are Russia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia with nearly zero wind and solar power in their mix.

Thirteen of the G20 still have more than a half of their electricity from fossil fuels as of 2022. Saudi Arabia stands out with almost 100 per cent of its electricity from oil and gas. South Africa (86 per cent), Indonesia (82 per cent) and India (77 per cent) are the next most reliant on fossil — all predominantly coal generation.

Among advanced (OECD) economies in the G20, which should target coal phase-out by 2030, there has been a reduction in coal generation by 42 per cent in absolute terms from 2,624 TWh in 2015 to 1,855 TWh in 2022.

The fastest decline in coal power in the G20 has been achieved by the UK, which reduced its coal generation by 93 per cent since the Paris Agreement was signed, falling from 23 per cent of electricity in 2015 to just two per cent in 2022.

Italy halved its coal power in the same period, while the US and Germany reduced their coal power by around a third. Even coal-dependent Australia has reduced its share of coal power from 64 per cent in 2015 to 47 per cent in 2022.

Among advanced economies in the G20, Japan stands out as it has yet to reduce its share of coal power, which remains around a third of its electricity.

The growth in wind and solar generation has been a key factor in the success of these OECD countries in reducing coal power. The UK and Germany stand out with the highest shares of wind power at 25 per cent and 22 per cent in 2022, while Australia and Japan top the G20 for solar power share at 13 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, in 2022.

Although the G20`s share of coal power has reduced since the Paris Agreement, the absolute generation of coal power has increased as countries turn to coal to meet rising demand.

Source: PTI

Sumita Tono Wind facility, in the mountainous area between the municipalities of Tono and Sumita, in Iwate Prefecture, is now harnessing the westerly winds of the Kitakami Mountains to provide clean power for 47,000 households in Japan.

“This is Pattern and GPI’s fourth development project in Japan and we look forward to developing more sources of clean power throughout the country,” said Hunter Armistead, CEO of Pattern Energy.

Sumita Tono Wind utilizes 27 Vestas 4.2 MW wind turbines. The project has a 20-year feed-in-tariff power purchase agreement with Tohoku Electric Power Network for 100 percent of the power output. GPI and its affiliates will be responsible for the long-term operation and maintenance of the facility with Vestas providing wind turbine maintenance.

With the addition of Sumita Tono Wind, Pattern Energy has eight renewable energy facilities in Japan either operating or under construction, including four onshore wind power facilities and two solar power facilities in operation, and one offshore and one onshore wind power facility under construction.

Source: PTI

The Biden administration unveiled a sweeping plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. power industry, one of the biggest steps so far in its effort to decarbonize the economy to fight climate change.

In the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2023, three scenarios with varying costs of zero-carbon technology projected that coal-fired electric-generating capacity will decline by 52% to 88% to between 97 gigawatts (GW) and 23 GW by mid-century.

All three cases “reflect laws and regulations adopted through mid-November, including the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides tax credits for zero-emission technologies,” the EIA said.

The forecasts do not account for Thursday’s proposal to limit how much carbon dioxide power plants, the source of more than a quarter of U.S. emissions, can put into the atmosphere.

The plan will require coal plants that run past 2040 to install carbon capture and storage(CCS) technology starting in 2030. Those shutting between 2035 and 2040 would be required to co-fire with 40% gas by 2030.

The Environmental Protection Agency projects the plan would cut emissions from coal plants and new gas plants by 617 million tonnes between 2028 and 2042, the equivalent of reducing the annual emissions of 137 million passenger vehicles.

The EIA projected that the combined capacity from solar and wind will more than triple by 2050, making up between 40% and 69% of U.S. electricity generation. Coal would still provide between 1% and 8% of electricity in 2050, due to its ability to operate around the clock without dependence on the availability of sunlight or wind.

Source: Reuters

What he did know is that his tiny town needed an affordable way to get electricity and had no extra land. But looking at a map, one feature stood out.

“We have this 14-acre water reservoir,” he said.

Seaman-Graves soon found the reservoir could hold enough solar panels to power all the municipal buildings and streetlights, saving the city more than $500,000 each year. He had stumbled upon a form of clean energy that is steeply ramping up.

Floating solar panel systems are beginning to boom in the United States after rapid growth in Asia. They’re attractive not just for their clean power and lack of a land footprint, but because they also conserve water by preventing evaporation.

A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability in March found that thousands of cities — more than 6,000 in 124 countries — could generate an amount equal to all their electricity demand using floating solar, making it a climate solution to be taken seriously. In the process, they could save roughly enough water each year to fill 40 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Zhenzhong Zeng, a contributor on that study and associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, said in the United States, counties across Florida, Nevada, and California have the potential to generate more power than they use. Of course, they would need a mix of energy to actually provide power all hours of the day, Zeng said.

The concept of floating solar is simple: attach panels onto rafts so they float on water instead of blocking off land that could be used for agriculture or buildings. The panels are sealed and act as a lid that brings evaporation down to nearly zero, benefiting regions like California that repeatedly experience periods of drought. The water also keeps the panels cool, allowing them to generate more electricity than their land-mounted counterparts, which lose efficiency when they get too hot.

Asia has largest floating solar farms

Several countries in Asia have taken the lead in deploying large-scale solar arrays that float on water, a space-saving concept catching on in other parts of the world.
Largest floating solar installations by generating capacity
In megawatts

“We hear from our installers that they like it because it’s something different,” said Chris Bartle, director of sales and marketing for floating solar company Ciel & Terre, which has built 270 projects in 30 countries. “They get to go out on the water as opposed to on a rooftop. We joke that you need life jackets instead of ladders,” he said.

Bartle’s company has launched 28 floating solar projects in the U.S.

Limited land may have spurred some countries in Asia like Japan and Malaysia to expand floating solar, and other countries just took advantage of the steep plunge in prices for solar that has dramatically changed the economic picture for solar adoption globally.

A report by London-based Fairfield Market Research says the region currently accounts for 73% of revenue from floating solar and “spearheads the global landscape,” but predicts that policy incentives in North America and Europe will spur significant growth.

One of the biggest floating solar farms in the U.S. is the 4.8 MW project in Healdsburg, California, built by Ciel & Terre.

“It’s funny, I don’t think a lot of people in Healdsburg know about it,” said David Hargreaves, a local realtor and YouTuber who lives nearby. People may not know that solar panels can be placed on water, so they don’t look out for it, he said.

The world’s largest array so far is the 320 MW Dezhou Dingzhuang Floating Solar Farm in Shandong, China. North America’s largest, by comparison, is a fraction of that — 8.9 MW at the Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Millburn, N.J., owned by New Jersey Resources Clean Energy Ventures, which operates utility-scale commercial as well as residential solar systems across the Northeast.

“We’re excited to see it start gaining traction in the US,” said Robert Pohlman, vice president of NJRCEV.

But high up costs up front remain a barrier. Bartle estimates floating solar costs 10-15% more than land solar initially, but owners save money in the long run. Deeper water can increase installation costs, and the technology can’t operate on fast-moving water, on the open ocean, or shorelines with large waves.

Engineers are working on other challenges. If the solar panels cover too much of a water body’s surface, dissolved oxygen levels could change and water temperature will drop, which could harm aquatic life. Researchers are looking into whether the electromagnetic fields generated by cables could negatively influence aquatic ecosystems, however, there’s no evidence of that yet.

Duke Energy, the large U.S. utility that owns some 50,000 MW of energy capacity, is aiming to achieve net zero carbon emissions from electricity production by 2050. It just launched a small floating solar pilot, just shy of 1 MW in Bartow, Florida.

“The favorite part of my job is that I get to come out here,” said Tommy Oneal, an environmental specialist at Duke Energy, as he gestured towards new panels floating on top of the cooling pond of an adjacent gas power plant.

“I see eagles, alligators, and all kinds of cool stuff … It’s fun, these issues make my job different every day. When I went to college, I never thought I’d be dealing with alligator issues,” said Oneal.

In Cohoes, public officials are preparing for the installation of their project later this year at an estimated final cost of $6.5 million. The federal government is paying almost half of that through a federal Housing and Urban Development grant. Another $750,000 is covered by the utility National Grid. The city is also looking into New York solar incentives and the Inflation Reduction Act.

As far as he knows, Seaman-Graves said, it’s is the first municipally-owned floating solar project in the country.

“We are an environmental justice community and we see a big opportunity for low to moderate income cities to replicate what we’re doing,” he said.

Source: AP

Government labs and more than 30 companies are racing to generate power from fusion, which could one day help the world slash emissions linked to climate change. Unlike today’s fission reactors it could generate power without producing long-lasting radioactive waste.

Fusion occurs when two light atoms such as hydrogen, heated to extreme temperatures, fuse into one heavier atom releasing large amounts of energy. So far earthly fusion reactions have been momentary and suck up more energy than they release, but companies have raised about $5 billion in private funding in the quest to achieve net energy gain.

Helion’s plant is expected to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 megawatts or greater after a one-year ramp up period, it said. One megawatt can supply up to about 1,000 U.S. homes on a typical day.

“50 megawatts is a big first step of commercial scale fusion, and the revenue feeds right back into us developing more power plants and getting fusion out on the grid both in the United States and internationally as fast as possible,” David Kirtley, the founder and chief executive of Washington state-based Helion said in an interview.

Polaris, Helion’s seventh generation machine, should come online next year and demonstrate electricity generation, using a mix of laser and magnet technologies to achieve fusion, Kirtley said. In 2021, Helion was the first private company to achieve 100 million degrees Celsius and the optimum temperature is about twice that, Kirtley said.

While many fusion companies are looking to tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope, to help fuel reactions, Helion plans to use Helium 3, a rare type of the gas used in quantum computing.

Helion has so far raised more than $570 million in private capital with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, providing $375 million in 2021.

Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft, said in a release that Helion’s work “supports our own long term clean energy goals and will advance the market to establish a new, efficient method for bringing more clean energy to the grid, faster.”

The companies did not disclose terms of the power purchase agreement.

Helion still needs design and construction approvals from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as well as local permits. But the fusion industry was cheered by NRC’s decision last month to separate fusion regulation from that of fission, a move backers say could reduce time lines of license approvals.

Andrew Holland, head of the Fusion Industry Association, said nothing about fusion has been easy, but the deal shows trust is building.

“The business world is starting to understand that fusion is coming and perhaps sooner than a lot of people thought,” Holland said in an interview. “It’s a vote of confidence that Helion is on its way as are other companies building their proof of concept machines now.”

Source: Reuters

Apple is committed to reducing its environmental impact by conserving resources, reducing its carbon footprint, and responsibly sourcing materials.

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has since become one of the world’s largest companies, with a market capitalization of over $2 trillion as of 2021. The company’s headquarters is located in Cupertino, California, and it has offices and stores around the world.

Apple Inc., an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California has released a 2023 Environmental Progress Report which provides insight into their current goals and initiatives towards a more sustainable future. The 2023 Environmental Progress Report provides insight into the company’s current goals and initiatives towards a more sustainable future. Apple is committed to carbon neutrality, reducing emissions in the supply chain, transitioning to a circular economy, and water stewardship.

Commitment to Carbon Neutrality

The world’s largest technology company by revenue, with US$394.3 billion in 2022 revenue is committed to becoming carbon neutral across its entire business, including manufacturing and transportation, by 2030. In the 2023 Environmental Progress Report, the mobile technology leader reported that they have already achieved 100% renewable electricity for their global operations, which includes their offices, retail stores, and data centers. Additionally, Apple is actively working with its suppliers to transition to renewable energy, with the goal of having 8 GW of installed clean energy generation capacity by 2030.

Reducing Emissions in the Supply Chain

The supply chain contributes to a significant portion of Apple’s carbon footprint, and Apple recognizes the importance of addressing emissions in this area. The company is working with its suppliers to implement energy efficiency measures and transition to renewable energy sources. In the 2023 Environmental Progress Report, Apple reported that over 110 suppliers have committed to using 100% renewable energy for Apple production, and that the company has avoided over 15 million metric tons of CO2e through its Supplier Clean Energy Program since 2015.

Circularity and Materials Innovation

Apple, the world’s biggest company by market capitalization is committed to transitioning to a circular economy, where products are designed to be reused, refurbished, or recycled at the end of their life cycle. In the 2023 Environmental Progress Report, Apple reported that they have made progress towards this goal by designing products with recycled materials, reducing product packaging, and implementing programs for customers to recycle their old devices. Additionally, the tech innovator is investing in materials innovation to find alternatives to critical raw materials, reduce waste, and improve product durability.

Water Stewardship

Apple which has launched the company’s first retail store in India in the financial capital Mumbai recognizes the importance of water conservation and management, particularly in areas where water scarcity is a concern. In the 2023 Environmental Progress Report, Apple reported that they are working to reduce water usage in their operations and supply chain, with the goal of conserving 5 billion gallons of water per year by 2025. Apple is also investing in water restoration projects in water-stressed regions, including a project in California to restore wetlands and improve water quality.

Source: PTI

But a major railway that would accelerate deforestation in Metuktire’s ancestral land risks souring relations between the leftist leader and the chief of the Kayapó people. And it’s just one of several mega-projects that activists and experts say would devastate the natural world — and seriously dent Lula’s newfound image as a defender of the environment — if they proceed.

Others include an oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River; a highway that would slice through some of the Amazon rainforest’s most protected areas; and renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license.

“Lula is talking about the environment, showing preoccupation with illegal mining, demarcating Indigenous territories. He’s already learned a lot, but needs to learn more. We’re still very worried,” said Alessandra Korap, an Indigenous leader of the Munduruku people who recently won the Goldman Environmental Prize for work that included battling illegal mining.

Under Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation soared to a 15-year high and environmental restrictions were weakened. The far-right leader filled key positions in environmental agencies with agribusiness allies and military officers. Indigenous peoples’ rights were trampled.

After narrowly defeating Bolsonaro in last year’s election, Lula has strived to put environmental protection and respect for Indigenous peoples’ rights at the heart of his third term. He resumed successful pursuit of international donations for the Amazon Fund that combats deforestation, launched a military campaign to eject illegal miners from Yanomami territory, committed to ending all illegal deforestation by 2030 and restarted the demarcation of Indigenous areas.

But Lula faces difficult tests in the large infrastructure projects. While opponents regard them as catastrophic, some in Lula’s Workers’ Party continue to view them as essential for providing jobs and promoting growth. And Brazil, a developing nation, has heavy demand for socioeconomic benefits.

THE OIL-DRILLING PROJECT

Ibama, Brazil’s environmental agency, will decide in coming months whether to license drilling in one sector near the mouth of the Amazon. Approval would surely lead to drilling in the whole region, said Suely Araújo, a former Ibama head now a public policy specialist with the Climate Observatory, a network of non-profits.

“It’s a matter of coherence. Lula’s speeches on environmental protection and the climate crisis are bang on point. But if oil exploration is intensified, it will mean expanding fossil fuels. There would be an inconsistency,” Araújo said.

During Lula’s first terms, huge offshore discoveries became a means of financing health, education and social welfare programs.

“To a large extent, this vision remains, meaning it will be very difficult to persuade the government to give up strategic projects, even when there are significant social environmental risks,” said Maiara Folly, director of CIPO, a think tank focused on climate and international relations.

With existing production set to peak in coming years, there’s sharp interest in securing more off Brazil’s northern coast. It’s a unique and biodiverse location, home to little-studied swathes of mangroves and a coral reef.

Araújo said the project risks leaks that would be carried elsewhere by strong tides.

State-run oil giant Petrobras has earmarked almost half its five-year, $6 billion exploration budget for the area. CEO Jean Paul Prates said the first well would be temporary, and that the company has never recorded a leak in offshore drilling.

Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said in March that the area is the “passport to the future” for development in Brazil’s northern regions. Lula has used the same term to describe the earlier offshore oil discoveries.

Eighty civil society and environmental organizations, WWF Brasil and Greenpeace, have called for the license to be declined pending an in-depth study.

THE HYDROELECTRIC DAM

The Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, a concrete colossus on the Xingu River, was planned under Lula and built by his successor, Dilma Rousseff. Supporters saw it as a way to generate jobs and add power to Brazil’s grid.

Indigenous populations and environmental campaigners fiercely opposed it, and studies show its impacts have been disastrous. Civil society organizations estimate tens of thousands of people were displaced, and experts attribute a local surge of violence to lost jobs. One area of concern is the Xingu’s Volta Grande, or Big Bend, which has lost much of its water. That caused the disappearance of fish — the basis of many Indigenous populations’ subsistence.

Belo Monte is back on Lula’s agenda, with Ibama weighing whether to renew its license. The agency reported last summer that Norte Energia, the dam’s owner, hadn’t respected many of the conditions for its original license.

Local media said Norte Energia proposed to distribute 20,000 reais (about $4,000) in compensation to nearly 2,000 fishermen.

In January, researchers in the region published a letter environmental journalism website Sumauma calling on Lula and his administration to investigate and punish crimes and injustices surrounding the dam.

“Any government really committed to conserving the Amazon and fighting the climate crisis is obliged to recognize the problems caused by Belo Monte and to fix the damage and impacts caused,” the letter said.

Local populations are demanding the license be renewed only if Norte Energia agrees to use the water in a way that allows life in and around the river to be sustained.

The license was originally issued under heavy pressure from Rousseff’s government, said Folly. In a March interview with Sumauma, Lula’s environment minister, Marina Silva, promised that this time, “nobody is going to be coerced, as they were before, and this represents a total change.”

THE HIGHWAY

The BR-319 highway connects Porto Velho to Manaus. It was abandoned in the 1980s after falling into disuse, but the government has shown signs of wanting to repave it to facilitate the export of commodities.

Environmentalists and scientists warn that could lead to uncontrolled deforestation in the region by increasing land speculation and giving easy access to land grabbers. After Bolsonaro announced that a section of the road would be repaved, deforestation in nearby areas quickly surged, according to Brazil’s national space agency.

Lula told Radio Difusora last June that he favored reconstruction, calling it important for the economies of Amazonas and Rondonia states. Ibama’s president Rodrigo Agostinho told the AP in March that the agency has slowed the permitting process in order to analyze carefully.

THE RAILWAY

Similar concerns surround a 933-kilometer (around 580 miles) railway known as Ferrograo that would move grains from the heartland toward the Tapajos River for eventual shipping abroad.

The project would mean fewer trucks moving soy and corn, and thus reduced carbon emissions. But it might also mean rising deforestation. A 2021 study from the Federal University of Minas Gerais projected deforestation of more than 230,000 hectares in Indigenous lands in Mato Grosso state by 2035 if it is completed.

The railway is on hold pending a court’s ruling on the constitutionality of a law that permitted felling forest in the Jamanxim National Park to make way for its crossing.

In January, Lula’s transport minister, Renan Filho, placed Ferrograo among top priority projects.

Doto Takak-Ire, who like Chief Raoni is a leader of the Kayapó, said in a column published in O Globo newspaper in March that the project would threaten the survival of 48 Indigenous peoples, and called it “the railway of Indigenous genocide”.

Source: AP

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland : Running low on suitable land for solar power projects, officials in the U.S. city of Annapolis homed in on a spacious site they had long written off as useless – the old municipal garbage dump.

The 62-acre (25-hectare) landfill closed in 1993 and “just sat there as a liability”, said David Jarrell, public works director in Annapolis, the state capital of Maryland.

Today, capped and covered with grass, the plot accommodates more than 50,000 solar energy modules with a total capacity of 18 megawatts (MW). The only clue to its past are the venting pipes that poke out of the ground intermittently to release gas emitted by the decomposing waste below.

“We changed a liability into an asset,” Jarrell told Context of the solar park, which is being held up as a model as the U.S. government prepares to release new federal funding for solar development – including on brownfield sites such as landfills.

When it was completed in 2018, the Annapolis site was the largest landfill solar project in the country, but it has been overtaken repeatedly since then as cities recognize the potential to turn old landfills into solar parks.

Such projects not only help cities meet ambitious renewable energy targets, but they can also reduce local power bills and generate revenue for city coffers by leasing out idle land.

“It makes (the production of clean energy) tangible for residents, maybe makes it cheaper … and shows that they’re trying to actively reduce their local emissions,” said Matthew Popkin, a manager with think-tank RMI’s U.S. program who leads its Brightfields Accelerator partnership, which helps local governments convert brownfield sites for clean energy use.

While the number of solar parks being built on landfills has increased in recent years, there is still huge untapped potential, industry specialists say.

There are at least 10,000 disused or closed landfills across the United States – and most are publicly owned, Popkin said.

He and his team were able to analyze about 4,300 of those sites and estimated that those alone could produce 63 gigawatts (GW) of electricity – enough to power 7.8 million U.S. homes.

Federal funding

Renewables make up more than 21% of U.S. electricity generation, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data from February, though President Joe Biden has set a goal of creating a power sector that is carbon pollution-free by 2035.

Many cities are racing to hit similarly ambitious targets, with shortages of suitable land posing a major challenge in the switch to solar and wind power.

The city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has a goal of being carbon-neutral and using 100% renewable energy by 2030, but figuring out where to site any major clean power development has been tricky, said Missy Stults, the city’s sustainability and innovations director.

“We’re pretty built-out. We just don’t have large tracts of land that could go for renewables – except for this,” she said of a plan to build a 20-MW solar project on the city’s old landfill.

At the moment, there are about 300 solar installations on landfills across the United States, nearly 50 of which have been completed since 2019, a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said.

And they are increasing in size.

In December, completion was announced on a more than 26-MW landfill project in New Jersey. Others include a nearly 50-MW development in Columbus, Ohio, and a 52-MW park in Houston.

Landfill solar is set to get another boost as new federal solar incentives are earmarked for landfills and other industrial areas in “energy communities” where the closure of fossil fuel industries has hit the local economy, Popkin said, citing regulatory guidance released in April.

Righting landfill wrongs

Such projects could also help address long-standing grievances over the location of landfill sites, which historically have tended to be built close to Black and other marginalized communities.

One study found that “race was the most significant factor in siting hazardous waste facilities, and that three out of every five African Americans and Hispanics live in a community housing toxic waste sites,” according to a U.S. Department of Energy primer on environmental justice.

The large New Jersey project, in Mount Olive Township, was built on a so-called Superfund site that had been contaminating local groundwater for years after its operator went bankrupt in the early 1980s, according to the EPA.

Superfund sites are contaminated areas that have been officially recognized by the agency and prioritized for cleanup.

Not only was the project able to address that pollution by properly sealing the site, but it brought in $2.3 million for the township to fill tax arrears accrued by the site over decades, said Mayor Robert Greenbaum.

“The reclamation of the landfill was a win-win for the township,” he said.

The project is currently the country’s largest on a Superfund site, according to project developer CEP Renewables, which has been specializing in solar projects on landfills and other former industrial locations.

“Some of these landfills are capped, covered and maintained properly, but some of these are in total disarray when we get our hands on them,” said Chris Ichter, the company’s executive vice president.

State and federal funding incentives are critical to making such projects financially feasible, he added.

“It’s a lot cheaper to go do a project in an open farm field than on a landfill, but it’s a lot more beneficial for everyone (on a landfill).”

Source: PTI

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)last year recommended adding EVs to the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which incentivizes oil refiners to blend biofuels. The EPA under the Biden administration is now testing the legal limits of the liquid fuel program by extending it to EVs.

Under the RFS, oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation’s fuel mix, or buy tradable credits called RINs from those that do.

Adding EVs to the program would recognize the possibility that electric vehicles could be charged using power from the grid generated by renewable natural gas from agricultural methane and U.S. landfills. The EPA has proposed granting EV manufacturers tradable credits based on the amount of renewable electricity that makes it on the grid.

It would also bring new stakeholders from the EVindustry into a program that has long been a battleground for the powerful oil and corn lobbies. Renewable gas producers and EV manufacturers like Tesla have been jockeying to gain the most benefits from the new credits.

The EPA last year recommendedadding EVsto the renewable fuel program when it proposed annual biofuel blending mandates from 2023 through 2025, but the administration has grown concerned that expected legal challenges to the EV measure will also block the routine quotas and are considering separatingthe two, the two sources said.

The annual quotas are required under a court order to be finalized in June and decoupling the two measures robs the EV effort of a definitive timeline and infuses the effort with uncertainty.

The EPA said it was considering comments on the proposed rulemaking from last year, but could not comment further.

“EPA staff are currently working to finalize the rule by the June 14 consent decree deadline,” EPA spokesperson Timothy Carroll said.

Usingbillions of dollars oftaxpayer subsidies, transformingthe nation’s car fleet to EVs isa central part of U.S. President Joe Biden’sclimate change planand any delays couldhamper his goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissionsand targeting50% of new vehicle sales being electric by 2030.

The House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee this week wrote to the EPA to challenge the EV program, arguing that the RFS was intended to center on liquid transportation fuels andnot to electrify transportation.

The November proposal foresaw EVmanufacturers could generate as many as 600 million credits in 2024 and1.2 billion of them by 2025.

The delay for finalizing the EV program, however, opens up the possibility that volume mandates made available for it could be shepherdedtoward other renewable fuel pools, including blending mandates for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Producers of those fuels have been lobbying the administration for months, arguing that proposed volume mandates for renewable diesel and SAF were far too low for the amount of capacity coming online to make those fuels.

Source: Reuters

Some companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), have been dumping assets in the Gulf, the nation’s primary offshore source of oil, and are instead targeting capturing and storing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases underground.

The region, soon could became contested ground for oil, carbon sequestration and renewable energy, say analysts.

U.S. Gulf oil and gas output is expected to jump 17% to a record 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2025, up from about 2.2 million boepd this year, before it begins declining, projects consultants Wood Mackenzie.

The gain reflects a flurry of new platforms from Shell (SHEL.L), BP (BP.L), Chevron (CVX.N) and others, budgeted before the pandemic hit global demand and made companies reduce investments.

Three of the new platforms will add 315,000 barrels of oil per day – nearly as much as the 365,0000 bpd that Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.N) , the third-largest U.S. shale oil producer, will pump this year.

At this week’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which annually attracts more than 50,000 people, nearly a quarter of the presentations will involve offshore wind, renewables, carbon capture and energy transition, say organizers.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has already brought new investment as companies like Exxon, Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N) and Talos Energy (TALO.N) buy sites to store CO2 from oil refiners, chemical makers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers.

CCS “will certainly become an important part of the business activity” in the basin, Wood Mackenzie research analyst Scott Nance said. Oil development will still dominate the basin, but should coexist with CCS and renewables such as offshore wind and solar.

Still, the region’s last big gasp of new oil production will be impressive: Shell expects to add 100,000 boepd from new platform Vito, BP will add 140,000 boepd from Argos, its first new platform since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 15 years ago.

Next year, Shell and Chevron aim to start their 100,000 boepd Whale project, while Chevron is completing commissioning for its 75,000 bpd Anchor project. LLOG Exploration and Repsol (REP.MC) plan the Salamanca platform that will pump 60,000 bpd of crude by mid-2025.

Source: Reuters