A Living Laboratory For Transportation Innovation — #CleanTechnica Interview With Allie Kelly
Solar roads, carbon-sequestering roadside plants, and solar arrays on right-of-ways are just a few of topics we discussed with Allie Kelly of The Ray.
Solar roads, carbon-sequestering roadside plants, and solar arrays on right-of-ways are just a few of topics we discussed with Allie Kelly of The Ray.
Some are working hard to clean up the power industry via solar co-ops. Some are doing so through solar nonprofits that bring safer energy and lower, fairer energy rates. Some are working in giant corporate offices to bring about solar gigawatts at a time. In the following story, you have an interesting mix.
China is eyeballing a sharp increase in the price of solar panels this year, but the solar field is wide open for expansion in other areas.
I started covering the solar energy industry seriously in 2009. It seemed like a hopping, exciting time in the industry — growth was exploding. I remember one early story in which readers admonished me a little because I put “Solar Power Exploding” in a headline, and they thought I was referring to genuine explosions. In 2019, 2009 and 2010 progress looks like anthills.
Researchers have developed new materials to use in ultra high temperature concentrating solar power systems. High temperatures mean more electricity from the same amount of sunlight, making CSP price competitive with batteries for making electricity from sunlight.
SB 100, a bill now pending in the California legislature, would transition California to 100% zero-carbon, effectively all renewable, electricity by 2045. Our studies provide a way to do this for all energy sectors (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry). Robert Bryce, a Senior Fellow of the Manhattan Institute, a think tank that has been well funded by Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, incorrectly wrote in the Los Angeles Times on August 21, 2018, that transitioning California entirely to renewable energy would “wreck vast onshore and offshore territories with forests of wind turbines and sprawling solar projects.”
The 2018 Energy Taiwan and the Circular Economy Taiwan shows in Taipei next month aim to share a bold combined vision of zero emission energy generation and zero waste generation with the world.
Latin America’s first combined concentrated solar power (CSP) and solar PV project is moving forward following the May closing of $758 million in financing by Cerro Dominador, a Chilean company owned by investment funds managed by EIG Global Energy Partners.
With a string of new investments and acquisitions in the past year (you can find a unique overview further on in this article!), Shell has quietly stepped up the pace of its transition from an oil and gas company into an energy company. “We are further along than people realize”, says Mark Gainsborough, Executive Vice-President of Shell New Energies, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Gainsborough, there is a “shift in thinking” within the company that is now irreversible. “People in Shell see a lot riding on the success of New Energies. And we are considered one of the most attractive units to work in. Anyone under the age of 35 wants to work for New Energies.”
Swedish company Azelio has developed small-scale concentrated solar power systems that may be ideal for bringing electrical power to remote areas that have no access to a traditional electricity grid.