Record-Low Solar Power, Electric Car Startups, & The Mercedes EQ Brand (Cleantech Talk Today #4)
In this episode, we cover a number of clean power stories before jumping into our EV bread & butter.
Grid Parity
Trump Fiddles As Fossil Fuels Burn
Coal and nuclear power are both dying, falling victim to natural gas and renewable energy. Trump used to blame the Democrats, and especially “Obama’s war on coal.” He used to take the position that removing subsidies for renewable power would be sufficient to bring a renaissance to the coal industry. But despite his efforts, coal plants have just kept closing.
Home Battery Storage In Australia: Are We There Yet?
Australia has one of the highest rates of rooftop solar penetration in the world. This fact (combined with a few other factors detailed below) has arguably made Australia the biggest hot spot for home battery storage in the world — both in terms of hype as well as actual technology uptake.
Elon Musk Harpooned Baseload Power
With batteries like the Hornsdale Power Reserve, power from solar and wind power will be more valuable, because with battery backup their power can be used to supply an increasing share of baseload power. And that increase in value, which might not necessarily be reflected by an increase in price, makes their power all the more attractive.
sonnen’s Energy Storage Leadership Around The World
Sonnen is one of our favorite cleantech leaders. It is great at innovation, leadership, and vision. Last month, I published a January interview with sonnen CEO and co-founder Christoph Ostermann. The good folks at The Beam went and created a transcript of it. If you can’t be bothered to watch a video but would like to read it, here you go!
How Long Will PV Prices Continue To Fall?
Prices of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems follow economic laws just like other things, such as computers and cars. That does not mean that the precipitous drop in prices will slow, however.
Political Shenanigans Got You Down? These 5 Global Trends Are Positively Changing The World Right…
Reading, seeing, watching, or listening to what passes off as news these days can inevitably bring a sense of doom, uncertainty, and fear (FUD) that some politicians love to bathe in to justify their middlemen role and push whatever pet project they have for their business buddies. But there is also good quality news out there if you let independent journalists communicate what they know best, fields they master for the purpose of bringing more light to important matters.
What Changed In The Solar Energy Industry In Quarter 1, 2018?
What actually changed in the world of solar in Q1 2018? Here’s our rundown:
No Huge Energy Storage Breakthrough Needed For Renewable Energy To Flourish
In the last couple of years, there has been a growing a number of news articles and blog posts published about energy storage, particularly in the form of battery systems. This interest is very reasonable and the news is exciting because these systems can fill in wind power and solar power electricity production gaps. In many places, they could replace gas-powered peaker plants.
Solar + Storage Nuking Natural Gas Peakers. Also, We
Episode #48 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers solar + storage nuking natural gas (peaker plants, that is), fantastic floating wind farm news, and the latest in fat-tire electric cycling!
