The skies over Greenland have become sunnier in recent years, and this has been driving the melting of the ice sheet there to a notable degree — in other words, it’s not just rising temperatures that are causing the ice sheet there to melt. This is according to a new study from the University of Bristol.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is adding to its already impressive list of renewable energy innovations with a new two-year plan to develop custom forecasting systems for wind and solar generation.
NCAR scientists and engineers will develop technology to predict sudden changes in wind speed, enable wind farm operators to curtail turbines before potentially damaging icy conditions, and predict the amount of energy generated by small-scale solar panel installations.
Intermittency may be the Achilles Heel of solar energy. Since the Sun doesn’t always shine and utility-scale energy storage isn’t available yet, grid operators have to rely on dispatchable generation like natural gas or when clouds cover up solar farms. But that may be about to change in a big way…
