French floating solar specialist Ciel et Terre has begun installation of 1.78 megawatt floatovoltaic technology system at what it calls the largest floating solar system in California. To finance this project, the company has utilized a 25-year power purchase agreement for the first time, providing a lifetime savings of $4 million for the Town of Windsor.
Energy innovation is both time- and capital-intensive and heavily regulated. Because investors tend to be risk-averse when it comes to technological development, cleantech startups face a broad array of challenges that can impede their technology from making it to the marketplace. According to one prominent venture capitalist in the energy space, “If I have to put in $30 million to find out if the technology will work, it’s a no-go.”
Access to reliable electricity is essential for improving human livelihoods and is a prerequisite for economic development. Yet hundreds of millions of people lack access to a stable supply. While access to electricity is essential, the sector is also the leading driver of greenhouse gas emissions globally.
ExxonMobil will invest $100 million over 10 years in the NREL and other federal labs to research carbon capture and low emissions fuels. Is that a good thing?
A new US innovation accelerator is changing the game on energy storage and power systems, and now it’s gunning for fast charging and grid control, too.
The cutting-edge research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will one day go to waste—but not into a landfill.
In yet another bad sign for coal (and natural gas), the US Energy Department is building the case for putting more solar panels on farmland.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which regularly publishes a chart of the world’s most efficient solar cells, has introduced a new chart of record-efficiency solar modules.
An international team of researchers claims that cleantech startups file more patents and raise more money when they collaborate with government research agencies. Their findings are relevant to the Green New Deal and carbon reduction research.
Researchers at NREL have devised a way of using discarded single use plastic to make new products. It could keep much of the world’s plastic trash out of landfills and the world’s oceans.
