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Energy Week #555 – 1/11/2024
Minute 0: Introduction
Thursday, January 4
Offshore wind turbines (NOAA image)
Minute 2
¶ “Two Large Offshore Wind Sites Are Sending Power To The US Grid For The First Time” • For the first time, turbines are sending electricity to the grid from the sites of two large offshore wind farms in the US. The first of 62 turbines at Vineyard Wind is operating, as is the first of 15 turbines 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. [ABC News]
BYD Dolphin (Courtesy of BYD)
Minute 5
¶ “XPeng Sees 171% Growth In 4th Quarter” • XPeng is no BYD or Tesla. It’s far away from the million battery EV sales they reached this year. But XPeng is growing strongly and can certainly dream about reaching the million BEVs per year milestone one day. In terms of 2023, XPeng saw its sales rise to 141,601 units. That’s a 17% increase from 2022. [CleanTechnica]
Solid state battery for EVs (Courtesy of Quantumscape)
Minute 8
¶ “PowerCo Tests QuantumScape’s New Solid State Battery For Volkswagen, And Likes What It Sees” • Volkswagen leveled up its EV battery business in 2022 with its PowerCo branch. PowerCo put a solid state battery from QuantumScape through its paces. It passed with flying colors, bringing the solid state battery of the future one step closer. [CleanTechnica]
Friday, January 5
Solar array (Courtesy of BrightNight)
Minute 10
¶ “BrightNight Gets A $375 Million Renewable Energy Credit Line With A ‘Green Loan’ Twist” • The US startup BrightNight has become a renewable energy force to be reckoned with. It just nailed down a new $375 million line of credit that will enable it to push ahead with a portfolio of 31 GW worth of wind, solar, and energy storage projects. [CleanTechnica]
Storm with a microburst (NOAA, Unsplash)
Minute 13
¶ “Positive Climate Solutions To Celebrate In 2024” • In 2024, the numbers about fossil fuels, renewable energy transitions, and cleantech innovations are quite illuminating, and frequently they are contradictory, but, together, clean climate solutions offer a generally positive framework for the energy transition taking place around us. [CleanTechnica]
Power lines (Jerry Wang, Unsplash)
Minute 16
¶ “US DOE: $70 Million To Strengthen Energy Sector Against Physical And Cyber Hazards” • The US DOE announced up to $70 million in funding to support research intended to increase resilience and to reduce risks to energy delivery infrastructure from cyber and physical threats, extreme weather events, natural disasters, and other hazards. [CleanTechnica]
Saturday, January 6
Green investment (Towfiqu barbhuiya, Unsplash)
Minute 19
¶ “Green Investments Begin To Pay Off For Big Banks” • For the second year in a row, global banks made more from investments supporting environmentally friendly projects than they earned from financing oil, gas, and coal activities. While the difference is not large yet, it is an indicator that green energy is outpacing fossil fuels. [CleanTechnica]
Break free (Eelco Böhtlingk, Unsplash)
Minute 22
¶ “When Your Local Public Radio Station Advertises Fossil Fuels” • “My local public radio station, Oregon Public Broadcasting, which broadcasts throughout Oregon and southwest Washington, has been running advertisements for a fossil gas utility named Northwest Natural over the past year.” NPR also accepts fossil fuel ads. It is time to take action. [CleanTechnica]
EV interior (GM image)
Minute 24
¶ “Don’t Worry If Your Favorite GM EV Doesn’t Qualify For A Federal Tax Credit” • General Motors announced it will provide incentives of $7,500 on its EVs to offset the loss of a US federal tax credit. GM told its dealers it would provide the equivalent EV tax credit amount “for any vehicles that became ineligible due to the new guidelines.” [CleanTechnica]
Sunday, January 7
Mobile microgrid
Minute 27
¶ “United Rentals Adds Solar Battery Generators To Its Fleet” • United Rentals, Stamford, Connecticut, has agreed to purchase the new HIPOWER EHR solar battery generator from HIPOWER SYSTEMS, Olathe, Kansas, for its rental fleet. United Rentals said it is the first equipment rental company to offer mobile microgrid systems for rent. [Rental Management]
Fjord (Image by Visit Norway)
Minute 30
¶ “Norway Moves Aggressively To Curb Cruise Ship Emissions” • According to Transport and Environment, in 2017, Carnival Cruise Line emitted nearly ten times as much sulfur oxides along the coasts of Europe as all 260 million million cars on the Continent. Starting in 2026, only ships powered by alternative fuels will be allowed to visit Norway’s fjords. [CleanTechnica]
Port of Virginia (Courtesy of the Port Authority of Virginia)
Minute 32
¶ “Major US Shipping Port Gets 100% Clean Energy, But It’s Complicated” • The superbusy Port of Virginia is celebrating the achievement of 100% clean energy. That covers the port’s 116 electric stacking cranes, four electric rail cranes and 27 electric ship-to-shore cranes among other items. Diesel vehicles are not counted and are still in use. [CleanTechnica]
Monday, January 8
Neighborhood in New York City (Franz Boccalatte, Unsplash)
Minute 35
¶ “Cities Should Prioritize Electric Vehicle Adoption in 2024” • Without easy access to charging, many apartment dwellers are skeptical about EVs. They need local leaders who can explain reasons why transportation should be electrified: economic development, workforce expansion, health benefits, climate pollution, and more. [CleanTechnica]
Solar power in West Virginia (Courtesy of FirstEnergy)
Minute 38
¶ “Coal State Killing Coal With Solar Power, One Megawatt At A Time” • The coal state of West Virginia has been achingly slow to join the solar power revolution. It ranks a lowly 49th in a ranking of installed solar capacity by state. Nevertheless, three solar and energy storage projects are moving forward there, indicating that a change is in the wind. [CleanTechnica]
Battery project (Courtesy of Plus Power)
Minute 40
¶ “Gorham To Be Home To Maine’s First Giant Battery Project” • Energy storage is needed to support renewable energy in Maine. This spring, one of New England’s largest battery storage projects will be built in Gorham, Maine. It presages other storage projects seen as critical for optimizing the region’s growing fleet of solar and wind power plants. [News Center Maine]
Tuesday, January 9
Wind farm (Ilmatar image)
Minute 43
¶ “Ilmatar Starts Up Finnish Wind Farm” • All of the 36 wind turbines at Ilmatar’s 221-MW wind farm in South Ostrobothnia, Finland, have been brought into operation. The site forms part of the developer’s first hybrid renewable energy park, which eventually will also include a 150-MW solar farm and a 25-MW battery. [reNews]
New solid state battery section (Courtesy of Adden Energy)
Minute 46
¶ “Harvard Spinoff Lobs A Solid-State Battery Bomb At Fossil Fuels” • New energy storage technology is driving fossil fuels out of the global economy, and Adden Energy, a Harvard University spinoff, is adding fuel to the fire. Their new solid state battery can last for 6,000 cycles and takes about the same amount of time to charge as it takes to fill a tank of gas. [CleanTechnica]
Daikin heat pump (Daikin image)
Minute 48
¶ “Leading Heat Pump Manufacturers Successfully Develop Next-Generation Prototypes” • The US DOE announced that four more heat pump makers successfully produced heat pump prototypes as part of the Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, a DOE initiative supporting transition tocold-climate heat pumps. [CleanTechnica]
Wednesday, January 10
US battery capacity (EIA image)
Minute 51
¶ “US Battery Storage Capacity Expected To Nearly Double In 2024” • Planned and currently operational US large-scale battery capacity totaled around 16 GW at the end of 2023. Developers plan to add another 15 GW in 2024 and around 9 GW in 2025, according to data in the EIA’s latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. [CleanTechnica]
Signal (Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash, cropped)
Minute 54
¶ “2023 Confirmed As World’s Hottest Year On Record” • The year 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest on record, driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather event. Last year was about 1.48°C warmer than the long-term average before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels, the EU’s climate service says. [BBC]
Electric fire truck (Courtesy of REV Group)
Minute 56
¶ “First 100% American Made Electric Fire Truck Enters Service In Mesa, Arizona” • E-One, based in Florida, is a full spectrum builder of fire apparatus and is a pioneer and recognized leader in extruded aluminum and stainless steel construction. Recently, the company has introduced Vector, the first American-made all-electric fire truck. [CleanTechnica]
Minute 59: Finis
Notes: Energy Week #555 – 1/11/2024
George Harvey, blogger, author, and journalist for Green Energy Times and CleanTechnica, computer engineer
Tom Finnell, electrical engineer, transmission grid expert, world traveler, philanthropist, and philosopher
Energy, Renewable Energy, Wind Power, Solar, Batteries, Nuclear, Coal, Oil, Gas, Climate Change
Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell 