Tag - solar

 
 

SOLAR

Nawaf Al-Osimy, chief technical officer of the Jazlah Water Desalination plant, which draws vast quantities of water from the Persian Gulf and makes it drinkable, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on March 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 30, 2024
Saudi Arabia eyes a future beyond oil
The kingdom is trying to juggle its still-vital petroleum industry with alternative energy sources like wind and solar as it faces pressure to lower carbon emissions.
Shipping containers at the port in Ningbo, China, March 27, 2024. The U.S. and Europe are trying to catch up to China’s lead in industrial policy, a rival skilled in using all the levers of government and banking to dominate global manufacturing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2024
How China pulled so far ahead on industrial policy
In 2022, Beijing accounted for 85% of all clean-energy manufacturing investment in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
A 2-megawatt solar farm in the city of Fukushima. “Megasolar” refers to farms with a minimum output of 1 MW of electricity — enough to power around 300 homes for a year.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
May 26, 2024
‘Megasolar’ is a dirty word in Japan. Where do solar projects go from here?
Vocal campaigns are pushing back against projects as dangerous eyesores, but "dual-use" approaches and community engagement may offer a solution.
Solar panels on Dave Duttlinger's farmland that he leased to Dunns Bridge Solar in Wheatfield, Indiana
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 27, 2024
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
The solar industry is pushing into the U.S. Midwest, drawn by cheaper land rents and wide-open fields.
Max Lange, 19, a plant mechatronics engineering trainee from Oederan, stands next to a solar panel rolling off the assembly line as part of the last production of solar modules at the Meyer Burger Technology AG plant, due to an announced closure of the plant, in Freiberg, Germany, on March 12.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2024
Lacking support in battle with China, European solar firms head to U.S.
This week the European Commission has launched a voluntary charter for governments and companies to sign in support of solar manufacturing plants.
Jera's thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, recently started co-firing coal with 20% of ammonia, a technology supported by the government's "green transformation," or GX, policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 7, 2024
Is Japan’s green transformation investing in the past or future?
Japan issued its first green transformation bonds, but the policy breathes new life into fossil fuel-based projects rather than pulling the plug on them.
A solar farm owned by the Huaneng Group in Shilin, China on March 2. Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels, as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
China racing ahead on plans to dominate solar energy industry
Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
Floating solar panels at the Canoe Brook water treatment plant in Short Hills, New Jersey
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 6, 2024
Pressed for space, solar farms are getting creative
There are solar arrays on top of big-box stores, solar arrays on yachts and solar farms that float.
A man walks through panels at a solar power plant under construction in Aksu, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, in 2012.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024
Banned Chinese solar goods worth billions find route to U.S. via India
Amid a solar boom, India’s largest panel-maker has sent millions of panels to the U.S. made with parts from a Chinese firm denied entry to the U.S. market.
Solar installations in the village of Hjolderup in Denmark
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 21, 2024
Europe’s climate push fails to stem crisis in solar industry
Despite insistence to push for more homegrown energy infrastructure, governments have been slow to prop up the ailing industry.
Workers push damaged solar panels into a machine to be recycled at the We Recycle Solar plant in Yuma, Arizona.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 25, 2023
'Urban mining' offers green solution to old solar panels
Silver, copper, aluminum, glass and silicone are all commodities that can be harvested from old panels and have value on the open market.
Wiring connects photovoltaic panels at the Al Dhafra Solar project, constructed by Electricite de France (EDF) and Jinko Power Technology, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in January.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 13, 2023
China’s pressured clean energy industry sees Saudi potential
Saudi Arabia is said to offer benefits including low-cost electricity, good relations with other countries and a central location.
A truck unloads tons of coal inside a warehouse in Tondo, Metro Manila, in 2016. Independent show ample potential for renewables in Japan and Southeast Asia.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Dec 3, 2023
How Japan's renewable underestimates are impacting Asia's energy transition
Contrary to Japan's stance, independent projections paint a picture in which renewables can power the fast developing region.
Smoke and steam billow from a coal-fired power plant in Suralaya, Banten province, Indonesia.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 13, 2023
Can Indonesia deliver a green power plan for the people?
Communities impacted by a major climate deal are at risk of losing out because they have had limited involvement in planning the transition so far.
Wind turbines along the crest of a hill at the Martin de la Jara wind farm, operated by Iberdrola SA, in the Martin de la Jara district of Sevilla, Spain, in April 2023
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 13, 2023
U.S. and EU lead push for COP28 to back tripling of renewables
More than 60 countries are said to be backing the targets to be included in the outcome of the U.N.’s forthcoming COP28 talks in Dubai.
Zero carbon energy accounts for 28% of Japan's grid, falling short of countries like Germany, whose share of clean energy generation reached 58% last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2023
How Japan became the land the energy transition forgot
Its symbol may be the rising sun, but a wholesale adoption of renewables by Japan is light years away, mired in bureaucratic and technical hurdles.
A solar farm at the University of California in Merced
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 5, 2023
U.S. solar panel manufacturing boom threatened by cheap imports
Global solar panel prices have collapsed due to a wave of new Asian production capacity in recent months.
Utilities are increasingly controlling power output from renewable energy sources as the share of renewables expands.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 30, 2023
Renewable energy cuts from output controls surge sixfold in Japan
With renewables such as solar power in wider use, output controls aimed at balancing power supply and demand have been used more frequently.
It’s hard to talk about space-based solar — that is, transmitting the energy — without conjuring images of a death ray. But the team at the California Institute of Technology says the power density of the beam would be comparable to the power density of sunlight.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Oct 27, 2023
Beam solar energy from space? These scientists say yes
The hurdles that have grounded space-based solar in the past aren’t merely technical, they’re also financial.
An employee installs solar panels in a satellite dish at the Leuk Teleport and Data Center in Leuk, Switzerland
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 20, 2023
The world has already crossed a ‘tipping point’ on solar power
As wind power costs rise, solar power is vital for meeting emissions reduction goals.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?