Solar

FILE PHOTO: Wind turbines are pictured in RWE Offshore-Windpark Nordsee Ost in the North sea, 30 km from Helgoland, Germany, May 11, 2015. REUTERS/Christian Charisius/Pool

reuters.com - Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Susan Fenton  - January 3, 2019

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Renewables overtook coal as Germany’s main source of energy for the first time last year, accounting for just over 40 percent of electricity production, research showed on Thursday.

The shift marks progress as Europe’s biggest economy aims for renewables to provide 65 percent of its energy by 2030 in a costly transition as it abandons nuclear power by 2022 and is devising plans for an orderly long-term exit from coal.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Onshore wind and solar farms at Grischow in the north-east of Germany. Photograph: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Companies face world where falling cost of solar and wind power pushes down prices

theguardian.com - by Adam Vaughan - March 17, 2018

Seven years after an earthquake off Japan’s eastern coast led to three meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, the aftershocks are still being felt across the world. The latest came last Saturday when E.ON and RWE announced a huge shakeup of the German energy industry, following meetings that ran into the early hours.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Energy Innovation's Michael O'Boyle and Silvio Marcacci outline the barriers to high-penetration wind and solar in the least-cost era

The following is a viewpoint from Michael O'Boyle, electricity policy manager for Energy Innovation, and Silvio Marcacci, communications director for Energy Innovation

utilitydive.com - by Michael O'Boyle, Silvio Marcacci - March 21, 2018

Wind and solar are now cheaper than virtually anyone predicted, and renewable technologies have reached an inflection point: Rapid cost declines made renewable energy the cheapest available sources of new electricity, even without subsidies, in 2017.  In many locations across America, building new wind energy projects is cheaper than running existing coal-fired power plants.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Gene Lutz drives an electric fork lift powered by renewable energy at Pitt Ohio, a trucking company with an office in Harmar, Pa. The firm has invested in solar and wind energy, along with a bank of storage batteries, to create an independent microgrid that would hold up in a storm. Researchers hope to build more of these and link them together to create a reliable backup supply.  Daniella Cheslow/NPR

npr.org - by Daniella Cheslow - November 12, 2017

When President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, he said he represented "Pittsburgh, not Paris."

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto disagreed. He traveled to Germany this week as part of an unofficial delegation of more than 100 Americans, American officials and business owners who say they are still committed to climate talks taking place in Bonn. One element of Pittsburgh's climate strategy has been encouraging innovation in a technology known as microgrids.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)