Category: En_Ren_Solar_CN ENERGY2021_CN

In recent weeks and months, a U.S. Commerce Department investigation has short-circuited a key supply source of solar panels from Asia, and one major supplier to the United States, LG Electronics, has exited the market, citing increased costs. The Commerce Department probe, looking at whether Chinese solar panel producers circumvented U.S. tariffs by shipping products through four other Southeast Asian countries, has reduced availability across the U.S. and led commercial solar firms to delay big projects.

Renewable natural gas and green hydrogen could be used to help the District of Columbia affordably reach its 2050 carbon neutrality goal while avoiding costly grid upgrades, Washington Gas told the D.C. Public Service Commission in comments filed Tuesday.

The PJM Interconnection has developed a roadmap for handling the various changes affecting its system, including the retirement of fossil-fueled generation, growth in renewable energy and storage, and the electrification of the transportation and building sectors.

Torrid heat, raging wildfires and prolonged drought are putting California residents at increased risk of power outages, officials said Friday, as extreme weather driven by climate change puts additional stress on the state’s already-taxed energy grid.

Now, clean energy advocates have their sights set on another issue they say may give coal, natural gas and nuclear generators a leg up with PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that oversees the flow of power in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

After years of studies showing a national transmission system is the most cost-effective way to meet growing clean energy and carbon reduction mandates, there is still no nation-spanning solution.

The federal government has finished another environmental review of a proposed transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from rural New Mexico to big cities in the West and similar reviews are planned for two more projects that would span parts of Utah and Nevada, the U.S. Interior Department announced Thursday.

Washington is now the first state in the country to mandate energy-efficient (and possibly fossil fuel-free) electric heat pumps, over traditional furnaces and water heaters. The rules apply in new commercial and multifamily residential buildings with four or more stories.

The proposed wind, solar and battery projects seeking interconnection to U.S. transmission grids today are enough to bring the country to 80 percent carbon-free electricity by 2030. But based on historical trends, less than a quarter of those planned projects are likely to be built.

From where Joe Rand stands, there’s good news and there’s bad news about renewable energy development in the United States — and it’s hard to tell which is more significant.