News Archive


Battery Storage Could be Transformational for Renewables in 2020s

December 26, 2019 - Battery storage is one technology that could transform the global energy industry -- and renewables in particular -- in the next decade, writes Ellen Wald. "Our ability to generate power from solar and wind energy has increased over the years, but until we revolutionize battery technology, these improvements will have limited value," ... [ more ]


Microgrid to Provide Energy Resiliency/Security at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

December 17, 2019 - Hawaii Governor David Ige joined military dignitaries, legislative leadership and project engineers at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) to celebrate the blessing of the Pacific Energy Assurance and Renewables Laboratory (PEARL). PEARL, which will be designed and built by engineering, architecture and construction firm Burns & McDonnell, is a state-of-the-art renewable energy microgrid developed in coordination with the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT), the Air Force Research Laboratory, National Guard Bureau, Hawaii Air National Guard and the Naval Facilities Command ... [ more ]


IRENA - Demand-Side Fexibility for Power Sector Transformation

December 12, 2019 - Power systems need to be increasingly flexible to accommodate rising solar and wind shares. One way to achieve this is by adjusting the demand for electricity to better match generation from solar and wind energy over the course of each hour, day, week or longer timeframe ... [ more ]


Latin America and the Caribbean Announce Ambitious New Renewables Target

December 10, 2019 - Latin America and the Caribbean holds tremendous renewable energy promise. IRENA's recent 'Future of Solar Photovoltaic (/publications/2019/Nov/Future-of-Solar-Photovoltaic)' report highlighted that the region's solar energy capacity alone could grow by a factor of 40 by 2050 to more than 280 gigawatts (GW) thanks to an abundant resource endowment and strong enabling policies. Today, during UN Climate Conference COP25 in Madrid, it took a giant leap towards realizing that potential ... [ more ]


Latin America and Caribbean on the Brink of Massive Solar Power Growth

November 12, 2019 – Latin America and the Caribbean could grow their installed solar capacity by a factor of 40 by 2050, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows. Annual investments exceeding seven billion would see the region's solar PV capacity rise from 7 gigawatts (GW) today, to more than 280 GW by mid-century ... [ more ]


As CCAs Take Over Utility Customers, Local Renewable Generation Emerges as the Next Big Growth Driver

November 04, 2019 - The demand for customer choice has the potential to quicken the power system's transition toward cheaper, cleaner electricity, and is moving beyond California. A renewed national expansion of community choice aggregation (CCA) is raising ambitions for transforming the U.S. power system ... [ more ]


New York Governor Announces $20M for Diesel Truck/Bus Replacement Program

October  25, 2019 -  New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that more than $20 million is available for a diesel truck and bus replacement program. A combination of more than $9 million from the state’s $127.7-million portion of the federal Volkswagen settlement and the New York State Department of Transportation’s allocation of approximately $11 million in federal funds will provide new funding for the New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program to permanently remove older, polluting diesel trucks from New York’s roadways and replace them with new, cleaner trucks, including all-electric trucks. [ more ]


Redwood Coast Energy Authority Talks Microgrids, Biomass

October 18, 2019 - With last week's Pacific Gas and Electric Co. blackout in the rear-view mirror, local energy officials are looking ahead to how Humboldt County can rely on its own power supply long term. At a public workshop Thursday, staff for the Redwood Coast Energy Authority discussed alternate sources of power the county could tap into over the long run. Under its current plan, the county's future energy supply would be fully renewable by 2030 ... [ more ]


Funding Innovation to Support Science-Based Solutions: The Wind Wildlife Research Fund

October 17, 2019 - Continuous innovation and creative thinking are characteristics that define American wind power. A prime example of this is the Wind Wildlife Research Fund, a proactive approach led by the wind industry to achieve a sustainable clean energy future. The Fund is a unique, industry-led initiative managed through the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI). It pools resources to advance collaborative research on wind-wildlife interactions ... [ more ]


11th Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum - Miami, Florida

October 16-18, 2019 - CREF 2019, the largest annual gathering of the Caribbean energy market, will take place at the JW Marriott Marquis, Miami. Over 500 attendees from 50 countries attended CREF 2018. 120 speakers populated three days of a rich and deeply interactive program. Over 25 Caribbean countries were represented by their government or by their utility, or in most instances, by both ... [ more ]


Blue Economy Caribbean - Miami, Florida

October 15, 2019 - Blue Economy Caribbean was launched in 2018 as a call for the region to prioritize coastal and marine economies that are sustainable, scalable, inclusive, and environmentally sound. Since then, interest has only intensified, with new finance tools and marine technologies poised to transform economies region-wide  ... [ more ]


Wind Energy Finance & Investment Conference - New York, NY

October 10 - 11, 2019 - Wind energy continues to grow, providing jobs, community value and a solid investment opportunity. Whether you are already in the business of wind or considering investing in this energy sector, you won't want to miss this timely new program detailing how to capitalize on the multi-billion dollar wind energy finance industry. Join us in New York City for high impact meetings, innovative sessions, and ... [ more ]


HOMER International Microgrid Conference - Cambridge, MA

October 7-9, 2019 - The HOMER International Microgrid Conference (HIMC) brings together a global community of microgrid experts, customers, project developers, equipment suppliers, financiers and more for the purpose of advancing high-quality, affordable microgrids and distributed energy systems in off-grid, remote, and grid-tied settings ... [ more ]


New York State Launches Process to Upgrade Port Infrastructure to Support Expanding Offshore Wind Industry

October 2, 2019 - The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Empire State Development (ESD), and the New York Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced the issuance of a Request for Qualifications seeking proposals for pre-qualification from port operators and market participants who are interested in upgrading and investing in New York ports to support the state's burgeoning offshore wind industry ... [ more ]


Cocoa Cooperatives—and Their Farmers—Get a Fresh Start

September 25, 2019 - By his own admission, Kouassi Yao Hervey's cocoa cooperative in Côte d'Ivoire used to be in total disarray: The division of labor was unclear, the cooperative's finances were opaque at best, and "everyone stepped on each other's toes," he recalls. That all started to change in 2016, when Hervey enrolled in the Cargill Coop Academy, an educational program for cocoa cooperative managers that attendees describe as a cross between a mini-MBA and an organizational boot camp ... [ more ]


Clean Energy Hybrids More Cost-Effective Than New Gas

September 17, 2019 - Projects featuring a combination of wind, solar and other clean energy sources are more economical than most proposed natural gas projects. Companies could save ratepayers $29 billion by replacing proposed gas projects with clean energy ones, the report says. The economics guiding U.S. investments in electricity generation have reached ... [ more ]


Clean Energy Investment Set to Hit $2.6 Trillion This Decade

September 9, 2019 - The global energy supply is turning greener. Investment in new renewable energy is on course to total $2.6 trillion in the years from 2010 through the end of 2019, according to a study by BloombergNEF for the United Nations Environment Program and Frankfurt School’s UNEP Center published Thursday ... [ more ]


Renewable Energy Drives Need for Wind Turbine Industry Safety

September 4, 2019 - The Global Wind Organization has launched a North American committee to standardize wind safety featuring 11 executives from Vestas, GE Renewables, Acciona and other companies. A consortium of wind power companies are collaborating to provide standard safety training and ... [ more ]


Puerto Rico Microgrid Investment Expected to Double by 2024

August 8, 2019 - It’s time for another hurricane season to begin and yet, on the island of Puerto Rico, people are still rebuilding from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in 2017. It has been nearly two years since Maria destroyed the island’s electric grid and left its people without power, some for months and others permanently.  During that time there has been a shift in the way people ... [ more ]


Fertile Ground for Community Solar Gardens

August 1, 2019 - Community solar projects, also known as solar farms or solar gardens, are maturing and moving forward. Minnesota leads the nation with 559 MW of capacity on the ground, and other states are following with new policy initiatives ... [ more ]


Clean Energy Works for Farmers

July 30, 2019 - It’s not an easy time to be a North Carolina farmer. Volatile prices for commodities, variable extreme weather and trade wars make it tough to operate a farming business. That’s why we’re diversifying our harvest to stay viable. On soil that has long supported tobacco, cotton and corn, renewable energy is taking root. Across North Carolina, clean energy — like wind and solar power — now sustains ... [ more ]


Caribbean, OECS to Establish Green-Blue Economy Strategy and Action Plan with CANARI

July 26, 2019 - CASTRIES, St Lucia - The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) green-blue economy strategy and action plan, the first of its kind in the Caribbean and globally to combine green and blue economy strategies for sustainable development, will be advanced under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in June 2019 between the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and the OECS Commission ... [ more ]


Connecticut Takes Steps Towards 2 GW Offshore Wind Solicitation

July 3, 2019 - The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Energy Technology Policy have released a draft request for proposals for up to 2.0 GW of offshore wind. The draft RFP follows recently passed offshore wind legislation signed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont that authorized offshore wind development in the east coast state. The legislation, which was approved in May ... [ more ]


Diversifying The Northeast Power Mix: Is Offshore Wind + Storage Key to the Region's Reliability?

July 2, 2019 - As more New England states roll out offshore wind mandates, bringing the technology to scale is a portfolio priority. Offshore wind and battery storage are about to come into the Northeastern power mix in a big way. With more states requiring offshore wind targets, almost 18 GW are mandated to come online by 2035 in states across New England. But how that intermittent capacity will fit ... [ more ]


Introducing the Renewable Electricity Standard Act

June 26, 2019 - Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and others have introduced the Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2019 — a bill that would more than double the supply of renewable energy in the U.S. from 18% of electricity generation in 2018 to at least 50% by 2035.Starting in 2020, the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) would require electricity providers across the country to increase their supply of renewable energy, from sources such as wind and solar power every year ... [ more ]


Development Banks' Climate Financing Climbs to USD 43.1bn in 2018

June 13, 2019 - The six largest multilateral development banks (MBDs) committed last year USD 43.1 billion (EUR 37.9bn) in climate financing in developing and emerging countries in support of climate action initiatives. In year-on-year terms, this amount represents an increase of more than 22%, according to the 2018 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance ... [ more ]


Caribbean Countries Sign MOUs to Join the MRV Hub

May 29, 2019 - On the heels of scoping trips and training events, five Caribbean countries have now signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to join the MRV Hub in the Caribbean. These countries include: Saint Lucia, The Bahamas, Antigua & Barbuda, Belize and Jamaica. The Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub is a new cooperative regional institution for carbon management that will enable SIDS and other Caribbean countries to support each other by improving and aggregating technical expertise ... [ more ]


On Puerto Rico’s 'Forgotten Island,' Tesla's Busted Solar Panels Tell A Cautionary Tale

May 11, 2019 - VIEQUES, Puerto Rico ― After Hurricane María plunged Vieques into darkness, Tesla's arrival heralded the dawn of a microgrid future. But it wasn't that easy. It looks like something out a brochure advertising what renewable energy could offer a remote, storm-ravaged island. Electrical lines still hang perilously from poles across the street, but inside the mint-green, one-story Ciudad Dorada senior center, fans blow cool air and refrigerators stocked with insulin and other medicines ... [ more ]


REPORT: Puerto Rico Utility Scale Energy Storage Systems

In order to provide safe, reliable, and continuous electricity service to the citizens and visitors of Puerto Rico, there is a need to revitalize and modernize PREPA's assets and increase the efficiency and reliability of the current service. The deployment of utility-scale energy storage systems at a variety of critical PREPA substations that can provide grid stability and peaking capacity is a critical component of this effort. In order to achieve the desired objectives of the Proposed Project, the Authority is considering a public-private partnership ... [ more ]


New 2030 Energy Plan Relies on CCA’s to Procure 10,000 Mw to Meet Climate Goals

April 30, 2019 - Concord, Calif. – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on April 25 unanimously approved a new plan for achieving ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets within California's electric sector, primarily relying on Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to procure the new clean energy resources the state needs over the next decade to meet its climate goals ... [ more ]


IRENA: Renewable Capacity Highlights

March 31, 2019 - At the end of 2018, global renewable generation capacity amounted to 2351 GW. Hydro accounted for the largest share of the global total, with an installed capacity of 1172 GW. Wind and solar energy accounted for most of the remainder, with capacities of 564 GW and 486 GW respectively. Other renewables included 115 GW of bioenergy, 13 GW of geothermal ... [ more ]


Puerto Rico Legislature Approves 100 Percent Renewable Energy Target

March 26, 2019 - Puerto Rico today joined a small, but growing, cohort of jurisdictions pursuing 100 percent renewables when its House of Representatives approved legislation (PS 1121) that revamps the island's energy system. Hawaii and Washington, D.C. are the only other U.S. localities that have the same ambitious target, although Illinois is currently considering legislation ... [ more ]


Combined Heat and Power: A Sleeping Giant May Be Waking

March 2019 - Combined heat and power (CHP) projects are proving their worth as a way to provide lower-cost energy with increased efficiency and lower emissions.  They also are being used to provide backup power during grid outages, with the ability to use a variety of fuels, with natural gas leading the way ... [ more ]


Building Puerto Rican Resiliency with LPG-Fueled Engines

March 2019 - It took months for some Puerto Rican residents to have power restored to their homes and businesses after Hurricane Maria, but those with on-site generation fared much better. That's why adding a containerized combined heat and power solution made sense for the ProCaribe liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal ... [ more ]


REPORT: Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub

Under the Paris Agreement, countries will be required to submit detailed data and supporting information every two years as a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR). To achieve this, countries are working to rapidly develop comprehensive climate measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. The Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub ("MRV Hub") is a new regional institution designed to support Member Countries in their efforts to: improve MRV systems, build Paris Agreement reporting capabilities, and enhance  ... [ more ]


Why Community Solar Is the Future of the Industry

February 11, 2019 - If you haven't been paying attention to the solar industry, you're probably surprised at how much publicity community solar is currently getting. It would appear its popularity has been a recent development that has come out of nowhere -- so quickly, in fact, that people are just beginning to understand exactly what the whole concept of community solar is ... [ more ]


The Caribbean’s Untapped Renewable Energy Potential

February 8, 2019 - The global strategy for mitigating climate change is no secret. Most countries have embarked on an initiative to transition to clean energy sources. According to a study by scientists from the universities of Oxford and Utrecht, we will almost certainly pass a point of no return for dealing with global warming if governments worldwide don't transition away from fossil fuels ... [ more ]


IRENA: Strong Ties Between Public and Private Sectors - Key to Accelerating Renewables

February 5, 2019 - The rationale for pursuing 100% renewable energy has become increasingly compelling. As evidenced in a new strategic paper by the International Renewable Energy Agency's Coalition for Action, Towards 100% Renewable Energy: status, trends and lessons learned, more than 50 countries and over 280 states, regions and cities have already committed to some sort of 100% renewable energy target. The Coalition, a network of over 80 leading renewable energy players  ... [ more ]


PREPA Calls for Making the Island into 8-Minigrids

February 5, 2019 -  Puerto Rico’s utility is calling for segmenting the island’s electrical grid into eight minigrids, myriad microgrids and installing more energy storage than is now in all 50 US states. The concept is outlined in a draft integrated resource plan (IRP) that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) plans to finalize and submit to regulators February 12. [ more ]


2nd Puerto Rico Grid Revitalization & Investment Forum

January 28, 2019 - Since the launch of PR-GRID in May, Puerto Rico’s energy system has continued to deteriorate. The legacy of Hurricane Maria lingers in daily power outages and households that are still without electricity. The country’s energy utility, PREPA, has been plagued by board upheaval. It is a predicament which demands direction, and yet it remains unclear which federal or state agency is at the helm. [ more ]


[ << prev ] - page 1 of 3 - [ next >> ]




Top ] [ Back ]