John Fitzgerald Weaver
Flirting with fossils: the faux crusade for ‘responsible solar’
An ostensibly fossil-friendly group has been quietly orchestrating faux concern campaigns to disrupt the renewable energy landscape. We outline the history and apparent motives of Citizens for Responsible Solar, and its growing network of affiliates.
Utility-scale solar interconnection costs up as much as 400%
A government analysis of the Southwest Power Pool grid region reveals that interconnection costs for connected solar power projects have doubled, and a quarter of projects are encountering costs 400% higher, leading to withdrawal.
Wind and solar energy saved Texans $11 billion in 2022
A recent analysis reveals that amid the abnormally high-priced natural gas market in 2022, wholesale electricity rate savings from wind and solar surged nearly 300% from previous years to exceed $11 billion, totalling $31.5 billion in energy savings since 2010.
California gold rush supporting 2023 residential solar market
Ohm Analytics reports an uptick in third-party ownership in several states and believes NEM 2.0 projects will support California installers for many months, while other regional market outlooks vary by energy costs and local incentives.
California bill to mandate bidirectional chargers for all EVs sold after 2026
California’s legislature advanced SB-233 last week. If the 14 million+ cars currently registered in the state had a 75 kWh battery, the combined energy storage would amount to just over a terawatt-hour.
Robotic solar pile driver three times faster than humans
Built Robotics’ RPD 35 is an autonomous robotic pile driving system that the company claims is three to five times faster than manual pile driving.
New York large-scale solar set to surge 8500%
New York’s Large Scale Renewable Energy Program has awarded over 6.8 GWac of solar projects since 2017, with 80 MW coming online this spring.
Tesla energy storage deployments increase by 360%
In its Q1 2023 report, Tesla noted that volatile weather slowed solar power deployments to 67 MW. The company was silent on solar otherwise.
Driven by solar, California’s net demand hit zero on Sunday
The CAISO region’s spring solar record setting season is upon as, with solar peaking at greater than 95% of the state’s demand.
Most solar won’t qualify for Inflation Reduction Act hydrogen incentive, per IEA data
An analysis by the International Energy Agency puts solar’s lifetime emissions, manufacturing included, at a level that would earn only 25% to 33.4% of the IRA’s $3/kg hydrogen incentive
