A new Argonne study will use AI to study the relationship between birds and solar projects
Yuki Hamada, an Argonne remote-sensing scientist is leading a three-year study with the end goal of creating a program that can analyze video of solar projects, identify birds that interact with projects from said video and draw conclusions into the solar-bird relationship.
Morning Brief: California sets example for community solar, transparent graphene electrodes for PV cells
Also in the brief: The never ending saga of Arkansas utilities battling their 2,320 net metering customers, Atom Power raises $17.8 million for a solid-state circuit breaker for commercial and industrial buildings.
PV plants lasting longer, with lower operational costs
Solar plants are now expected to last 32.5 years and have operational costs of $17 per kW/year, as shown by a Berkeley Lab survey of industry participants.
Climeworks just raised $75M to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere
Direct-air capture, along with its mythic sisters, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, is a process where CO2 from fossil generators and industrial sources is captured, treated and injected into underground earth formations for permanent storage or for industrial use.
Record low solar PPAs in the Southwest mean ‘carbon capture is not going to save coal plants’
Recently approved solar PPAs could spell trouble for proponents of retrofitting the state’s San Juan Generating Station to capture the coal-fired plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Morning Brief: Nuclear fusion startup raises $84 million from Temasek and Equinor
Also in the brief: Green hydrogen in Denmark, North Dakota solar on tribal lands, Lime Rock New Energy raises $600 million in growth equity focused on renewable energy tech.
Startup wants to put solar arrays on wave energy generators, along with wind turbines
Sinn Power of Gauting, Germany combines wave, wind and solar power for the “first floating ocean hybrid platform.”
A PV antenna for beaming solar power from space to Earth
Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have launched the first orbital experiment with space-based solar power. They launched a 12-inch square photovoltaic module that is expected to test the viability of space-based solar power systems converting sunlight to microwaves outside the atmosphere.
Analysis of energy use during Austin’s stay-at-home order hints at a Texas summer load issue
Significant spikes in air conditioner usage during the first hot days of Austin Texas’ stay-at-home orders have signaled that this upcoming summer may be one where electric demand meets record, worrisome, levels.
Morning Brief: Secret Air Force space plane to beam solar power to Earth, Tesla’s ‘million-mile’ battery
Also in the brief: DOE kicks off $230 million advanced reactor demonstration program, and the global coal industry will never recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
