18.5 Billion Solar Panels Could Power the U.S., but … To generate electricity from the sun, you need either to collect solar radiation and convert it with photovoltaic cells to DC power, then to AC with an inverter, or you need to concentrate the sunlight onto one central collector from acres of “mirrors” and let the combined, concentrated heat from the
The Accelerating Growth of Wind and Solar Energy is Being Driven by Government Climate Policies, Global Corporations Thrusting Themselves onto the Green Bandwagon, Fervent Activism Against Fossil Fuels, a Carbon Concerned Millennial Generation that is Willing to Pay More for Renewable Energy, and for Some Large Electricity Buyers–Attractive Economics Last week, Oil & Gas 360® published an exclusive interview with Martin Keller, Director of
If Martin Keller’s prediction comes true, in 50 years the U.S. won’t be using nearly the amount of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas or coal as the legacy energy industry has been supplying for the past 100 years – Part One The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, is a place you might label as the federal government’s
Total U.S. electricity sales expected to grow 0.7% annually through 2040 Electricity sales are expected to continue growing in the U.S. through 2040 even as consumers use energy more efficiently, the EIA reported. In 2015, 3.7 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity was sold, and the administration expects that number to rise 0.7% annually through the end of its Annual Energy
Electric generating facilities are expected to add more than 26 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale generating capacity to the power grid this year, according to a report from the EIA. The majority of that increase is expected to come from increased solar generating capacity, with natural gas making up the second-largest portion of the gains to overall electrical capacity. Additions from
Renewables continue growth Renewable sources of energy continue to grow in importance both inside the U.S. and internationally. Solar energy makes up an important portion of the overall renewable energy mix, but the growth in total capacity has slowed along with installation. Historically, Europe has been a strong source of demand for solar energy, but its growth in solar energy
With Hollywood seed funding, startup is testing abandoned oil and gas wells as grid-scale energy storage solution for wind and solar generation “Our goal is to get to a cost point that’s potentially lower by a factor of about ten times than the batteries that you read about in the popular media, especially from companies like Tesla,” Aaron Mandell, Quidnet
World’s Largest Solar Generating Plant Struggles to Make Ends Meet if the Sun Doesn’t Shine Who knew? In the midst of free-falling oil prices that have knocked about the growth plans for petroleum developers, owners of the world’s largest solar power plant have discovered that cloudy days significantly reduce their revenues. “Industry-wide figures suggest that a 5% negative anomaly in solar
