Estimated traffic fatalities decreased in 2019 despite an increase in driving, according to a report from the NHTSA released on Wednesday. There were projected to be 36,120 traffic fatalities in 2019, which is a 1.2% decrease from 2018. It marks the third consecutive year of declines from a post-recession high point of 37,806 traffic fatalities in...

We’re keen on small crossovers like the 2021 Audi Q3, and by looking at the road outside our windows, everyone else is too. This year, the Q3 returns and it’s largely the same as last year, except the price. The 2021 Audi Q3 nets a 6.7 TCC Rating, propelled by good safety scores and standard features. (Read more about how we rate...

The rumor mill has been going into overdrive with news that a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS is coming. Giving some credence to the rumors is a prototype spied this week of a Cayman even more hardcore than the GT4. Another prototype we spied was what appeared to be a new performance flagship for the M5 range. Word on the street is that the car, which...

The idea of communities, cities, states, or countries being powered by 100 percent renewable energy used to be perceived as fantasy. Enter the Go 100% Renewable Energy Project, which aims to perpetuate the clean energy movement by creating a revolutionary online platform that showcases real-time 100 percent renewable energy progress. So far, the project has mapped 8 countries, 59 Cities, and 61 Regions/States, representing more than 62 million people who have set, reached, or surpassed official 100 percent renewable targets in at least one sector (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling). Discover what’s driving the shift to 100% RE, the common trends emerging, and learn more about the Go 100% project with Founding Director of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute Diane Moss!

The Trump administration is weighing a broad array of strategies for keeping coal and nuclear power plants online as a matter of national security, with options ranging from invoking a 68-year-old law to a three-year-old one, according to a senior Energy Department official.

The nation’s energy sector employed 6.5 million Americans in 2017, up 133,000 jobs from the year prior, according to a comprehensive report released today from the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). This two percent growth rate exceeded the national average of 1.7 percent.

Today’s topics include the impact of section 201 tariffs on module supply and prices. Will they go up? We’ll also talk about developing the next generation solar workforce based on a new report about energy jobs in the U.S.

US utility Dominion Energy has filed grid modernization plans with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

Yesterday another milestone was reached in California’s march toward a 100 percent renewable energy mandate with the passing of SB100 by the Assembly. The bill will require the state to receive 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2026; 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045. The current law requires the state to get 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.

The Spanish government is exploring ways to persuade investors to finance a 100 billion-euro ($116 billion) transformation of its energy system as it tries to move beyond past policy mistakes that led to widespread losses and lawsuits.

New Jersey’s biggest utility says it can make money by getting its customers to use less of what it sells.

On Monday, global offshore wind leader Ørsted announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire a 100 percent of Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind at a purchase price of US $510 million. Deepwater wind built the first U.S. offshore wind farm — the 30-MW Block Island Wind — and is currently constructing two additional facilities off Long Island, New York (South Fork at 90 MW) and Connecticut (Revolution Wind at 600 MW).

An effort to put a tax on carbon dioxide emissions just won an unlikely underwriter: a top producer of oil and gas.

Experts from Rocky Mountain Institute, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute and America’s Power Plan have released a new report that shows why new utility business models are key to the energy transition.

Italian multinational utility Enel has been recognized as one of the world’s most active companies in the open innovation field.

Renewable energy projects were marked by distinctive trends and characteristics in 2018: frothy M&A market driven by a crush of liquidity and a shortage of project supply; a highly competitive environment among investors and lenders for an inadequate supply of projects...

2018 was another defining year for the lithium supply chain as the global population continued to make remarkable strides towards the implementation of clean energy and transportation. Although the clean energy and transportation industries are only in their early days, it has become apparent that renewables and electrification of transportation are an irreversible trend, one that has begun to disrupt many established industries.

Here we are in 2019, with more than 100 U.S. cities and 140 large corporations having established 100 percent clean, carbon-free and/or renewable energy goals. In several states, newly seated governors campaigned on goals of 100 percent renewable energy, and congressional representatives have arrived in Washington positioning for a like-minded national proposal.

Global funding for clean-energy projects sagged in 2018 after China’s decision to curb subsidies dragged down installations in the world’s biggest solar market.

Annual solar energy production in North Carolina jumped 36 percent in 2018, according to the latest government data – firmly placing North Carolina as the No. 2 solar-producing state in the nation.

Gravity Renewables has acquired the 10.5-MW Dahowa Hydroelectric Project, located on the Batten Kill River in Greenwich, Washington County, N.Y.

Big Oil wants to put a box in your hall closet that works like a human brain, can cut the lights, stop the refrigerator and will know how you move about in the privacy of your home better than you do.

Yesterday, energy storage company Saft said it delivered and installed a turnkey Energy Storage System to Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO). The system provides up to 10 MW power for spinning reserves and frequency response to maintain grid stability and has a storage capacity of 5.5MWh, said the company. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on May 16.

Seattle, WA-based LevelTen Energy helps corporate buyers of renewable energy find and purchase energy from solar and wind projects within North America through its procurement platform. The company says its solution reduces the cost, complexity, and risk of renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs), by incorporating analytics, aggregation, and process best practices.

Solar company Hanergy announced that its thin-film solar modules will cover the 150,000 square meter roof of the ‘Rafael Gallery’ located at a Tech City in Shanghai.

According to the latest forecast by BloombergNEF (BNEF), energy storage installations (not including pumped hydropower) around the world will multiply exponentially, from 9GW/17GWh deployed as of 2018 to 1,095GW/2,850GWh by 2040.

The latest crop of utility participants includes NRG Energy, Cleco Corp., Entergy, Louisville Gas & Electric/Kentucky Utilities, AEP’s distributed energy ventures group AEP OnSite Partners and Hindustan Power from India.

The Boeing Company is set to design and build a large, military unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in Australia, with the first flight set for 2020. The Australian government will invest A$40 million in the project.

The addition of hydropower generating capacity to an irrigation network in northern Japan is one step closer to completion. Several sites have been identified for the installation of VLH turbines, with a total capacity of 1.433 MW.

News on the global hydroelectric industry from November-December 2014

Statkraft AS, Norway’s state-owned power company, said it plans to plow as much as 60 billion kroner ($8.1 billion) into renewable energy around the world in the coming years after the government boosted its funding.

The 130-MW Les Cedres generating station in Canada is a landmark in the history of Quebec hydropower. Hydro-Quebec recently celebrated the station's 100th year of operation, as well as its induction into the Hydro Hall of Fame.

Clean energy investments in India increased to $7.9 billion last year and are expected to surpass $10 billion in 2015.

Global investment in clean energy slumped 15 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level in two years because of a decline in wind and utility-scale projects.

Scientists and economists including BP Plc’s former chief executive officer, John Browne, are inviting governments to join a $150 billion program that aims to make clean energy cheaper than coal.

Long-frustrated wind and solar developers in Australia can now get to work on more than A$14 billion ($11 billion) in projects after a new renewable energy target passed parliament.

India's Union Cabinet has approved cost revisions for its intergovernmental agreement with the Royal Government of Bhutan to implement the 1,200-MW Punatsangchhu-1 hydroelectric project on Bhutan's Punatsangchhu River.

According to a press release from Aquamarine Power, the marine hydrokinetic (MHK) Wave Power Offtake Device (WavePOD) 10th-scale prototype, a project run jointly by Aquamarine Power, Bosch Rexroth and Carnegie Wave Energy, has received US$3.1 million in new funding. 

HydroEvent.com, the one-stop location for all things related to the world’s largest hydro event, is up and running for HydroVision International 2016. The conference and events are scheduled for July 26-29 in Minneapolis, Minn. at the Minneapolis Convention Center. 

Safety concerns raised by wildfires have forced utility Seattle City Light to evacuate employees from the town of Diablo, the nearby 711-MW Skagit hydropower complex and the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center.

JSW Energy Ltd., based in Mumbai, India, is refinancing about US$1.1 billion via a 5:25 financial structure for its hydropower-related debt following the purchase of two hydroelectric projects in November 2014 from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd.  

JSW Energy Ltd., based in Mumbai, India, is refinancing about US$1.1 billion via a 5:25 financial structure for its hydropower-related debt following the purchase of two hydroelectric projects in November 2014 from Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd.  

At more than 10,800 ft above sea level, the 510-MW Zangmu Hydropower Station -- the largest in Tibet and one of the highest elevation hydroelectric facilities in the world -- is fully operational. Constructed at a cost of US$1.5 billion, the facility is located in Gyaca County, Shannan Prefecture on the Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra River), that flows through Tibet downstream into India and Bangladesh.

The International Hydropower Association has been re-elected to the steering committee of the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21^st Century (REN21).

Schottel Hydro subsidiary, Black Rock Tidal Power (BRTP), has raised C$15 million (US$11.5 million) for investment in its 2.5-MW TRITON floating marine hydrokinetic energy platform.  

The Chilean government's Council of Ministers rejected 27 claims filed by indigenous communities opposing the construction of the 210-MW Mediterraneo hydropower project, at least temporarily allowing development of the controversial plant to continue.

During the Ocean Energy Europe 2015 conference held in Dublin, Ireland, in late October, about 500 high-level delegates, which included European Union and Member States business leaders and energy ministers, were presented a draft of the “strategic roadmap” for developing the European marine hydrokinetics (MHK) energy sector.
 

The US$1.6 billion Northern Pass transmission line that could tap into 1,096 MW from Canada’s largest hydropower producer, HydroQuebec, was approved Dec. 7, by a 6-0 vote of New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee [SEC].
 

Tidal energy developer Atlantis Resources remains on track to deliver power to the Scottish power grid from the MeyGen site in the coming year, according to an end-of-year statement issued by the company earlier this week.

Marine hydrokinetics (MHK) company BioPower Systems (BPS) reports it deployed its 250 kW bioWAVE pilot demonstration unit, Dec. 16, in the Southern Ocean off the southeastern coast of Australia near Port Fairy, Victoria.