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N.C. bill aims to expand ‘free market’ for electric vehicle charging stations

Hook up your RV at a North Carolina campground or charge your boat at a marina, and you’ll pay for the electricity you consume. Plug in your electric car at a charging station, and you’ll pay for the time you spend at the outlet.




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To renew the power supply in national parks, think microgrids

America’s national parks are one of the nation’s greatest assets. They preserve and protect vital ecosystems and offer people from all over the world the chance to experience the beauty and majesty of these great spaces.




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Energy storage firm Highview Power partnering with TSK on global projects

The partners will work together to develop projects in Spain, the Middle East and South Africa. The projects could add several gigawatt hours of storage capacity by 2022.




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New York Governor Cuomo unveils $30 million zero-carbon buildings initiative

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has launched an initiative to advance the design, construction and operation of low- or zero-carbon emitting buildings in the state.




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Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure, Desjardins acquire Regional Power hydroelectric plants

Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure (CC&L Infrastructure) and Regime de Rentes du Mouvement Desjardins, Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company, and Certas Home and Auto Insurance Company (together, Desjardins) have acquired Regional Power Inc. from The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife).




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Ameren, Opus One Solutions partner on DER, transactive energy markets

Illinois microgrid to test transactive energy markets as a part of the company's commitment to innovation and clean energy




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Can this online startup change how companies buy renewable power?

It was a milestone deal, not for its size but for the number of parties. In January, five big companies, each with differing energy requirements and renewable strategies, agreed to pool their investment and collectively purchase 42.5 megawatts from a North Carolina solar project.




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Italy needs energy storage to shore up 40 GW of renewables coming online in next decade

Italy must more than double its capacity to store electricity if it wants to slash pollution from burning fossil fuels, the head of the nation’s power transmission network said.





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Why lithium-ion technology is poised to dominate the energy storage future

Clean-energy visionaries have long argued that the world needs a better battery capable of selling skeptical consumers on electric cars and running the grid on renewable power. And yet the battery of the future—at least for the coming decade—will almost certainly be the battery of the past.




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Arizona Public Service issues RFP for large solar + storage plant to provide ‘solar after sunset’

After announcing nearly a gigawatt of new clean-energy projects in February, APS is now seeking proposals to build two of them in different parts of the state. The first request for proposals (RFP) seeks partners to add batteries to existing APS solar plants in rural Arizona, storing their power for use after the panels stop producing each day. A second partner is being sought to develop a large (100-MW) solar plant paired with an equal amount of storage, to bring more clean energy to customers after dark. Both of these projects will provide APS customers with more solar after sunset, serving their evening energy needs with an even cleaner resource mix.




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Ultra-fast EV chargers coming ultra soon as e-mobility manufacturers ramp up

The viability of electric vehicles depends in part on a manufacturing plant in eastern Australia, where gleaming white cabinets the size of large refrigerators are loaded onto shipping crates. They’re among the most advanced car chargers available, promising to deliver a full tank of juice in minutes.




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Tax credits for independent energy storage projects introduced in US congress

On Thursday, US Congressman from Pennsylvania Mike Doyle introduced a bill that would establish a federal investment tax credit (ITC) for energy storage. The legislation would allow energy storage project developers, both commercial and residential, to receive a 30 percent tax credit for large-scale, commercial-scale and residential-scale storage projects through 2021.




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22 million GWh of pumped hydro energy storage potential identified worldwide

There are a total of about 530,000 potentially feasible pumped hydro energy storage sites worldwide, with a total storage potential of about 22 million GWh. These astonishing numbers come from a report recently released by Professor Andrew Blakers and other researchers with Australian National University’s RE100 Group.




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UK power grid to be 'zero-carbon-capable' says operator

Two years after Britain had its first coal-free day since the Industrial Revolution, the nation’s network operator is readying itself for life without any fossil fuels.




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Genex Power receives final environmental approval for 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro

Genex Power Limited has secured all environmental approvals required to develop the 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro).




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Three ways utilities can partner with smart renewable cities to deliver on their objectives

Cities and renewable electricity have, respectively, become the habitat and energy of choice globally. The two are increasingly inseparable. Urbanization and electrification trends have turned cities and the grid into leading platforms for human activity, presenting unique opportunities for today’s utilities to partner with municipalities to achieve their smart city goals.




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Get ‘renewable therapy’ during next week’s Solar Education Week

The Redford Center, a California-based non-profit co-founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son, James, announced that every morning, from April 15-22, 2019, the organization will post an episode a day of "Renewable Therapy for Climate Anxiety," a conversational mini-series featuring Filmmaker, James Redford, and Matthew Nordan, clean energy investor and managing partner at MNL Partners. In each two-minute installment, the pair explores questions that nag environmentalists when it comes to renewable energy. Watch the first episode below.




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Vermont utility launches vision for 100 percent renewable energy by 2030

This weekend at its “Earth Day Every Day Fair,” Green Mountain Power announced an energy vision to have a 100 percent carbon free energy supply by 2025 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. The utility said the move is among the most aggressive carbon targets for a utility of GMP’s size in the country.




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IREC’s career map shows climate change related employment opportunities on the rise

A new career map, Careers in Climate Control Technology, provides a first-of-its-kind interactive, visual tool to showcase the employment opportunities that exist in the swiftly growing HVAC/R industry – Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration. The sector is on track for projected growth of 15 percent from 2016 to 2026.




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APS battery energy storage facility explosion injures four firefighters; industry investigates

Last Friday evening in Surprise, Arizona a storage facility owned by Arizona Public Service (APS) exploded, injuring four firefighters. Reporter for azfamily.com, Maria Hechanova, visited the scene yesterday and reported that the explosion happened while four hazmat firefighters from Peoria were working to extinguish a battery fire at the facility.




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Ford invests $500 million into battery company Rivian

Through a strategic partnership, Ford will develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford's growing EV portfolio using Rivian's skateboard platform




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How car insurers could help connect community solar with EV customers

The insurance industry has lots of exposure to climate change. But as Warren Buffet has explained, not so much for companies that do annual policy adjustments, like Berkshire Hathaway. Their exposure is limited because the trends are baked into the premiums. But there is an opportunity for reducing insurance risk due to climate change, and it comes from the insurance industry itself. The business model is to have car insurance salespeople provide leads to virtual electric car charging services. This has perfect demographics because electric vehicle owners are very receptive to solar electricity. Who wouldn’t want a clean transportation solution with local job creation that can’t be offshore?




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New residential loan options make paying for solar easier

In 2018, more than 300,000 residential solar systems were installed and that number is expected to grow in 2019. To make it easier for these green-minded consumers to go solar, last week, two companies, EnerBank USA and Mosaic, each announced offerings that will help solar installers and homeowners gain access to the capital needed to pay for solar PV systems.




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Clean energy engineering experts share blueprints for zero-emission buildings

Buildings account for nearly four-tenths of U.S. energy consumption through heating, cooling and other electricity use, according to the Energy Information Administration. And if that energy comes from fossil fuels, it releases more greenhouse gases that drive human-caused climate change.




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Tesla sued over fatal crash blamed on autopilot malfunction

Tesla Inc. was sued by the family of a man who died as the result of a crash allegedly caused when the Autopilot navigation system of his 2017 Model X malfunctioned.




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Ørsted to buy solar and storage developer, Coronal

Yesterday during an earnings call, Danish offshore wind giant Ørsted announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a subsidiary of US-based Coronal Energy a developer of large-scale solar and storage projects. Ørsted’s CEO and President Henrik Poulson said that Coronal is “a nationwide solar and storage developer with a significant pipeline of solar and storage projects” and that the acquisition will expand “our capability platform and exposure to new attractive regional markets.”




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Climate experts tell UK to set zero carbon target for 2050

Developing carbon capture and storage technology and low-carbon hydrogen is “a necessity not an option” for the UK to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2050.





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In Illinois, storage is among the next hurdles for renewables expansion

ComEd sees a significant role for energy storage on Illinois’ electric grid as the state works toward realizing its ambitious renewable goals.




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Washington becomes fifth state in the US to aim for 100 percent clean energy

This week in Seattle, Washington, Senate Bill 5116 was signed into law in by Governor Jay Inslee after passing the state legislature earlier this month. This bill cuts out coal power by 2025 and requires an equitable transition to 100 percent clean electricity for the entire state by 2045.




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Toward 100% clean energy: two million solar strong and growing

Today, IREC proudly joins the collective voice of advocates and industry celebrating a milestone we have worked for 37 years to witness: two million solar installations now in the U.S. What better timing than in a year when children and governors, presidential candidates and corporate CEOs are all making headlines about the urgency of climate change action.




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Enel joins Boston’s Greentown Labs to scout for clean energy startups

This week, Enel S.p.A. announced the opening of its newest Innovation Hub in Boston at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech startup incubator in the United States. The Hub will provide Enel, one of the world’s leading power companies, access to Greentown Labs’ startup community and innovation expertise.




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Hydrogen: key to a zero-carbon future, or a costly distraction?

The U.K.’s push for a low-carbon economy has some notable successes, but the hardest part of the battle has barely started.




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EU corporates want renewable energy but bureaucracy and regulations are holding them back

This week energy developer BayWa r.e. published its Energy Report 2019, which surveyed 1,200 European corporations about their attitudes toward renewable energy.




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Microgrid with long-duration flow battery installed at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

This week energy storage maker ESS Inc said that it had deployed an Energy Warehouse (EW) long-duration flow battery system at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California.




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Tesla completes acquisition of Maxwell

Tesla announced the successful completion of its previously announced offer to exchange all outstanding shares of common stock of Maxwell Technologies for 0.0193 of a share of Tesla common stock, together with cash in lieu of any fractional shares of Tesla common stock, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes.





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Australia's climate wars set to heat up after coal champion wins

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s surprise victory in Australia’s election was a win for the coal industry and ensures the debate about tackling climate change will continue to polarize the nation.




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Duke Energy gets approval for solar + battery microgrid and standalone battery system

This week, Duke Energy announced that regulators have approved two projects involving energy storage worth about $30 million.




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Oil companies join corporate lobbying push for U.S. carbon tax

Oil companies, automakers and consumer products manufacturers will unleash a campaign for a U.S. tax on carbon dioxide emissions even though it may lead to higher prices for their products.




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U.S. set to overtake South Korea in 2019 as world’s largest grid-connected battery energy-storage market

The United States in 2019 will become the world’s largest market for grid-connected battery energy storage, as solar-plus-storage and peaking capacity requirements drive increased procurement, according to IHS Markit.




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UPS bets on renewable gas from landfills in largest deal ever

United Parcel Service Inc. has agreed to buy the equivalent of 170 million gallons of renewable natural gas from Clean Energy Fuels Corp. over the next seven years in what the company described as the biggest-ever deal involving the alternative fuel.




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Why not a global green new deal through a federation of microgrids?

Among my circle of friends and colleagues, everyone is aware of the impact of human activities on climate change - the melting of arctic ice, the destruction of species - and the major causes of it, namely, coal burning for electricity and fossil fuels burning for transport. What nearly everyone is unclear about is what specifically to do about it and how fast.






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EV charging sites now outnumber petrol stations in UK

Newly released figures from Zap-Map, a charging point platform, reveal that the number of public charging locations in the country has now surpassed the number of petrol stations.




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India's largest coal-fired power producer appoints renewables head to speed transition

State-run NTPC Ltd., India’s largest coal-fired power producer, is appointing a new head of its renewables team to speed up its expansion into clean energy, according to a company official with knowledge of the plan.




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Brazil plans to add more solar to its hydro-dominated electricity generation mix

Brazil is the second-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world, after only China, and hydropower accounted for more than 70% of the country’s electricity generation in 2018. Brazil’s latest 10-year energy plan seeks to maintain this level of hydro generation while increasing the share of nonhydro renewables, particularly solar.




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PJM looks to plug ‘leaks’ sprouting from patchwork of state carbon policies

The nation’s largest electric grid operator is grappling with how to prevent state climate policies from merely pushing emissions — and costs — across state lines.