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+3 +1
Europe’s largest floating solar panel farm built in Portugal
A floating solar farm of 12,000 solar panels will be ready to produce power in July of this year in Portugal’s Alqueva reservoir on the Guadiana River in Alentejo. This will be Europe’s largest floating solar park on a reservoir in Europe, the size of four football pitches. Built by EDP, a Portuguese electric utility company will generate 7.5 GWh a year and power around 1,500 households in the region, more than 30% of the families in the region. The project involves a total investment of 6 million euros.
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+14 +1
California just ran on 100% renewable energy, but fossil fuels aren't fading away yet
On a mild Sunday afternoon, California set a historic milestone in the quest for clean energy. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and on May 8th, the state produced enough renewable electricity to meet 103% of consumer demand. That broke a record set a week earlier of 99.9%.
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+14 +4
A solar power plant in space? The UK wants to build one by 2035.
The United Kingdom is getting serious about beaming solar power from space and thinks it could have a demonstrator in orbit by 2035. Over 50 British technology organizations, including heavyweights such as aerospace manufacturer Airbus, Cambridge University and satellite maker SSTL, have joined the U.K. Space Energy Initiative, which launched last year in a quest to explore options for developing a space-based solar power plant.
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+16 +3
This solar-powered plane could stay in the air for months
In 2016, a bizarre-looking plane, covered with more than 17,000 solar panels, showed the world a glimpse of the future of flight. With the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but weighing only as much as an SUV, it circumnavigated the Earth without using a drop of fuel.
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+14 +3
BlocPower wants to evict fossil fuels one building at a time
BlocPower launched in 2014 with the goal of replacing fossil fuel-burning heating and cooling systems with cleaner, more efficient green energy solutions.
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+19 +3
In a remote Alaskan village, a solar-plus-storage microgrid is replacing diesel
The issue of solar panel reliability has existed since the beginning of the industry, in part because solar panels do not function effectively in cold and snowy conditions. That myth has been debunked time and again as a small but significant solar-plus-storage microgrid project in Alaska is implemented.
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+20 +2
Australian scientists to power Tesla on 15,000-km trip with printed solar panels
Scientists in Australia are testing printed solar panels they will use to power a Tesla on a 15,100-km (9,400-mile) journey beginning in September, which they hope will get the public thinking about steps to help avert climate change.
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+4 +1
Stanford Engineers Create Solar Panels That Work at Night
A breakthrough invention by a team of Stanford researchers allow solar panels to begin generating energy at night.
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+15 +3
Major solar breakthrough means energy can be stored for up to 18 years
The future of solar has just got brighter with this ‘ultra-thin’ device for converting stored energy into electricity.
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+22 +3
Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford
While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can be a "continuous renewable power source" during the day and at night.
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+4 +1
The Global Price Tag for 100 Percent Renewable Energy: $73 Trillion
A global effort to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 would cost nations $73 trillion upfront — but the expense will pay for itself in under seven years, according to a new report from researchers at Stanford University.
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+22 +2
Solar starts strong, growing 40% year over year in January
Solar PV reached new heights through 2021, with top line estimates pegging total global deployment at the inspiring milestone of 1TW of installed active capacity on the planet. In January 2022, the United States made its latest contribution by bringing 22 projects to commercial operation, adding 952MW of capacity.
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+20 +4
There are now enough solar panels on Earth to power the whole of Europe
There are now enough solar panels installed throughout the world to generate 1 terawatt (TW) of electricity from the sun, according to the latest estimates, marking a major milestone for renewable energy adoption.
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+23 +3
Static electricity can keep desert solar panels free of dust
Static electricity could remove dust from desert solar panels, saving around 10 billion gallons of water every year. Some of the largest solar farms in the world are in deserts, such as Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates and Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in California. These environments tend to be very dusty, with particles quickly accumulating on solar panels. One month’s dust build-up can cut a solar panel’s output by around 40 per cent.
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+23 +2
County by county, solar panels face pushback
It’s an environmental clash that neither side wanted: Solar advocates are squaring off against conservationists. On one side, fans of solar energy are pushing a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, with massive solar projects popping up across the United States. On the other, conservationists and people who live near the solar projects are watching in horror as green fields are filled with rows of silicon solar panels, damaging ecologically sensitive areas.
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+13 +3
China aims to build 450 GW of solar, wind power on Gobi desert
China plans to build 450 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and other desert regions, the chief of the state planner said on Saturday, as part of efforts to boost renewable power use to meet climate change goals.
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+25 +1
Kenya to use solar panels to boost crops by ‘harvesting the sun twice’
Solar panels are not a new way of providing cheap power across much of the African continent, where there is rarely a shortage of sunshine. But growing crops underneath the panels is, and the process has had such promising trials in Kenya that it will be deployed this week in open-field farms.
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+23 +2
Novel IBC solar cell architecture based on crystal photonics shows efficiency potential of 29.1%
Scientists in Germany designed a poly-Si on oxide (POLO) interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell integrating photon crystals and found this architecture has the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency of over 28%, which would be 1% higher than the current practical limit set by the scientific community. They also found that by improving passivation, the efficiency may be raised up to 29.1%.
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+18 +1
California Will Stick Solar Panels Over Canals to Fight Two Disasters at Once
A water and electric utility in central California will install a first-of-its-kind network of solar panels on water canals. Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has secured a $20 million grant from the state to pursue the first-in-the-nation project, which could serve a beneficial double whammy: create renewable energy and save some water in the process.
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+17 +3
How solving solar’s aluminium problem is key to keeping its climate credentials
The rapid rise of low-cost solar power has provided a key solution to lowering energy costs and emissions, but a looming problem with the aluminium required to support solar could undermine its climate credentials, Australian researchers have warned.
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