Solar energy news and discussion

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Expanding the Bull’s Eye of Solar Development on Public Lands
by Dustin Mulvaney
April 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) Proposed changes to the US Bureau of Land Management’s Western Solar Plan would clear the way for large solar energy projects to be built across vast tracts of public lands in 11 western states. The proposed amount of land available to the solar industry ranges between 8 acres and 55 million acres, depending on the proposed scenario (the Bureau of Land Management provides five alternatives). The agency’s preferred plan would open up 22 million acres, or 34,375 square miles, to solar development—an area roughly the size of the state of Indiana.

The federal agency estimates over the next decade solar projects could be developed on one million acres across all western public lands, an area one-and-a-half times the size of Rhode Island.

The changes are part of the Biden administration’s efforts to advance clean energy and transmission infrastructure, construct carbon pollution-free power, and increase grid resiliency to prevent power outages. The administration’s goal is to achieve a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2035, an ambitious timeline that experts say will also increasingly create land-use conflict in the western United States as renewable energy deployment accelerates.

Read more here: https://thebulletin.org/2024/04/expandi ... -heading

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

New quantum material promises up to 190% quantum efficiency in solar cells
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-qua ... cells.html
by Lehigh University

Researchers from Lehigh University have developed a material that demonstrates the potential for drastically increasing the efficiency of solar panels.

A prototype using the material as the active layer in a solar cell exhibits an average photovoltaic absorption of 80%, a high generation rate of photoexcited carriers, and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) up to an unprecedented 190%—a measure that far exceeds the theoretical Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit for silicon-based materials and pushes the field of quantum materials for photovoltaics to new heights.

"This work represents a significant leap forward in our understanding and development of sustainable energy solutions, highlighting innovative approaches that could redefine solar energy efficiency and accessibility in the near future," said Chinedu Ekuma, professor of physics, who published a paper on the development of the material with Lehigh doctoral student Srihari Kastuar in the journal Science Advances.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

A major US state just achieved a critical milestone for nearly two weeks: 'It's wild that this isn't getting more news coverage'

April 15, 2024

California has set a benchmark for renewable energy, with wind, solar, and hydro providing 100% of the state's energy demand for 25 out of the last 32 days (and counting).

his data comes via Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering. Jacobson has been updating his X (formerly known as Twitter) page each time the state reaches a record, which has been practically every day over the past month.

While California has hit 100% renewable energy before, for brief moments on exceptionally sunny days, this is the first time the state has sustained that success over an extended period.

Jacobson, for his part, is taking a victory lap. "This is getting so easy, it's almost boring," he wrote on LinkedIn.

"It's wild that this isn't getting more news coverage," Ian Magruder of Rewiring America wrote, responding to Jacobson's post. "This has never happened before in history. Yes, California has briefly hit this milestone before on a few very sunny days since 2022. But never so consistently over a two week stretch."

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/ ... cent-grid/