Conventional hydropower fell from its perennial perch as the source of the majority of U.S. renewable energy in 2014, yet another sign of the rise of a new wave of renewables – wind and solar, especially – on the U.S. electrical grid. Data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed hydropower with net… Keep reading →
Crescent Dunes will be generating electricity before the end of March, and SolarReserve’s south-central Nevada solar project won’t stumble out of the gate the way power-tower forerunner Ivanpah did, CEO Kevin Smith said in an interview with Breaking Energy. It would be an understatement to say there’s a lot riding on him being right. Crescent Dunes,… Keep reading →
Desert Sunlight is online and the U.S. Department of Energy has dropped the mic. The world-record-tying 550-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant in Southern California, formally dedicated on Monday, is the last of the big PV plants supported through the DOE’s loan guarantee program, the one that Republicans love to malign but which keeps showing solid results.… Keep reading →
Who wants to plunge deep into the dreary details of tax law, especially when doing so might get in the way of slapping a scarlet “B” for bailout on a renewable energy project? So it was that in the wake of our reporting on lower-than-expected production levels at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in… Keep reading →
Although the 30% business investment tax credit (ITC) for installing solar expires at the end of 2016, the window for taking advantage of the ITC is actually much sooner. Unless Congress extends the ITC – which is an open question at this time – business owners should begin planning now for solar projects to be… Keep reading →
A recent report from the advocacy group Environment America said U.S. solar power capacity would need to grow at an annual rate of 22 percent in order for solar to provide 10 percent of the nation’s electricity in 2030, from less than 1 percent now. So far, so good. Fresh industry data shows 1,354 megawatts of… Keep reading →
Long known for its boom or bust tendencies, the U.S. wind energy industry outdid itself in 2013. Capacity additions fell off a cliff, dropping more than 90 percent from 2012 and hitting their lowest level in a decade – but by the end of the year, new projects were under construction at a record-breaking clip.… Keep reading →
As Beltway types rush to make their opinions known on Senator Max Baucus’ energy tax revision proposals before a response deadline at the end of this month, financiers are scrambling to get deals together that can support renewable energy projects already underway. Tax policy has been a major component of energy policy in the US… Keep reading →
Renewable energy businesses – primarily wind and solar power – in the US are moving from adolescence to maturity. The US solar industry experienced a transformative 2013, with the proliferation of physical assets, installed capacity and new finance mechanisms, while the wind industry raced to begin projects by end-2013 in order to receive production tax… Keep reading →
The US Department of Energy announced $150 million in clean energy tax credits to 12 companies for investment in domestic manufacturing equipment today at the American Energy and Manufacturing Competitiveness Summit, a joint initiative of the DOE and the Council on Competitiveness. The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program – with $2.3 billion in total… Keep reading →
