This week in clean tech and energy news, geothermal power shows promise for advancement in developing countries, scientists discover a fix for solar cell issues, cryptocurrency continues to turn heads in the energy industry, and solar markets continue to shift in the U.S. after tariff announcement.

What news have you been reading this week? Share with us @GreentownLabs!

 

Mass Live – Mass. Senate ‘Clean Energy Future’ report seeks smorgasbord of climate change solutions

• According to the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, the people of Massachusetts have expressed their desire for a clean, and environmentally healthy state. The commission plans to issue a report to reflect residents’ clean energy priorities.

“The people of Massachusetts want more renewable energy, a price on carbon, climate adaptation, natural gas leak repair, electric transportation, environmental justice, and an end to new fossil fuel infrastructure.”

 

Daily Nation – Geothermal energy powering future

• Geothermal energy will be crucial for the future of Kenya, particularly in support of affordable housing, health services, and food security. The Geothermal Development Company hopes to to produce more than 1,000MW in the next 10 years.

“Geothermal energy is a prolific resource that is exciting researchers to seek fresh approaches to national development. Our grand dream is to turn geothermal belts into manufacturing and food production hubs. This will create jobs, tame rural-urban migration, and generally improve our fortunes as a nation.”

 

Bloomberg – Enel Plans Power Sales to Miner of Cryptocurrency

• Enel SpA is in talks to sell power from wind, solar, and other renewable energy plants to Evion AG, a Swiss Cryptocurrency company. The talks come at a time when Enel is looking into selling electricity to cryptocurrency miners, due to the massive amount of energy required to validate transactions.

“Electricity demand for mining bitcoin, rose to about 20.5 terawatt-hours a year by the end of 2017, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The global industry’s power use already rivals that of 3 million U.S. homes, according to the Digiconomist Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.”

 

CleanTechnica – Game Over For Coal: Scientists Nail Down Pesky Perovskite Solar Cell Problem

• A team of scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has finally been able to pinpoint a solution for a durable solar cell material. Synthetic perovskites are cheap and can be manufactured at a high volume, but tend to deteriorate quickly when exposed to air-a problem that is now approaching a solution.

“Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created an environmentally stable, high-efficiency perovskite solar cell, bringing the emerging technology a step closer to commercial deployment.The research team successfully tested a perovskite solar cell in ambient conditions without protection for 1,000 hours, and it retained 94% of its conversion efficiency.” 

TechCrunch – Tesla looks to take solar mainstream with Home Depot partnership

• Home Depot, one of the world’s largest retailers, has announced plans to partner up with Tesla on solar product sales. By July of 2018, 800 Home Depot stores will have Tesla kiosks showcasing solar panels, rooftop solar systems, and Powerwall storage batteries.

“Home Depot has some 2,200 stores across the country, but the 800-store roll out is still the largest retail presence Tesla has ever known for its energy products. They will be put on display, quite literally — Bloomberg reports that the Tesla retail displays will be 12 feet tall and 7 feet wide, and that some locations will have visual demonstrations of the products.”

 

Wall Street Journal – Chinese Firm Announces U.S. Solar Plant, a Week After Trump Tariffs

• In response to the recently declared solar tariffs, the Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar announced plans to build a facility in the U.S. Additionally, an international solar manufacturer company called Project Volt plans to open an assembly operation in the U.S., with the target of investing $410 million and creating 800 jobs.

“Mr. Trump’s decision to impose tariffs was the result of a petition by two embattled solar manufacturers with operations in the U.S., who said their business had been undercut by a flood of cheap solar imports. Domestic solar installers, which employ many more people than the relatively small U.S. solar manufacturing sector, largely opposed the tariffs”.