This week: an entire island is sustained by a solar-plus-storage microgrid, blockchain may revolutionize the energy industry, and the Solar Impulse Foundation launched a World Alliance for Clean Technologies. What cleantech news stories have you been following? Share them with us @GreentownLabs!
Wall Street Journal : What’s the Best Way to Finance New Energy Technologies?
How companies and nations in an era of falling private funding can make better, cleaner and lower-cost energy technologies happen.
The Huffington Post : The Enormous Opportunity of Renewable Energy
There is no greater challenge than tackling climate change. But there is no bigger economic opportunity than renewables and clean technology. To stimulate new jobs and prosperity, the clean energy revolution is the way to go.
Greentech Media : Tesla and SolarCity Build a Solar-Battery Microgrid in American Samoa – A Sign of Things to Come?
Ta’u has a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid that can supply nearly 100 percent of the island’s power needs from renewable energy. It is powered by a microgrid of 1.4-megawatt solar array and 6 megawatt-hours of battery storage from 60 Tesla Powerpacks. The project was completed within a year.
Energy Business Review : Siemens, LO3 Energy Partner to Develop Blockchain Microgrids
Siemens is partnering with US based startup LO3 Energy to jointly develop microgrids to enable local energy trading based on blockchain technology. The blockchain technology is method of storing and validating data that allows for direct transactions between energy producers and consumers. With support from Siemens Digital Grid and next47, LO3 Energy will develop a solution for a blockchain-based microgrid which will be initially implemented in the New York region of Brooklyn.
Climate Action Programme : Solar Impulse Foundation Launches the “World Alliance for Clean Technologies”
The new alliance, launched on 11 November at COP22 in Marrakech, aims at creating synergies in the field of clean technologies, as well as promoting profitable solutions to environmental and health issues and give credible advice to governments.
PV Magazine : Solar Plus Storage Systems Being Installed in 25 Villages in Mali
Energy transition start-up Africa Green Tec has entered into a cooperation agreement with German energy storage systems manufacturer Tesvolt to deliver its lithium batteries alongside 50 solar containers, with a total capacity of 3 MWh, to 25 Malian villages.
Bloomberg : Economics Will Keep Wind and Solar Thriving
On the plains of West Texas, new wind farms can be built for just $22 a megawatt-hour. In the Arizona and Nevada deserts, solar projects are less than $40 a megawatt-hour. Compare those figures with the U.S. average lifetime cost of $52 for natural gas plants and about $65 for coal. Environmental rules and government subsidies are no longer the key drivers for clean power. Economics are.