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Can solar survive another supply glut? — This Week in Cleantech

Can solar survive another supply glut? — This Week in Cleantech
July 10, 2020 - The Flatirons Campus substation is part of the Power Generation Upgrade Project changing the source of utility power at the Flatirons Campus from the distribution network that feeds businesses and houses to the transmission network that ties all the power plants and substations together. In that process, the campus’ transmission limitation increased from 10 megawatts (MW) to 19.9 MW, enabling twice as much power transmission as before, allowing researchers to test multiple types of technologies on the same electrical grid with enough power to run them effectively and add more testing scenarios with greater electrical stability. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder / NREL)

This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week’s episode features Financial Times’ Brett Christophers, who reported on China’s exponential growth in the renewables industry.

This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Jonathan Foley, climate scientist and Executive Director at Project Drawdown. Jonathan’s latest piece shares the impact of agricultural pollution, and how we need to prioritize sustainable agricultural practices. Congrats Jonathan!

1. Get Ready to Pay More for Less-Reliable Electricity – Wall Street Journal

As aging equipment and increasing extreme weather events cause more blackouts, utilities are racing to modernize the grid. But utility customers are left to foot the bill for those upgrades. Between 2013 and 2022, the U.S. saw a roughly 20% increase in outage frequency and a 46% increase in outage duration, largely as a result of weather-related damage. 

Equipment upgrades and vegetation management for wildfires are projected to increase electricity rates by 22% between 2023 and 2025. Electricity rates have typically seen modest increases, but lately they‘ve been rising more sharply.

2. EPA awards $4.3 billion to fund projects in 30 states to reduce climate pollution – Associated Press

The Inflation Reduction Act sets aside $5 billion for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, which aims to cut air pollution, advance environmental justice and accelerate American clean energy. $4.3 billion of those grants just got awarded.

$396 million will go to Pennsylvania to cut carbon pollution from cement, asphalt and other industrial plants, $500 million will go to the ports of LA and Long Beach to add EV charging equipment and zero-pollution freight vehicles, and $307 million will go to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy to boost “climate-smart” agriculture and improve energy efficiency.

3. IRA’s biggest climate program has ‘decimal dust’ for oversight – POLITICO

The IRA also allocates money to the EPA for a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, through which the EPA has to spend $27 billion by September 30. This is a built-in deadline designed to prevent a future Trump Administration from cutting it out. The program is intended to support green lending from state and local governments and nonprofits to finance the installation of clean energy and improve energy efficiency of buildings in low-income communities.

However, out of all the programs authorized by the IRA, this one has the smallest amount of money allotted to hire staff and track the spending. The EPA will need additional cash to ensure this grant program has “proper financial management and robust oversight.”

Watch the full episode on YouTube

4. Can the solar industry keep the lights on? – Financial Times

A global supply glut has tanked solar panel prices, leaving European manufacturers to stop production at their plants located in Europe, and continue operations in China. Since November 2023, Europe’s solar panel manufacturing capacity has decreased by about half. 

This impacts the U.S. as well. While the IRA has generated nearly $13 billion in investments for solar manufacturing, falling prices have delayed expansion plans for solar manufacturers in the U.S.

5. We must not mistake China’s success on green energy for a global one – Financial Times

There is a narrative that global renewables deployment is increasing exponentially. However, the global data can be misleading because renewables deployment is dominated by China. If you strip out China from the global data, the rest of the world is deploying renewables at a more linear rate.