Blog

Last week, the body that governs Puerto Rico’s energy sector, the Puerto Rico Energy Commission (PREC), issued final rules regarding microgrid development on the island. According to a fact sheet issued by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), the rules define microgrid owners and operators and divide microgrids into three classes. Owners purchase, lease or…

Today’s topics include the impact of section 201 tariffs on module supply and prices. Will they go up? We’ll also talk about developing the next generation solar workforce based on a new report about energy jobs in the U.S. Source: Renewable Energy

Why is there so little noise about the emerging oligopoly in one of the hottest elements on the periodic table, lithium? Tianqi Lithium Corp. will pay $4.1 billion to buy Nutrien Ltd.’s 24 percent stake in Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, or SQM, in a deal that will entangle the biggest and fourth-biggest…

Shell New Energies announced the acquisition of a majority share in microgrid company GI Energy. This comes on the heels of an investment by Shell in an ice energy storage company and several others. In April, Shell published its Energy Transition Report detailing its “intent to move in step with society toward a lower-carbon future.”…

The nation’s energy sector employed 6.5 million Americans in 2017, up 133,000 jobs from the year prior, according to a comprehensive report released today from the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). This two percent growth rate exceeded the national average of 1.7 percent. Source: Renewable Energy

A recent report by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI), established by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, and the National Association of State Energy Officials confirms that the energy sector as a whole grew 2 percent last year, which is .3 percent more than the national job growth percentage of 1.7 percent. Source: Renewable Energy

Solar PV manufacturer Central Electronics Ltd. in Uttar Pradesh, India, has commissioned India’s first 1-MW microgrid featuring a CPS-1000 inverter from Burlington, Vt.-based Dynapower. Source: Renewable Energy

The Trump administration is weighing a broad array of strategies for keeping coal and nuclear power plants online as a matter of national security, with options ranging from invoking a 68-year-old law to a three-year-old one, according to a senior Energy Department official. Source: Renewable Energy

A cutting edge energy storage system to support a town with wildly fluctuating electricity needs has been switched on in South Australia. Source: Renewable Energy

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved an energy and water funding bill that, as compared to fiscal year 2018, cuts energy efficiency and renewable energy programs by $243 million, and increases research and development funding for fossil fuels by $58 million. Source: Renewable Energy