Green Energy

A teetering U.S. residential solar industry may now be on the brink of collapse. Faced by macroeconomic challenges and shifting sands of state and federal policies, an industry once defined by double-digit growth in installations is experiencing steep declines – and the latest draft of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes things far worse.

The latest draft of the bill is bad all-around for clean energy, but it is particularly damaging to residential solar, cutting federal tax credits far sooner than expected.

Residential solar installations declined 31% in 2024. Over the last year, industry titans like SunPower, Sunnova, and Mosaic Solar have filed for bankruptcy.

The industry historically has leaned on the value proposition of lowering customer electricity bills and providing predictable costs for the long-term. However, that value has been increasingly difficult to provide.

Forward-looking: A team of German researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg has unveiled a significant advancement in solar energy technology, revealing a method to dramatically increase the amount of electricity certain materials can generate when exposed to light. Their approach involves stacking ultra-thin layers of different crystals in a precise sequence, resulting in a solar absorber that far outperforms traditional materials.

At the core of this discovery, published in Science Advances, is barium titanate (BaTiO₃), a material known for its ability to convert light into electricity, though not very efficiently on its own.

The scientists found that by embedding thin layers of barium titanate between two other materials – strontium titanate and calcium titanate – they could create a structure that produces significantly more electricity than barium titanate alone, even while using less of it.

What seems to have happened:

• One large power plant went offline (probably nuclear)
• Voltage control via spinning turbines didn't happen, and voltage was significantly higher than it should have been.
• All the solar power facilities had the same threshold for overvoltage shutdown, so they all turned off at once.

Better planning for voltage regulation and having different solar power facilities have different trigger points for shutting down in the face over too-high grid voltage would prevent this.

• Indonesia’s state-owned power utility, PLN, plans to expand fossil fuel generation by more than 20% by the mid-2030s, prioritizing gas and coal plants while delaying large-scale renewable rollouts until the early 2030s.
• PLN’s latest supply blueprint signals a fossil-fuel-heavy strategy, with strict rooftop solar caps, no mention of early coal plant retirements, and ambitious plans for gas expansion despite financing challenges.
• The utility aims to add 69.5 GW of new capacity over the next decade, more than 60% of which will come from renewables, but faces skepticism after consistently underdelivering on past clean energy promises.
• Analysts warn PLN’s plan risks stalling Indonesia’s energy transition, as fossil fuel demand rises and regulatory barriers slow renewables despite their falling costs and investor interest.

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• Ivanpah relies on a type of solar power called concentrated solar power (CSP), which generates electricity by reflecting sunlight upon a central location to heat a fluid and spin a turbine.
• Although many online claims imply that Ivanpah’s closure reflects poorly on solar power as a whole, these claims are misleading. CSP plants operate very differently from the more common photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
• When Ivanpah was built in the early 2010s, both CSP and PV were relatively expensive. In the decade since, costs of both have plummeted, but solar PV has become significantly cheaper than CSP.
• Even if Ivanpah does close, CSP plants continue to operate elsewhere in the U.S. and the world.

• so far in 2025 solar power has accounted for 25% of Pakistan's utility-supplied electricity, which makes it one of fewer than 20 nations globally that have sourced a quarter or more of monthly electricity supplies from solar farms.

Battery companies are slowing construction or reconsidering big investments in the United States because of tariffs on China and the proposed rollback of tax credits.

Statement to the United Nations Security Council on the Situation in Iran by IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event.

However, due to the impacts, there is radiological and chemical contamination inside the facilities in Natanz. The type of radiation present inside the facility, primarily alpha particles, is manageable with appropriate radiation protection measures.

At present, the Iranian authorities are informing us of attacks on the other facilities, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant; and Esfahan site,

All these developments are deeply concerning. I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment. Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security.

“any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Statute of the Agency”.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23289880

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South Korea’s recent political shift marks a critical turning point for its energy future, one anchored in pragmatism and strategic economic reasoning rather than ideological preference. The country’s new government has decisively recommitted to renewable energy expansion, sustaining nuclear generation at current levels, and accelerating coal phase-outs, a trajectory that signals a clear recognition of renewable energy’s essential role in the national economic strategy. This policy reset arrives as South Korea, historically reliant on imported fossil fuels for over 90% of its energy needs, seeks urgently to mitigate both geopolitical risks and environmental pressures inherent in its heavy fossil fuel dependency.

Since January, President Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the Biden administration’s efforts to grow America’s clean energy industry. The Trump administration has frozen grants and loans, hollowed out key agencies, and used executive action to stall renewable energy projects and reverse climate policies — often in legally dubious ways. At the same time, citing economic and national security reasons, Trump has sought to advance efforts to produce more critical minerals like lithium in the United States. That is exactly what the emerging lithium-ion battery recycling industry seeks to do, which is why some industry insiders are optimistic about their future under Trump.

Nevertheless, U.S. battery recyclers face uncertainty due to fast-changing tariff policies, the prospect that Biden-era tax credits could be repealed by Congress as it seeks to slash federal spending, and signs that the clean energy manufacturing boom is fading.

Battery recyclers are in “a limbo moment,” said Beatrice Browning, a recycling expert at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, which conducts market research for companies in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. They’re “waiting to see what the next steps are.”

• The Harita Group, a major Indonesian conglomerate, persistently found high levels of the carcinogenic chemical chromium-6 in waters around its nickel mine, which opened in 2010.
• The conglomerate’s own internal tests showed chromium-6 levels regularly breaching Indonesian legal limits for a decade.
• Leaked emails show senior Harita executives were aware of the pollution since at least 2012.
• Residents in the area say they received no warnings about pollution, and the conglomerate has repeatedly stated that local water is safe to drink.
• Harita did not respond to repeated requests for comment. It has previously stated that its operations were in compliance with local environmental regulations, despite continuing internal reports of chromium-6 levels that exceeded legal limits. Harita also implemented a series of measures to control the pollution, including installing ponds to collect toxic runoff and carrying out chemical treatments.

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Source

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The legislation would impose monthly fees on community solar operators, changing the rules for existing projects and making the state a ​“pariah” for investors.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23170535

Building “alternative” energy infrastructure isn’t enough. To avert climate disaster, fossil fuels need to be restricted, and energy consumption overall needs to fall.

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If everyone simply switched from fossil fuels to "clean" energy sources, and nothing else changed, that would actually be suicidal for life on Earth.

California's solar energy boom is often hailed as a green success story but a new study reveals a murkier reality beneath the sunlit panels. Researchers uncover seven distinct forms of corruption threatening the integrity of the state s clean energy expansion, including favoritism, land grabs, and misleading environmental claims. Perhaps most eyebrow-raising are allegations of romantic entanglements between senior officials and solar lobbyists, blurring the lines between personal influence and public interest. The report paints a picture of a solar sector racing ahead while governance and ethical safeguards fall dangerously behind.