A plan has been hatched to expand and diversify critical mineral supply chains globally for the booming EV battery industry – will it work? There’s an urgent need for critical minerals to meet the growing demand for EV batteries, battery storage, and more. Electrek spoke with John DeMaio, CEO of EV battery mineral processor…

Half of the world’s economies are already five years past a peak in power generation from fossil fuels, new analysis from energy think tank Ember shows. If fossil fuel power generation is unchanged for at least five years since a country’s initial fossil fuel power peak, it’s considered to have passed a peak. Ember’s…

Electrek spoke with Kam Mahdi, CEO of renewable engineering firm Clean Energy Technologies in Costa Mesa, California, about how extreme heat can impact the power grid and renewables, as well as what’s being done to keep them online. Electrek: The southern US and other parts of the world are currently suffering an extreme heat…

The US Department of the Interior announced today that it will hold the first-ever offshore wind energy lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden administration announced in July 2022 that it would pursue the development of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, which is already a hub for oil…

Solar giant Qcells announced today that it’s completed the expansion of its Dalton, Georgia, factory – what it calls the “largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the western hemisphere.” It’s also the first solar panel factory to be built since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Qcells has added 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity…

Utility-scale solar and wind are on track to provide 25% of the US’s installed electrical generating capacity within three years, according to newly released FERC data. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” (with data through May 31, 2023) reports that wind now accounts for 11.63% of total installed generating…

Utility-scale solar and wind provided the majority (53%) of new US generating capacity added in the first two-thirds of 2023, according to new FERC data.  In its newly released monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through August 31, 2023), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) says solar provided 8,980 megawatts (MW) of new…

Despite some big setbacks, the US offshore wind industry is also headed toward achieving major milestones in Q3 2023 – here’s what happened. The US’s first two commercial-scale offshore wind farms, Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind, progressed with construction and are on the brink of delivering their first power to the grid, noted…

Volvo Cars is going big on wind power – its Torslanda factory in western Sweden is going to be powered by a 1 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm. Volvo Cars chooses offshore wind power Swedish wind power firm Eolus Vind and Volvo Cars have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on the Västvind…

Sensata Technologies announced the launch of its Gigavac GTM400 and GTM500 bidirectional contactors for applications up to 1500 Vdc and 400A and 500A. The new contactors are ideal for high-power applications requiring reliable switching and DC circuit protection like energy storage systems, fast charging stations, and heavy-duty vehicles. According to Sensata, the new GTM series…