Record Offshore Wind Spending Through Pandemic – The Energy Mix
“We expected to see COVID-19 affecting renewable energy investment in the first half, via delays in the financing process and to some auction programs,” said BNEF Head of Analysis Albert Cheung. “There are signs of that in both solar and onshore wind, but the overall global figure has proved amazingly resilient—thanks to offshore wind.”
Two-sided solar panels that track the sun produce a third more energy
Carlos Rodríguez-Gallegos at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore and his colleagues found that double-sided solar panels that track the sun would produce 35 per cent more energy and reduce the average cost of electricity by 16 per cent.
Trains vs. pipelines: 2 Sask. crashes respark debate over risks of moving oil | CBC News
A Canadian Pacific Railway train derailment near Guernsey, Sask. — the second to happen in two months near the small hamlet — leaked an estimated 1.2 million litres of oil.
The fiery incident immediately sparked heated debate on social media about the safest way to carry oil over Canadian soil.
Power for the people: N.S. town creating ‘solar garden’
Besides a hydro-electric dam, the Town of Berwick is looking at how to generate a new type of electricity — solar power.
“We have wind now and our hydro dam and we’re looking to become as renewable as we can, so solar seems to be the next step,” Clarke tells NEWS 95.7’s The Todd Veinotte Show.
Clarke says the cost of solar panels has been going down in recent years, and the town’s staff are considering investing in solar panels in partnership with Antigonish and Mahone Bay – the only other towns in the province with their own electric utility.
After oil and gas: Meet Alberta workers making the switch to solar | The Narwhal
The program has been paused by the province’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government, a move critics say is a step backwards in the province’s ability to support needed renewable-energy jobs.
On the campaign trail, the UCP deemed solar rebates “costly” and vowed to end them. Critics of that move point to subsidies for the fossil fuel sector — a 2018 study found that Canada provides more government support for oil and gas companies than any other G7 nation.
The global energy transition “is going to happen in spite of Alberta,” Rod Wood, national representative with the general trades union Unifor, told The Narwhal. “You’re either part of the conversation or you’re lunch. It’s just going to steamroll over you.”
“This is going to happen whether you participate or not,” he said.