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Tag: Solar power

  • L.A. streetlights take a year to fix. Council members say solar power is the answer

    Faced with numerous complaints about broken streetlights that have plunged neighborhoods into darkness, two Los Angeles City Council members unveiled a plan Friday to spend $65 million on installing solar-powered lights.

    With 1 in 10 streetlights out of service because of disrepair or copper wire theft, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Eunisses Hernandez launched an effort to convert at least 12% of the city’s lights to solar power — or about 500 in each council district.

    Broken streetlights emerged as an hot-button issue in this year’s election, with council members scrambling to find ways to restore them. Councilmember Nithya Raman, now running against Mayor Karen Bass, cited the broken lights as an example of how city agencies “can’t seem to manage the basics.”

    By switching to solar, the streetlights will be less vulnerable to theft, said Yaroslavsky, who represents part of the Westside.

    “We can’t keep rebuilding the same vulnerable systems while copper theft continues to knock out lights across Los Angeles,” she said.

    Three other council members — Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez and Hugo Soto-Martínez — signed on to the proposal. All five are running for reelection.

    Miguel Sangalang, director of the Bureau of Street Lighting, said there are 33,000 open service requests to fix streetlights across L.A., although some may be duplicates. The average time to fix a streetlight is 12 months, he said.

    Repair times have increased because of a rise in vandalism, the department’s stagnant budget and a staff of only 185 people to service the city’s 225,000 streetlights, he said.

    About 60,000 street lights are eligible to be converted to solar, according to Yaroslavsky.

    Council members also are looking to increase the amount the city charges property owners for streetlight maintenance. Yaroslavsky said the assessment has been unchanged since 1996, forcing city leaders to rely on other sources of money to cover the cost.

    Last month, Soto-Martínez announced he put $1 million into a streetlight repair team in his district, which stretches from Echo Park to Hollywood and north to Atwater Village. Those workers will focus on repairing broken lights, hardening lights to prevent copper wire theft and clearing the backlog of deferred cases.

    On Monday, city crews also began converting 91 streetlights to solar power in Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park. Hernandez tapped $500,000 from her office budget to pay for the work. The shift to solar power should save money, she said, by breaking the cycle of constantly fixing and replacing lights.

    “This is going to bring more public safety and more lights to neighborhoods that so desperately need it and that are waiting a long time,” she said.

    In recent years, neighborhoods ranging from Hancock Park and Lincoln Heights to Mar Vista and Pico Union have been plagued by copper wire theft that darkens the streets. On the 6th Street Bridge, thieves stole seven miles’ worth of wire.

    Yaroslavsky and Park spoke about the problem Friday at a press conference in the driveway of a Mar Vista home. Andrew Marton, the homeowner, pointed to streetlights around the block that have been targeted by thieves.

    Many surrounding streets have been dark since shortly after Christmas, Marton said. He has changed his daily routines, trying not to walk his dog late at night and worrying for the safety of his family.

    He said he reported the problem to the city and was told it would take 270 days to fix. He then reached out to Park, who contacted the police department, he said.

    A couple of neighboring streets had their lights restored, he said, but his street remains dark at night.

    Park said she and Yaroslavsky identified $500,000 in discretionary funds to pay for a dedicated repair team to fix streetlights, either by adding solar or by reinforcing the existing copper wire, in their respective Westside districts.

    Melissa Gomez, David Zahniser

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  • Trump administration scraps multimillion-dollar

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled solar projects in Puerto Rico worth millions of dollars, as the island struggles with chronic power outages and a crumbling electric grid.

    The projects were aimed at helping 30,000 low-income families in rural areas across the U.S. territory as part of a now-fading transition toward renewable energy.

    In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. Energy Department said that a push under Puerto Rico’s former governor for a 100% renewable future threatened the reliability of its energy system.

    “The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the message states. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”

    Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that statement in a phone interview Thursday.

    He said that some 200,000 families across Puerto Rico rely on solar power that generates close to 1.4 gigawatts of energy a day for the rest of the island.

    “That’s helping avoid blackouts,” he said, adding that the inverters of those systems also help regulate fluctuations across the grid.

    He said he was saddened by the cancellation of the solar projects. “It’s a tragedy, honestly,” he said. “These are funds for the most needy.”

    Earlier this month, the Energy Department canceled three programs, including one worth $400 million, that would have seen solar and battery storage systems installed in low-income homes and those with medical needs.

    In its email, the department said that on Jan. 9, it would reallocate up to $350 million from private distributed solar systems to support fixes to improve the generation of power in Puerto Rico. It wasn’t immediately clear if that funding has been allocated.

    One of those programs would have financed solar projects for 150 low-income households on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Culebra.

    “The people are really upset and angry,” said Dan Whittle, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund, which was overseeing that project. “They’re seeing other people keep the lights on during these power outages, and they’re not sure why they’re not included.”

    He noted that a privately funded project helped install solar panels and batteries on 45 homes a week before Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico in September 2022.

    Whittle said he was baffled by the federal government’s decision.

    “They are buying hook, line and sinker that solar is the problem. It could not be more wrong,” he said.

    The solar projects were part of an initial $1 billion fund created by U.S. Congress in 2022 under former President Joe Biden to help boost energy resilience in Puerto Rico, which is still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria.

    The Category 4 storm slammed into the island in September 2017, razing an electric grid already weakened by a lack of maintenance and investment. Outages have persisted since then, with massive blackouts hitting on New Year’s Eve in 2024 and during Holy Week last year.

    In recent years, residents and businesses that could afford to do so have embraced solar energy on an island of 3.2 million people with a more than 40% poverty rate.

    But more than 60% of energy on the island is still generated by petroleum-fired power plants, 24% by natural gas, 8% by coal and 7% by renewables, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The cancellation of the solar projects comes a month after the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González sued Luma Energy, a private company overseeing the transmission and distribution of power on the island.

    At the time, González said that the electrical system “has not improved with the speed, consistency or effectiveness that Puerto Rico deserves.”

    The fragility of Puerto Rico’s energy system is further exacerbated by a struggle to restructure a more than $9 billion debt held by the island’s Electric Power Authority, which has failed to reach an agreement with creditors.

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  • Long Island leaders debate future of offshore wind energy | Long Island Business News

    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • Regional leaders discuss offshore wind at LIA State of the Region event

    • Officials push an “all-of-the-above” strategy to meet energy needs

    Does wind energy have a future on Long Island?

    That was the question Matt Cohen, the president and CEO of the Long Island Association,  posed at the organization’s State of the Region breakfast at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Friday.

    About 1,200 local leaders gathered for the annual event, which included a discussion moderated by Cohen with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.

    When it comes to generating energy, the LIA, Cohen said, supports an “all of the above approach,” which, according to the organization’s priorities, includes investing in clean energy transition.

    The dialog comes just days after Empire Wind filed a lawsuit to allow its construction to continue once the Trump administration suspended its $5 billion wind power project off Long Island.

    At the breakfast, Cohen asked Blakeman, who has the support of President Donald Trump, about his position on the stop-work orders.

    “Residents of Nassau County do not want offshore wind turbines – they made that very clear,” Blakeman said. “We have a very robust commercial fishing industry. We have … one of the largest recreational boating communities in the United States. We have seen damage to marine life and [wind energy] is the most expensive form of energy generation.”

    Still, Blakeman said, “I agree with the LIA. I think we should have an all of the above attitude toward cheap energy generation.” Blakeman pointed to the southern tier of New York “that has one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the United States,” and tapping into that, he said, “would make gas cheaper for all of us.”

    As for Suffolk, “there is a future to finish Sunrise Wind,” Romaine said to a round of applause in the room. Sunrise Wind, which is 70 percent completed, he said, would supply wind from Montauk to Brookhaven Town.

    Romaine pointed to the South Fork Wind Farm, which was “an extremely controversial project,” but “it got done, it’s producing power. Sunrise Wind is not controversial at all.” Still, he said, upon completion, he would “see how it affects the ocean.”

    Romaine said he is working with Long Island Power Authority to tap into solar energy, especially at the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, and other industrial parks. “Imagine all those flat roofs” tapping into solar, he said, adding that he was working to announce a program that would provide incentives to adapt solar energy.

    Still, he said, the region needs “all of the above. We have an energy deficit, and artificial intelligence is going to make a huge drain on our energy future. We want to be on the cutting edge. We need energy in all sources.”

    Blakeman said that Empire Wind wouldn’t benefit the local community the way Sunrise Wind would. Also, he said he wasn’t against wind energy, and added that “there are many communities upstate that will welcome wind energy and wind farms.”

    DiNapoli said that the emphasis on the region’s “growing energy needs” are absolutely on target.

    Still he said, “Suffolk County was number one in the state” in a recent report on the regions that are vulnerable to severe weather incidents.

    Climate change, he said, “is real,” and the region does need to “get off the reliance on fossil fuel.”

    He added that leaders must “stay focused on that energy transition – it’s absolutely essential.”

    Additional panel topics included further discussion about infrastructure, the environment, housing, education and affordability.

    The breakfast also included opening remarks from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and closing remarks from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

    Hochul announced a five-year $3.75 billion commitment to support the state’s water infrastructure as part of her 2026 legislative agenda.

    Both Hochul, a Democrat, and Blakeman, a Republican, are running for governor this year.

    The morning started with the National Anthem sung by Jillian Cerrato, a 12 year-old who attends Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts.

     


    Adina Genn

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  • Houston neighbors opt for solar-powered ‘hub homes’

    HOUSTON — Doris Brown was nearly asleep when a neighbor knocked on her door, telling her to look outside. “There were no lights, nowhere,” said Brown, recalling the power outage that summer night in 2023. “I didn’t even know it.”

    Brown’s solar panel and battery system was keeping her power on. She’d prepared for a night like this. “Call everybody,” she told the neighbor.

    Soon around 15 “neighbors and neighbors’ neighbors” were inside Brown’s three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home in Northeast Houston. They charged phones, cooked, and showered before work and school. Some slept over.

    “There were people sleeping everywhere,” said Brown, 75. She was happy to be “a port in a storm,” despite one downside: “They ate all my snacks.”

    Brown’s house is a “hub home,” one of seven in a Northeast Houston pilot program meant to create emergency safe havens — not at shelters or community centers, but inside neighbors’ houses.

    The idea was a grassroots response to decades of community disinvestment and neglect that got neighbors talking about what they could do to be ready for extreme weather and power outages.

    “It’s us helping us,” said Brown.

    The project was set to reach 30 more homes, until the Environmental Protection Agency in August canceled the $7 billion Solar for All program which would have funded its expansion. Harris County, which includes Houston, is now a plaintiff in one of multiple lawsuits over the cancellation.

    People involved with the program acknowledge hub homes are unconventional — requiring trust and community cooperation and impacting fewer people than a larger resilience center.

    But they also say they’re effective in creating pockets of preparedness in communities confronting more extreme weather but lacking resources to do more.

    “It was a way to increase resilience in those neighborhoods that are often forgotten,” said Sam Silerio, Texas program director at Solar United Neighbors, one of the nonprofits involved with the pilot program which is also suing over the cuts.

    The hub homes idea started after Winter Storm Uri in 2021, when freezing temperatures crippled Texas’ power grid for five days and led to 246 storm-related deaths, according to the Texas Department of Health Services.

    Power loss contributed to many of the deaths, as people with health conditions couldn’t refrigerate medicines or run life-sustaining medical devices. Nineteen people died from carbon monoxide poisoning from improperly using generators and grills to stay warm.

    “We were like, ‘Shoot, power grid failure is a serious thing that we are not prepared for’,” said Becky Selle, co-director of disaster preparedness, organizing, and operations at West Street Recovery, a Northeast Houston nonprofit founded after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

    WSR bought some generators for residents willing to share the resource. Brown, who almost froze to death herself in Uri, stepped up.

    WSR added more supplies to the hubs, like life jackets and kayaks for flood evacuations, and held preparedness trainings for members.

    When the D.C.-based nonprofit Solar United Neighbors approached them with a private grant from the Hive Fund to add free solar panels and batteries to several houses, WSR knew exactly where to install them.

    The pilot had its challenges — some roofs had to be repaired before they could hold solar panels, and hub captains had to learn how to manage their batteries to not deplete them.

    Success also required neighborly connection that modern communities often lack.

    “You have to build that trust,” said David Espinoza, a hub home captain and West Street Recovery’s co-director of community organizing and language access. The 34-year-old went door-to-door on his block, introducing himself to sometimes wary neighbors. “I got to know my neighborhood a lot better,” he said.

    About a dozen people are signed up on Espinoza’s “roster,” but he said the hub is there for anyone in need, prioritizing older neighbors and those with children or medical conditions.

    There are other upsides, too: The solar and battery system reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and cut Espinoza’s utility bill in half.

    Espinoza, who is bilingual, said that for neighborhoods like his with mixed-status, Spanish-speaking, and medically vulnerable households, hub homes are useful even with other shelters nearby.

    “They can access me a little easier,” he said.

    Efforts to bolster local resilience have grown in recent years as extreme weather, power outages, and electricity prices overburden communities.

    Average annual power interruption hours across the U.S. have jumped in the last decade, largely due to extreme weather, according to Sarah Kotwis, senior associate at the clean energy nonprofit RMI.

    “Communities do need to be thinking more strategically about resilience,” said Kotwis.

    That preparedness begins with connections between neighbors, said Renae Hanvin, CEO and founder of Resilient Ready and an expert on “social capital,” or the “connections, trust and cooperation between people.”

    “It’s the missing link in the disaster resilience ecosystem,” said Hanvin. “At the end of the day, the first thing you need (in an emergency) to help you is a person.”

    As disasters worsen, first responders simply can’t help everyone at once, she said, so neighbors must think of themselves as “zero responders.”

    Many communities have also turned to “resilience centers,” or locally trusted institutions like community centers or churches that are outfitted with backup power, emergency supplies, and even year-round social services.

    Ideally, resilience investments aren’t an either-or decision, said Dori Wolfe, SUN senior Texas program associate. “Hub homes are one piece of the web, and there should be a resilience center at the center of each of these nodes,” she said. “We need all of it.”

    Solar United Neighbors and West Street Recovery planned to expand the program this fall as part of a $54 million grant awarded to Harris County by the EPA.

    They intended to grow the number of hub homes to 30, and add more batteries to existing ones to better run heating and air conditioning during outages. The money would have also funded a local resilience center.

    In August, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin canceled the EPA’s Solar for All program, intended to support residential solar for more than 900,000 lower-income households. Zeldin said authority for the “boondoggle” program was eliminated under Trump’s tax-and-spending bill.

    “It’s a huge letdown,” said Silerio. Both Solar United Neighbors and Harris County sued the EPA in separate lawsuits this month over the cuts, as did over a dozen state attorneys general.

    The termination “pulls the rug out from the very people the federal government should be protecting,” Harris County Interim County Administrator Jesse Dickerman said in a statement to The Associated Press.

    West Street Recovery isn’t giving up on more hub homes. The nonprofit intends to fundraise through the community and seek other grants.

    “These programs have been a big help to the community,” said Espinoza. “It’s going to be a lot harder without the funds from the federal government.”

    ————

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • AGs sue Trump EPA over solar energy program

    BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell has joined about two dozen other Democrats in suing the Trump administration over its decision to pull the plug on a $7 billion solar energy program for low-income households.

    The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated federal law and the Administrative Procedures Act when it terminated the Solar for All program, approved by Congress in 2023 as part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.


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    Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.

    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Tax credit on home solar installation to sunset by 2026 – WTOP News

    Homeowners considering solar energy should act fast — federal tax credits covering up to 30% of installation costs are set to expire on Dec. 31.

    Anyone thinking of changing over to solar energy for their homes is seeing the window shut on that opportunity.

    The tax credit created as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act “allowed homeowners to upgrade their electric fuse boxes as well as put solar panels on their roof, and it was a sort of uncapped tax credit of up to 30%,” said Quentin Scott, federal policy director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

    He said the tax credit will expire Dec. 31.

    For homeowners who were on the fence about converting to solar, “that really cut down their initial cost by one third, which was exciting,” Scott said.

    But, Scott said, the passage of the legislation dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by President Donald Trump will phase out the tax credit by the end of the year.

    So his advice to homeowners is to make the move — and fast.

    “As long as they are able to get a contractor to start the work and complete that work before the end of this calendar year, they are able to file for this tax credit and get those discounts,” he said.

    One caveat, Scott said, is that projects “have to be 100% completed and placed in service,” to qualify for the credit.

    Scott said one impact of the expiration of incentives like the one for solar installation for homeowners is that “energy costs are going to go up because there’s less diverse energy being added to the grid.”

    Another reason that homeowners would want to act quickly is the concern over potential delays in the supply chain, as well as the availability of contractors when it comes to scheduling and completing the work.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Kate Ryan

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  • Microsoft buys another 100 MW of solar, this time in Japan | TechCrunch

    Microsoft is buying 100 megawatts of solar capacity from Japanese developer Shizen Energy, the latest in a string of renewable energy deals designed to power the tech company’s growing compute needs. 

    The agreement, which the companies announced late last week, covers four different solar developments; one is already operating and three are under construction. The deal covers output from the plants for 20 years.

    Seattle-based Microsoft already operates two data centers in Japan. Microsoft’s compute capacity is slated to expand as the company invests $2.9 billion in the country over the next year.

    Solar has become a favored source of power for tech companies and data center operators in recent years because it is quick and cheap to build. Solar is among the cheapest forms of new generating capacity, and projects are generally completed within 18 months. Plus, users can begin drawing power before the entire project is complete. 

    Microsoft has been a big buyer of solar in recent months. Since the year began, the company has contracted more than 1 gigawatt of solar capacity. 

    Tim De Chant

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  • Which form of energy is the cheapest? CBS News asked the experts to find out.

    The emergence of renewable energy like wind and solar as a viable alternative to oil, gas and other fossil fuels has raised critical questions about which form of power offers the best value today — a debate made all the more urgent by the ravages of climate change.

    In the U.S., where energy policy has been shaped by politics for more than a century, the battle continues to play out at the highest levels of government. Former President Biden delivered one of the biggest endorsements of renewable energy in the form of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offered tax credits and rebates to businesses, organizations and households that invest in solar, wind and geothermal technologies. 

    By contrast, President Trump has been a staunch supporter of the oil and gas industry. During his inauguration speech in January, he reaffirmed his commitment to fossil fuel production, saying, “We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet. That will help to do it.”

    Within six months of taking office, Mr. Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law, which phases out clean energy tax incentives while simultaneously expanding tax breaks for the oil and gas industries. Separately, his administration has pared back offshore wind leasing and made it more difficult for clean energy projects to qualify for federal dollars. 

    On the global trade front, Mr. Trump has issued a flurry of tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners, which experts say will translate into higher costs for energy projects that rely on imports. The White House is pushing these policies amid concerns over rising U.S. energy prices, with average electricity costs up 5.5% from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    To get to the bottom of which form of energy is the cheapest, CBS News analyzed the cost to produce coal, gas, nuclear, wind and solar energy, including the impact of tax incentives, tariffs and other factors.

    Determining the cheapest form of energy

    Multiple criteria come into play in trying to assess the cheapest form of energy. These include consumers’ monthly costs; the cost to produce energy; and the potential social cost energy production can have on a community’s health and the environment. External factors like tax incentives and fluctuations in the economy also can affect the price it costs to heat and cool our homes.

    CBS News set out to answer the question using what’s called the Levelized Cost of Energy, or LCOE, a commonly cited benchmark for wholesale energy costs. LCOE is the price that a power-generating facility must receive for its electricity to cover all its expenses — including capital, equipment, maintenance and other financing costs — over the lifespan of a project. 

    A 2025 LCOE report from investment bank Lazard shows the cost to produce energy without any government subsidies and how that changes when you layer in other factors, such as tax subsidies provided under the Inflation Reduction Act.

    Yet while LCOE calculations are widely used, they don’t offer a full picture when it comes to evaluating the cost and value of energy, experts told CBS News. Other factors, such as interest rates and federal regulations, can also have a major impact on the cost of building and operating energy infrastructure. 

    LCOE also doesn’t account for the value a given form of energy delivers. For example, because solar and wind are affected by the weather, they tend to be less consistent than oil and gas, meaning a backup source of energy may be necessary.

    “You have to talk about, what is the additional cost of balancing that production from a resource that doesn’t produce all the time?” Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, told CBS News.

    How tax subsidies factor in

    The U.S. government has a long history of using tax subsidies to encourage energy production. Oil and gas companies have benefited from such support for more than a century. By comparison, only in recent decades have renewable energy projects drawn a larger share of federal dollars.

    Lazard’s report shows how the LCOE for renewable energy fluctuates when you account for certain provisions of the IRA aimed at lowering the cost of developing clean energy projects. Those include the investment tax credit (ITC), production tax credit (PTC) and energy community bonus, which increases the value of the ITC and PTC by 10% for projects in certain areas. 

    Lazard’s calculations assume these credits will be in place for 10 years. Notably, however, the Republican-backed “big, beautiful bill” signed into law by Mr. Trump this summer is slated to phase out those credits over the next two years.

    Although Lazard examines how the IRA affects renewable energy prices, it doesn’t factor in any government subsidies flowing to the oil and gas industry, which vary widely and can be difficult to assess.

    The Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a bipartisan nonprofit research group, estimates that direct U.S. subsidies to the fossil fuel industry amount to at least $20 billion per year. However, the FracTracker Alliance, a nonprofit focused on the impact of fossil fuels, says the industry receives an estimated $760 billion annually in government subsidies and tax breaks.

    More benefits will go to the oil and gas industries under the “big, beautiful bill.” A June report from the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation will funnel nearly $18 billion in tax incentives to the oil and gas industry over the next 10 years. 

    Oil and gas companies have lauded the new law as a win for the industry. Sunil Mathew, chief financial officer of Occidental Petroleum, said during a recent company earnings call that the measure “will provide significant cash tax benefits to Oxy.” He expects the law will save Occidental $700 million to $800 million in “cash taxes” by the end of next year.

    How do tariffs factor into energy production costs?

    Mr. Trump’s tariffs are also projected to alter the cost it takes to fund energy projects in the U.S. To gauge the impact of tariffs on energy costs, CBS News turned to a model created by global data and analytics company Wood Mackenzie. 

    In the following chart, dark green indicates a scenario in which the U.S. hasn’t applied any country-level tariffs, but still maintains levies on copper, steel and aluminum imports; the medium shade of green represents current baseline tariffs imposed by the U.S. since Mr. Trump resumed office in January through August 7; and the light green indicates if trade relations with a U.S. economic partner is likely to worsen or deteriorate.

    As depicted, U.S. tariffs are projected to hit battery storage production the hardest. Chris Seiple, vice chairman of the power and renewables group at Wood Mackenzie, noted that while some energy equipment is produced domestically, other tech, such as battery cells, mostly comes from abroad, making them more susceptible to tariffs.

    “The vast majority of our battery cells come from China,” he said. “And so the cost of a battery project is going to go up by a certain percentage.”

    This could lead to what Seiple described as a “whack-a-mole” effect, in which over time companies move their manufacturing to non-tariffed countries to avoid an additional financial burden. 

    What is the cheapest form of energy?

    Given these multiple and interconnected factors, what ends up being the cheapest form of energy to produce? 

    According to Lazard, renewables remain the most cost-competitive form of generating and distributing energy. Onshore wind, which runs from $37 to $86 per megawatt-hour ($/MWh), is the most affordable on a baseline level and when tax subsidies are included.

    Utility scale solar — what most people think of when they hear about solar energy — is the next most cost-effective approach, with costs ranging from $38 to $78 per megawatt-hour.

    Fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources are more expensive to generate. Coal costs $71 to $173 per megawatt-hour; gas costs $48 to $109; and U.S. nuclear costs $141 to $220, Lazard found. 

    The main reasons for these differences in cost? Experts told CBS News that while the capital cost for renewable projects is steep, the expense of operating and maintaining such facilities tends to be lower than that associated with fossil fuel production. 

    “Wind and solar you basically do all the investment up front, and then it operates — not quite for free — but at extremely low operating costs per kilowatt hour,” Borenstein said. 

    With fossil fuels, the cost of oil, gas and coal — which can be volatile — is another key factor. 

    “For a natural gas-fired power plant, you have to buy the natural gas,” he explained. “And likewise, a coal-fired power plant, you have to buy the coal. And so the price… is going to fluctuate.” 

    Experts who spoke with CBS News agreed that renewable energy ends up being the most competitive when it comes to costs. Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm, concurred that solar and wind are the cheapest to run. Natural gas is the most affordable source of backup energy, which is necessary to make sure power is available around the clock, he said. 

    Seiple said if you need a small amount of inexpensive electricity, solar is the way to go. It’s “low cost to build, it can be deployed quickly and modularly, the fuel is free and not volatile in price, and the ongoing maintenance costs are minimal,” he said. “And if the U.S. didn’t penalize it with tariffs, it would be even lower cost.”

    Despite such advantages for renewable energy, experts say the U.S. shouldn’t put all of its eggs in one basket. Multiple sources told CBS News that what’s needed is a diversity of energy options that can meet the country’s rising demand for electricity. Taking certain forms of energy out of the mix would compromise the system as a whole, they note.

    “There is no one cheapest form that you can run the whole system on, and in fact, it depends on combining them in ways to [get] the cheapest possible cost,” Borenstein said.

    Mary Cunningham

    Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

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  • This Solar-Powered Dashcam Watches Your Car While You’re Off ‘Finding Yourself’ in Europe

    I remember when I had a car. I was living in Queens, and avoiding tickets was an absolute nightmare—that is, until I was informed of a neighborhood cheat code. There was a street sort of near where I lived where I could just leave my car—no alternate side parking, predetermined hours, nothing. Naturally, I went straight there and parked my car and tried my best to forget that I had one until I needed it. I thought about that car every single day. Was it still there? Had it been smashed to pieces? Abducted by aliens? Did a pack of wild rats chew their way in and declare it “Ratopia”? My point is, there’s an anxiety to leaving your car places, whether we want there to be or not, and though we can’t be omnipresent, a watchful eye would be the next best thing.

    In that vein, a new solar-powered security camera from Baseus—the same company that makes these intriguing wireless headphones and earbuds launched at IFA this month—seems specially designed for people who want to leave their car for long periods but also keep an eye on it. Baseus is billing the PrimeTrip VD1 dashcam (which is actually two cameras for the front and back of your car) as the first to offer a “hardwire-free parking monitor.” That’s thanks to what it calls a “Solar Sync System” that uses a small, high-efficiency solar panel to juice up the camera’s battery, allowing it to remain powered without being charged by a car battery.

    It’s not completely set it and forget it, though. According to Baseus, the PrimeTrip VD1 has 14 days of standby parking monitoring, which is still a pretty solid amount of juice for a camera that doesn’t even need to be plugged in. To help give it longevity, Baseus equipped the camera with a motion sensor, so it’s not recording all the time. Instead, it will flick on when motion or impact is detected, and will then automatically record 30-second clips from both front and rear cameras. Baseus says its camera can store up to 20 events, or a total of 40 clips. That footage can’t be watched remotely (there’s no 5G on this thing), but it can be downloaded via Wi-Fi to an app. You should also know that there is a difference in front and rear camera resolution; the front is 4K, and the rear camera is 1080p.

    I don’t own a car anymore, but if I did, this feels like a solution I may actually opt for, especially because I can’t really afford a car with built-in security like the kind Tesla puts in its EVs. It may not give you total peace of mind while you’re away from your vehicle for long periods, but a helping hand (or at least confirmation that someone stole your catalytic converter) doesn’t hurt.

    James Pero

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  • Will farming under solar panels take off?

    Harpal Dagar has been farming under solar panels for five years [Harpal Dagar]

    “As a farmer, you’re always at the mercy of weather,” says Harpal Dagar who has a farm on the outskirts of Delhi.

    “So many times, we lost our produce due to unpredictable conditions,” he says.

    But five years ago he was approached by Sun Master, a Delhi-based solar power firm, with a deal that would give him a much more predictable income.

    Sun Master proposed building solar panels above some of Mr Dagar’s fields, with the panels high enough off the ground, that he could continue to farm underneath them.

    Under the 25-year deal, Mr Dagar would receive annual payments and Sun Master would keep the proceeds from the electricity generated.

    “When the solar company first approached us… many of us feared losing our land. It sounded too good to be true – maybe even a scam,” says Mr Dagar.

    “But today, I believe it was the best decision I made. My income has tripled, and I sleep peacefully without the stress of climate or crop failure,” he says.

    Sun Master pays him around $1,200 (£900) per acre, per year, plus $170 a month for work operating and maintaining the solar panels.

    “Even the turmeric I grow on the same land is mine to sell. How can I complain?”

    Siting solar panels above crops goes by the term agrivoltaics.

    India would seem particularly suited to such innovation. The fortunes of many of its farmers often hinge on an unpredictable monsoon, so a reliable income from a solar energy firm might provide some welcome financial security.

    But despite the benefits, take up has been slow, around 40 projects are operating in India at the moment, according to the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), which represents India’s solar power industry.

    There are several challenges.

    Not all crops will grow under solar panels. Depending on the layout, the panels reduce the light getting through by between 15% and 30%. Some denser layouts will block too much sun for staple crops including wheat, rice, soybeans or pulses.

    “What works well are high-value crops with moderate or low-light needs, like green leafy vegetables, spices such as turmeric and ginger, and some flowers,” says Vivek Saraf, the founder and CEO of Delhi-based SunSeed, which specialises in agrivoltaics.

    There’s also the issue of expense.

    To allow farming underneath, the solar panels need to be at least 11ft (3.5m) off the ground. That makes them between 20% and 30% more expensive to install than panels on a regular solar farm, where they are much closer to the ground.

    “Small farmers cannot own these systems. They don’t have the risk appetite or capital,” says Mr Saraf.

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  • Officials celebrate after transforming farm land into facility capturing ‘unlimited’ energy: ‘It’s free power that you’re able to harness’

    Mercer County, Illinois, is now running on more sunshine. A new 38-acre solar farm is already generating enough clean energy to power around 850 homes and businesses across three counties, reported WQAD TV.

    The Goldenrod Solar Farm, developed by Cultivate Power, is made up of more than 12,000 solar panels and produces 5 megawatts of electricity. Before it officially opened at the end of July, the site had been quietly online for two months, feeding renewable energy into the grid.

    For the Essary family, who owns the land where the project sits, solar was the clear path forward. “We’ve always kind of been stewards of the land, and we felt like we needed to do something a little more to give back, so we weighed everything out and ended up going with solar as the safest for the land,” Robert Essary said.

    Residents who opt into the community solar program may see lower monthly energy bills, thanks to the stability and affordability of solar power. “It’s one of the cheapest renewable energy sources out there. Not just renewables, but energy altogether,” explained United Renewable Energy Project Manager Seth Bishop. “It’s free power that you’re able to harness from the sun, so there’s an unlimited resource there.”

    By easing demand on the regional grid, the farm will also help improve reliability for nearby communities. Mercer County currently imports much of its electricity from Missouri, but now some of that power will be homegrown. “The farther you get from your source of power, the less you’ll have overall,” Bishop said. “So, it supplements the line and will alleviate some strain on the grid there.”

    The project is also putting money back into the community. A portion of the farm’s profits is already funding local scholarships, fire departments, and youth agricultural programs, including Future Farmers of America programs at two local high schools.

    Goldenrod is one of many new solar projects across the country helping communities lower costs, strengthen local grids, and reduce reliance on dirty energy sources. Communities from Wyoming to West Virginia are already seeing the difference, with cleaner air and more reliable electricity as the payoff.

    But homeowners don’t have to wait for a solar farm to be built nearby to reap similar benefits. Adding rooftop solar can drive household energy costs close to zero, while also making other efficient appliances — like heat pumps — cheaper to run. Tools like EnergySage make it easy to compare quotes from vetted local installers and save thousands on going solar. And for those considering a heat pump, Mitsubishi can help match families with affordable options.

    Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

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  • A struggling farmer traded cotton for sheep. Grazing them on solar farms is paying off big.

    In a dusty Texas field, Chad Raines surveys his new crop — sheep.

    “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would be a shepherd,” Raines said.

    The Raines family has farmed cotton for four generations. But years of bad harvests and low prices drove him to give it up for good.

    “After about three to four years of just not making any progress, just not even breaking — I mean we were losing money and that debt was rolling over, adding to it every year. So I had to look at doing something different. I had to think outside the box,” Raines said.

    So he became part of a growing trend: abandoning traditional farming for what’s called solar grazing, renting out sheep as lawn mowers for solar farms.

    Green energy company Enel North America owns a solar farm near Waco, Texas. With more than a million panels, it’s one of the largest in the U.S.

    “The sheep work when it’s raining, the sheep work when it’s muddy, sheep work at night,” said Adam Sotirakopoulos, who runs the site.

    The sheep do most of the work, keeping vegetation away from the panels while their owners earn steady paychecks.

    Farming has always been a gamble, but the odds have gotten worse recently. A 2024 U.S. Agriculture Department report found close to 40% of small and mid-sized farms operated at a loss the previous year.

    “The small farming is going away. It’s the big companies, the bigger farmers are the ones who can farm a little bit better based on the economies of scale,” Raines said.

    Between low prices and small yields, Raines says if he’d grown cotton, he would have lost almost $200,000 last year. Instead, he cleared a profit of close to $300,000, grazing 6,000 sheep across 20,000 acres while growing a business he can eventually pass on to his sons.

    “One is a college graduate. One is in college, and when he graduates, he’s going to come to the farm as well. There’s plenty of work for all of us,” Raines said.

    Janet Shamlian

    Janet Shamlian is a CBS News correspondent based in Houston, Texas. In a career that spans three decades, Shamlian has covered many of the biggest national and international stories of our time.

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  • Trump blames renewable energy for rising electricity prices. Experts point elsewhere

    WASHINGTON — With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs.

    Trump called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site.

    Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change.

    The rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has fueled demand for energy-hungry data centers that need power to run servers, storage systems, networking equipment and cooling systems. Increased use of electric vehicles also has boosted demand, even as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to restrict tax credits and other incentives for EV purchases approved under the Biden administration.

    Natural gas prices, meanwhile, are rising sharply amid increased exports to Europe and other international customers. More than 40% of U.S. electricity is generated by natural gas.

    Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to lower Americans’ electric bills by 50%. Democrats have been quick to blame him for the price hikes, citing actions to hamstring clean energy in the sprawling tax-and-spending cut bill approved last month, as well as regulations since then to further restrict wind and solar power.

    “Now more than ever, we need more energy, not less, to meet our increased energy demand and power our grid. Instead of increasing our energy supply Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to the clean energy sector, killing jobs and projects,” said New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

    The GOP bill will cost thousands of jobs and impose higher energy costs nationwide, Heinrich and other critics said.

    A report from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan think tank, found the GOP tax law will increase the average family’s energy bill by $130 annually by 2030. “By quickly phasing out technology-neutral clean energy tax credits and adding complex material sourcing requirements,” the tax law will “significantly hamper the development of domestic electricity generation capacity,” the report said.

    Renewable advocates were more blunt.

    “The real scam is blaming solar for fossil fuel price spikes,” the Solar Energy Industries Association said in response to Trump’s post.

    “Farmers, families, and businesses choose solar to save money, preserve land, and escape high costs of the old, dirty fuels being forced on them by this administration,” the group added.

    Wind and solar offer some of the cheapest and fastest ways to provide electric power, said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, another industry group. More than 90% of new energy capacity that came online in the U.S. in 2024 was clean energy, he said.

    “Blocking cheap, clean energy while doubling down on outdated fossil fuels makes no economic or environmental sense,” added Ted Kelly, director of U.S. clean energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group.

    Energy Secretary Chris Wright blamed rising prices on “momentum” from Biden-era policies that backed renewable power over fossil fuel sources such as oil, coal and natural gas.

    “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office,” Wright told POLITICO during a visit to Iowa last week. About 60 percent of the state’s electricity comes from wind.

    Not all the pushback comes from Democrats.

    Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who backs wind power, has placed a hold on three Treasury nominees to ensure wind and solar have “an appropriate glidepath for the orderly phase-out of the tax credits” approved in the 2022 climate law under former President Joe Biden.

    Grassley said he was encouraged by new Treasury guidance that limits tax credits for wind and solar projects but does not eliminate them. The guidance “seems to offer a viable path forward for the wind and solar industries to continue to meet increased energy demand,” Grassley said in a statement.

    John Quigley, senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, said the Republican tax law will increase U.S. power bills by slowing construction of solar, wind, and battery projects and could eliminate as many as 45,000 jobs by 2030.

    Trump administration polices that emphasize fossil fuels are “an extremely backward force in this conversation,” Quigley said. “Besides ceding the clean energy future to other nations, we are paying for fossil foolishness with more than money — with our health and with our safety. And our children will pay an even higher price.”

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  • Nearly three-quarters of homeowners are concerned about rapidly rising power costs: ‘American consumers are not taking … rising energy prices lightly’

    If you feel like your energy bills keep climbing, you’re not alone — and you’re not imagining things.

    According to a new EcoFlow-Horowitz survey of homeowners in California, Texas, and Florida, 74% anticipate that the cost of electricity will continue rising in the near future. Meanwhile, 61% say their electric bill is already too high, and 75% are always looking for ways to lower it.

    “American consumers are not taking the rising energy prices lightly,” EcoFlow noted in a statement. “They’re taking stock of the increasing frequency of power outages, the rise in energy prices, and are concerned about the effects of extreme weather.”

    This pressure is especially pronounced among older homeowners and those living in California, where power costs and grid instability are recurring concerns.

    In response, more Americans are turning to solar power as a way to take control of their home energy. According to the same survey, 70% of homeowners have solar panels or are interested in getting them — with cost savings cited as the No. 1 reason.

    Going solar is one of the most effective ways to cut long-term energy expenses while also reducing the pollution that contributes to Earth’s warming. However, the high upfront cost remains a challenge for many families.

    Thankfully, solar leasing programs such as Palmetto’s LightReach initiative help homeowners avoid major upfront payments — sometimes with no money down — while still reaping the benefits of clean, affordable energy.

    “There is tremendous opportunity for increased competition in the market for backup power and solar battery solutions in the United States,” the Horowitz report noted.

    Homeowners want systems that are affordable, easy to use, and reliable, especially as outages become more common and grid prices more volatile.

    If leasing isn’t the best fit for your situation, EnergySage offers a free platform where you can compare quotes for a solar installation and get matched with top-rated local installers.

    How concerned are you about your energy bills increasing this summer?

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    Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

    Installing solar panels is one of the best home energy hacks — it can bring your electricity costs down to or near $0. EnergySage makes it easy to compare quotes and potentially save up to $10,000 on an installation.

    If you’re ready to go solar but are unsure if leasing or buying solar panels is your best option, you can compare the pros and cons on Palmetto’s list.

    You can also swap your HVAC system for a heat pump and save nearly $400 per year. Mitsubishi has affordable, high-efficiency models to help you get started.

    Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

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  • China rushes to build out solar, emissions edge downward

    TALATAN, China — High on the Tibetan plateau, Chinese government officials last month showed off what they say will be the world’s largest solar farm when completed — 610 square kilometers (235 square miles), the size of the American city of Chicago.

    China has been installing solar panels at a blistering pace, far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. A study released Thursday found that the country’s carbon emissions edged down 1% in the first six months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a trend that began in March 2024.

    The good news is China’s carbon emissions may have peaked well ahead of a government target of doing so before 2030. But China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to bring them down much more sharply to play its part in slowing global climate change.

    For China to reach its declared goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, emissions would need to fall 3% on average over the next 35 years, said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based author of the study and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

    “China needs to get to that 3% territory as soon as possible,” he said.

    China’s emissions have fallen before during economic slowdowns. What’s different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7% in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyzes the most recent data in a study published on the U.K.-based Carbon Brief website.

    “We’re talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China’s emissions,” he said.

    China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America’s entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, the study said. Electricity from solar has overtaken hydropower in China and is poised to surpass wind this year to become the country’s largest source of clean energy. Some 51 gigawatts of wind power was added from January to June.

    Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, described the plateauing of China’s carbon emissions as a turning point in the effort to combat climate change.

    “This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape,” he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he said.

    But Li cautioned that China’s heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat to progress on climate and said the economy needs to shift to less resource-intensive sectors. “There’s still a long road ahead,” he said.

    A seemingly endless expanse of solar panels stretches toward the horizon on the Tibetan plateau. White two-story buildings rise above them at regular intervals. Sheep graze on the scrubby vegetation that grows under them.

    Solar panels have been installed on about two-thirds of the land. When completed, it will have more than 7 million panels and be capable of generating enough power for 5 million households.

    Like many of China’s solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centers and factories in China’s east.

    “The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,” Zhang Jinming, the vice governor of Qinghai province, told journalists on a government-organized tour.

    Part of the solution is building transmission lines traversing the country. One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country.

    Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China’s electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said.

    “This is an issue that the policymakers have recognized and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,” he said. “So it’s no small task.”

    ___

    Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang contributed.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Pilot breaks altitude record for solar-powered plane, crossing paths with commercial airliner, his team says

    Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan beat the altitude record for a solar-powered electric plane in a flight that took him soaring to 9,521 meters, or 31,237 feet, his team announced Wednesday.

    The SolarStratos plane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on Tuesday, taking advantage of warm air thermals to go beyond the record that has stood for 15 years.

    The certified altitude record for a solar plane stands at 9,235 meters, or 30,298 feet.

    The achievement is “one of those unforgettable peaks that define great human and technological adventures,” the SolarStratos mission said in a statement.

    Solar-powered plane SolarStratos piloted by Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan is seen taking off at the Sion airport, on Aug. 8, 2025, during his first attempt of the season at setting a new aviation record by reaching an altitude of 10,000 meters. 

    FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images


    At cruising altitude, Domjan actually crossed paths with a commercial airliner, SolarStratos said, calling the moment “a powerful symbol of what the decarbonized aviation of tomorrow might look like.”

    Domjan’s flight lasted five hours and nine minutes.

    “I share this moment of joy with all the people who have been preparing for this achievement for years,” the 53-year-old said.

    The data will be sent to the World Air Sports Federation governing body, which will decide whether to validate the new record.

    “It is the pressure altitude corrected to standard density altitude that is recognized as the official reference for aviation altitude records,” the SolarStratos team said.

    Domjan — whose company bio describes him as a “eco-adventurer” and lecturer who pilots planes, gliders and helicopters — is aiming to be the first to take a solar-powered plane above 10,000 meters, flying at the same altitude as airliners. If that barrier is broken, the team hopes to go on and make a first manned solar-powered flight into the stratosphere, which at Switzerland’s latitude begins at around 12,000 meters.

    “This achievement marks a major milestone on the path toward reaching the stratosphere using only solar power — and already fulfils the mission’s goal: to capture imaginations with emblematic, spectacular challenges that promote solar energy and the protection of our biosphere and planet,” SolarStratos said.

    The front-mounted single propeller plane, registration HB-SXA, is made of carbon fiber to ensure lightness and strength. SolarStratos is 9.6 meters long, and its huge wingspan of 24.8 meters accommodates the 22 square meters of high-spec solar panels topping the wings, and allows for flying at low speeds.

    The plane, which SolarStartos calls “daring and finely engineered,” can take off at low speeds, from 50 kilometers per hour upwards. Its maximum speed is 140 kph, while its cruising speed is around 80 kph.

    “Tomorrow can be better than what we have today”  

    In 2012, the pioneering Domjan became the first person to sail around the world in a fully solar-powered boat, a journey that began in Miami in 2010.

    “It’s important to demonstrate what we can achieve with solar energy,” the adventurer told AFP.

    “The dream of flight is probably the oldest dream of mankind,” he said.

    “My goal is to show to the young generation of today and tomorrow that tomorrow it will still be possible to fly without burning any fossil energies,” he said.

    “This is what we want to achieve: it’s really to show that the world of tomorrow can be better than what we have today,” he added.

    A warm-up flight on July 31 got to 6,589 meters, surpassing the plane’s previous best in 2024.

    SWITZERLAND-AVIATION-RECORD-SCIENCE-ENERGY

    Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan gives a thumbs up prior to takeoff in his first attempt of the season at setting an aviation record by reaching an altitude of 10,000 meters onboard the solar-powered plane SolarStratos at the Sion airport, in Sion, southwestern Switzerland on Aug. 8, 2025. 

    FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images


    A first attempt on Friday was quickly abandoned when the forecast thermals failed to materialize, saving the batteries for Sunday when the plane got to 8,224 meters.

    During the first phase of record attempts, the aircraft has to make maximum use of rising warm air currents to climb to around 4,000-5,000 meters. It then has to recharge its batteries at this altitude before climbing again.

    Before takeoff, the batteries must be fully charged using solar energy, and the plane has to land under its own power — it cannot glide back in on zero charge — and have at least 16% charge in the batteries.

    If the flight is to be certified as a record, all the energy used during the flight must have been produced by the solar cells. The current record was set in 2010 by the Solar Impulse experimental plane, with Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg at the controls.

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  • One of the largest solar projects in the US opens in Texas, backed by Google

    One of the largest solar projects in the US opens in Texas, backed by Google

    One of the largest solar projects in the U.S. opened in Texas on Friday, backed by what Google said is the largest solar electricity purchase it has ever made.

    Google executive Ben Sloss said at the ribbon cutting, about two hours south of Dallas, that the corporation has a responsibility to bring renewable, carbon-free electricity online at the same time it opens operations that will use that power. Google expects to spend $16 billion through 2040 globally to purchase clean energy, he said.

    U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who attended, said the solar project is a posterchild for the administration’s efforts to incentivize manufacturers and developers to locate energy projects in the U.S.

    “Sometimes when you are in the middle of history, it’s hard to tell, because you are in the middle of it,” she said. “But I’m telling you right now that we are in the middle of history being made.”

    SB Energy built three solar farms side by side, the “Orion Solar Belt,” in Buckholts, Texas. Combined, they will be able to provide 875 megawatts of clean energy. That is nearly the size of a typical nuclear facility. In total, Google has contracted with clean energy developers to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of new wind and solar projects to the state, which it says exceeds the amount of power required for its operations there.

    Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all recently announced investments in nuclear energy to power data centers, too, as the tech giants seek new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Google has a commitment to get all of its electricity without contributing to climate change, regardless of time of day or whether the sun is up, but neither it nor other large companies are meeting those commitments with the rise of artificial intelligence.

    The International Energy Agency forecasts that data centers’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, more than doubling from 2022. Estimates suggest one terawatt-hour can power 70,000 homes for a year.

    The demand for power is also growing globally as buildings and vehicles electrify. People used more electricity than ever last year, placing strain on electric grids around the world.

    In August, Google said it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Texas this year to support its cloud and data center infrastructure.

    Google will use about 85% of the project’s solar power for data centers in Ellis County and for cloud computing in the Dallas region. In Ellis County, Google operates a data center campus in Midlothian and is building out a new campus in Red Oak. The rest of the solar power will go to the state’s electrical grid. Thousands of sheep graze in the area, maintaining the vegetation around the solar arrays.

    “This project was a spreadsheet and a set of emails that I had been exchanging and a bunch of approvals and so on. And then you come over the rise over there and you see it laid out in front of you and it kind of takes your breath away, right? Because there’s this enormous field of solar arrays,” Sloss said during the ceremony. “And we actually collectively have done this. That is amazing.”

    SB Energy said most of the solar farm components are made in the United States, and that’s only possible because the climate law formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act spurred clean energy manufacturing. The company expects the projects to be the first to qualify for an extra tax credit the law affords for using domestic content.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • The success of renewable energy may depend on battery storage

    The success of renewable energy may depend on battery storage

    The success of renewable energy may depend on battery storage – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Battery storage is what allows renewable energy to provide power even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. It’s key to making the electrical grid reliable as we transition away from coal and gas. Ben Tracy examines how battery technology is improving.

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