Hacker News with Generative AI: Renewable Energy

How Europe is funding its solar boom (dw.com)
The EU has doubled its solar capacity in the last three years. How have subsidies made this possible, what support is still available, and what still needs to happen?
Renewable Energy, Europe, Solar Power, Government Policy, Subsidies
5 points by rntn 17 hours ago | 0 comments
More Solar and Battery Storage Added to TX Grid Than Other Power Src Last Year (insideclimatenews.org)
As the market for renewables in Texas continues to strengthen and innovate, the power makeup of the state’s electric grid is slated to keep shifting toward adding more renewables. Last year, solar and battery storage installation led capacity growth within Texas’ electric grid, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas published in January.
Renewable Energy, Texas, Energy Storage
111 points by indigodaddy 6 days ago | 119 comments
Carbon capture more costly than switching to renewables, researchers find (techxplore.com)
For most countries around the world, sourcing energy entirely from wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower by 2050 would reduce their energy needs and costs, improve air quality, and help slow climate change, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology.
Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Research, Cost Analysis
574 points by Brajeshwar 6 days ago | 500 comments
Cheap solar power is sending electrical grids into a death spiral (economist.com)
Cheap solar power is sending electrical grids into a death spiral
Renewable Energy, Energy, Economics
105 points by blackhawkC17 8 days ago | 118 comments
Global Cost of Renewables to Continue Falling in 2025 as China Extends Lead (bnef.com)
New York/ London, February 6, 2025 – The cost of clean power technologies such as wind, solar and battery technologies are expected to fall further by 2-11% in 2025, breaking last year’s record. According to a latest report by research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF), new wind and solar farms are already undercutting new coal and gas plants on production cost in almost every market globally.
Renewable Energy, Energy Costs, China, Global Economics
7 points by toomuchtodo 14 days ago | 2 comments
Balcony solar is taking off (theguardian.com)
“If 1.5 million Germans have bought solar balcony kits there must be something in it,” he says.
Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Germany
219 points by mcp_ 14 days ago | 228 comments
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan (teslarati.com)
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
Tesla, Energy Storage, Japan, Batteries, Renewable Energy
5 points by bilsbie 18 days ago | 0 comments
Giant Solar Farm in Mojave Desert Could Close Just a Decade After Opening (ibtimes.com)
A California utility wants to end its agreement to buy power from a giant solar farm in the Mojave Desert because it found cheaper alternative clean energy sources, a move that will sound the death knell to what was once the world's largest solar plant, according to reports.
Renewable Energy, Solar Power, California, Environmental Issues, Energy
4 points by Tempest1981 20 days ago | 2 comments
Battery-powered electric ferry service to connect Spain and Morocco (theiet.org)
The first-ever ‘green’ ferry service carrying passengers from mainland Spain to Morocco has been announced by Spanish operator Baleària.
Renewable Energy, Transportation, Spain, Morocco, Ferry Services
37 points by adrian_mrd 21 days ago | 26 comments
Offshore Wind Power-Seawater Electrolysis-Salt Cavern Hydrogen Storage System (mdpi.com)
Renewable Energy, Hydrogen Storage, Electrolysis
7 points by PaulHoule 22 days ago | 0 comments
US's wind and solar will generate more power than coal in 2024 (arstechnica.com)
Utility-scale solar generation is up by over 30% amid future uncertainties.
Energy, Renewable Energy, Climate Change, United States, Coal
10 points by ksec 24 days ago | 4 comments
The next world's tallest building could be a 3k-feet-high battery (cnn.com)
Architecture, Renewable Energy, Batteries
9 points by pseudolus 26 days ago | 6 comments
California went a record 98 days with 10 hours of electricity from renewables (grist.org)
A new study in the journal Renewable Energy that looked at California’s deployment of renewable power highlights just how reliable the future of energy might be. It found that last year, from late winter to early summer, renewables fulfilled 100 percent of the state’s electricity demand for up to 10 hours on 98 of 116 days, a record for California.
Renewable Energy, California, Climate Change, Energy Storage, Research
29 points by vegetablepotpie 26 days ago | 31 comments
Eco-friendly aluminum battery lasts 10k cycles with minimal loss (techxplore.com)
Large batteries for long-term storage of solar and wind power are key to integrating abundant and renewable energy sources into the U.S. power grid. However, there is a lack of safe and reliable battery technologies to support the push toward sustainable, clean energy. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have designed a cost-effective and environment-friendly aluminum-ion (Al-ion) battery that could fit the bill.
Battery Technology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Environment
30 points by Brajeshwar 27 days ago | 11 comments
Solar Overtakes Coal in EU (semafor.com)
Solar power has overtaken coal in the European Union for the first time, according to research released Thursday.
Renewable Energy, EU, Coal, Solar Energy
18 points by belter 28 days ago | 16 comments
China installed a record capacity of solar and wind in 2024 – in numbers (electrek.co)
China saw monumental solar and wind growth in 2024, according to data released today by its National Energy Administration (NEA).
China, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Wind Power, Energy
30 points by zfg 31 days ago | 10 comments
Ask HN: Is wind power financially viable without subsidies? (ycombinator.com)
It's very hard to find current non-ideological information on this topic.
Renewable Energy, Economics, Wind Power, Subsidies
20 points by xnx 31 days ago | 56 comments
China's Installed Renewables Achieved yet Another Record in 2024 (bloomberg.com)
China broke its own record in installing renewable power in 2024, as the world’s top polluter continues to push its energy transition while the US shifts away from fighting climate change.
China, Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Energy Transition
10 points by toomuchtodo 32 days ago | 2 comments
France's 2024 Power Grid Was 95% Fossil Free as Nuclear, Renewables Jumped (bloomberg.com)
France’s low-carbon electricity output surged to more than 95% of annual power production for the first time in 2024, as rising nuclear and hydro generation squeezed the use of fossil fuels.
France, Energy, Nuclear Power, Renewable Energy, Climate Change
10 points by toomuchtodo 32 days ago | 1 comments
Bioinspired weather-responsive adaptive shading (uni-stuttgart.de)
Pine cones as a model: Researchers at the universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg have developed a new, energy-autonomous facade system that adapts passively to the weather. The journal "Nature Communications" has published the research results.
Bioinspired Design, Architecture, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
40 points by gnabgib 35 days ago | 8 comments
Device uses wind to create ammonia out of air (ieee.org)
Lots of green energy experiments in the lab publish impressive results—but what’s more impressive is when those results come from an actual on-site pilot demonstration in the real world. That’s the case with new research that is able to generate ammonia out of thin air, without requiring an external power source.
Renewable Energy, Green Technology, Chemistry, Engineering
147 points by rbanffy 36 days ago | 116 comments
China plans to build enormous solar array in space (livescience.com)
Space Exploration, Renewable Energy, China, Technology
5 points by bookofjoe 36 days ago | 3 comments
Lightcell: An engine that uses light to make electricity (lightcellenergy.com)
Renewable Energy, Energy, Technology
229 points by curl-up 38 days ago | 137 comments
Largest compressed air energy storage facility starts operation in China (ess-news.com)
A 300 MW compressed air energy storage (CAES) power station utilizing two underground salt caverns in central China’s Hubei Province was successfully connected to the grid at full capacity, making it the largest operating project of the kind in the world.
Energy Storage, Renewable Energy, China, Engineering
6 points by gnabgib 42 days ago | 0 comments
Innovative ways to float skyscraper-sized wind turbines (mena-forum.com)
Record-tall Wind Turbine Towers with 3D-printed Concrete Bases were in the news a few years back. Today, here are six innovative ways to float skyscraper-sized wind turbines. These enormous turbines can reach up to 240m tall—about the size of a skyscraper. Since they are so tall, strong winds far above the sea surface tend to cause the turbine to tilt, so platform designs focus on minimising this tilt while still being cost-competitive with other forms of energy.
Renewable Energy, Engineering, Wind Power, Construction, Sustainability
30 points by yread 42 days ago | 12 comments
Why Did We Wait So Long for Wind Power? (construction-physics.com)
Since the early 2000s, wind power has been a substantial fraction of new electricity capacity in the US. In 2020 wind power was 42% of new electricity generation capacity, and in 2021 it was 32%.
Renewable Energy, Energy, Climate Change, Wind Power
28 points by chautumn 42 days ago | 10 comments
World's largest pumped storage power plant fully operational in China (ess-news.com)
The Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station, the world’s largest facility of its kind, has commenced full operations with the commissioning of its final variable-speed unit on December 31.
Renewable Energy, China, Energy, Power Plants, Infrastructure
82 points by philipkglass 43 days ago | 86 comments
Renewable Energy Made Up 62.7% of Germany's Electricity in 2024 (ecowatch.com)
Renewables are now making up a majority of the net public electricity generation in Germany, according to a new report by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).
Renewable Energy, Germany, Electricity Generation, Energy Policy, Climate Change
37 points by belter 44 days ago | 57 comments
Germans turn to balcony solar panels to save money (france24.com)
Berlin (AFP) – As snowflakes gently settled on his balcony solar panels on a cold winter's day, Berliner Jens Sax checked his smartphone to see how much electricity they were generating.
Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Germany, Energy Costs, Climate Change
66 points by vinni2 44 days ago | 78 comments
High electricity prices in California have nothing to do with renewables (pv-magazine-usa.com)
New research from Stanford University has shown that California could massively rely on renewable energies to cover its electricity demand without risks of blackouts and high energy prices.
Renewable Energy, California, Energy Prices, Research
9 points by toomuchtodo 47 days ago | 4 comments