The Remarkable Progress of Renewable Energy

[lpetrich]

Heat pump sales rise 17% across Europe in Q1 as energy prices surge – pv magazine International - Residential heat pump sales increased 17% across 11 European countries in the first quarter of 2026, following a sharp rise in gas and oil prices after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in March, says the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).

Heat pumps are good for electric heating.

Solar panels reduce thermal stress in dairy barns during critical afternoon hours – pv magazine International - A study from China shows rooftop PV systems on dairy barns can significantly reduce roof heat flux and improve indoor thermal conditions. Field measurements and simulations found up to a 2.3 C reduction in indoor temperature during peak afternoon heat stress periods.

From solar panels being extra insulation.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Solar panels reduce thermal stress in dairy barns during critical afternoon hours – pv magazine International - A study from China shows rooftop PV systems on dairy barns can significantly reduce roof heat flux and improve indoor thermal conditions. Field measurements and simulations found up to a 2.3 C reduction in indoor temperature during peak afternoon heat stress periods.

From solar panels being extra insulation.

Not only insulation, but they absorb some of the incoming energy, not merely slow it's passage.

But, don't worry, they're making sure it doesn't work:

Coal pollution is cutting solar power output worldwide, study finds

New research led by the University of Oxford and University College London (UCL) has revealed that pollution from coal-fired power plants is significantly reducing the energy output of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) installations, particularly where these are expanding side by side. The findings...

phys.org

 

[lpetrich]

Team Trump keeps using tax dollars to scuttle renewable energy projects

In March, the Republican administration announced it had agreed to pay a foreign company almost $1 billion in American taxpayer money to abandon two wind farm projects that would have produced enough electricity to power more than 1.3 million homes and businesses across New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.

...
In April, it happened again, when the Republican administration announced plans to pay energy companies nearly $900 million to abandon plans for two offshore wind farms.

...
The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s buying back another energy company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four more wind projects, as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

This latest move, which came with a $765 million price tag, affects plans for planned projects off the coasts of New York, California and Maine.

Instead building natural-gas and geothermal projects.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Team Trump keeps using tax dollars to scuttle renewable energy projects

In March, the Republican administration announced it had agreed to pay a foreign company almost $1 billion in American taxpayer money to abandon two wind farm projects that would have produced enough electricity to power more than 1.3 million homes and businesses across New York, New Jersey and North Carolina.

...
In April, it happened again, when the Republican administration announced plans to pay energy companies nearly $900 million to abandon plans for two offshore wind farms.

...
The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s buying back another energy company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four more wind projects, as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

This latest move, which came with a $765 million price tag, affects plans for planned projects off the coasts of New York, California and Maine.

Instead building natural-gas and geothermal projects.

Yea, this is why we're going to start dramatically falling behind the Chinese. They make long term decisions based on reason. We make short term decisions based on satisfying crazy people on the fringe to keep their vote.

 

[lpetrich]

Trump admin abandons fight against wind energy as clean energy output surges

The Trump administration has abandoned its effort to halt wind energy projects across the United States and dropped its challenge to the court ruling that tossed President Donald Trump’s order freezing federal permitting and leasing for wind projects. States that challenged the order hailed the development as one of the most significant legal victories against the Trump White House’s campaign against the energy transition.

...
Monday’s decision affirms the December 8 ruling by US District Court Judge Patti Saris, which concluded that Trump’s January 2025 executive order was unlawful, finding the sweeping ban on wind projects was “arbitrary and capricious” and exceeded the president’s authority.

...
This latest victory in a string of legal setbacks for the administration comes at a time when clean energy production continues to surge despite a slew of policy, permitting, and procedural hurdles imposed by the White House.

According to a recent report from the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and Atlas Public Policy, a record 79.7 GW of clean power is projected to come online in the US in 2026, even as roughly 8 GW of clean energy projects were canceled in the first quarter of the year.

The project pipeline remains strong, the report found, with 222 GW of clean energy capacity planned or under construction nationwide as part of 693 GW of power announced through the first quarter. Developers have announced plans to invest an estimated $377 billion in new projects through 2031, the report said in its key findings.

...
On June 6, the US District Court for the District of Columbia tossed an August 2025 Treasury rule that made it difficult for wind and solar projects to qualify for federal tax credits. The change eliminated the longstanding practice whereby developers locked in tax credits by showing that 5 percent or more of a project’s total cost had been spent. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the administration had not given a sound reason for the change and sent the rule back to the IRS to reconsider.

Noting
AG Campbell Secures Final Victory As Court Dismisses Trump Administration's Appeal In Case Over Federal Offshore Wind Permitting Pause | Mass.gov

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 18 attorneys general today celebrated the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s dismissal of the Trump Administration’s appeal of the states’ victory in their lawsuit challenging the federal government’s unlawful order to freeze all federal permitting for wind energy projects.

...
On January 20, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely froze all federal approvals needed for the development of wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities. In May, the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging those actions and in December, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated those actions, ruling that they were arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law. The federal government appealed that ruling but subsequently decided to drop that appeal. Today, the Court entered a judgement dismissing the appeal and cementing the states’ victory.

Nice to see some good news about renewable energy.

 

[excreationist]

I thought this Chinese solar video was cool: