Wind Markets & Policy
China’s Wind Market Is Cooling Dow
Here are some of the stories we’re reading this morning.
by GTM Editors
November 22, 2016
Windpower Monthly: China Installation Slowdown Begins
The figures from the NEA correspond to a drop off that had been expected in the world's largest wind market.
According to Windpower Intelligence (WPI), the research and data division of Windpower Monthly, in the first nine months of 2015, China added just shy of 16GW. The country would go on to install 20GW in the entire year.
WPI figures for 2016 suggest China has added 11GW in the first nine months.
The discrepancy is due to WPI counting grid connected capacity, therefore, the higher total compared to the NEA could be as a result of capacity installed in 2015 but connected in 2016 as China continues to battle grid issues.
Los Angeles Times: Tesla Officially Owns SolarCity
Tesla Motors Inc. now owns the nation's largest solar panel installer: The automaker's deal to acquire SolarCity Corp. closed Monday morning.
Shareholders of both Elon Musk companies approved the deal last week by wide margins. The all-stock deal valued SolarCity at $2 billion based on Tesla's closing stock price Friday. It was worth $2.6 billion when Tesla and SolarCity announced the agreement in August, but their share prices have dropped since then.
Westport News: Progress Under Obama Won't Be Undone by Trump, Says EPA Chief
President-elect Donald Trump will not derail progress made in fighting climate change and creating clean-energy jobs, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency insisted on Monday in arguing "the inevitability of our clean energy future is bigger than any one person or nation."
EPA chief Gina McCarthy said the world is "in a spectacularly different place today than we were when President (Barack) Obama took office," citing new environmental rules and actions to help create thousands of jobs in renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
New York Times: A Bleak Outlook for Trump’s Promises to Coal Miners
Donald J. Trump made coal a centerpiece of his campaign, holding rousing rallies with miners in hard hats, who he said had been neglected under eight years of the Obama administration. The strategy paid off, helping him score crucial wins in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Now, though, coal may prove a different sort of symbol -- that is, of the challenges that the president-elect will face delivering on his many promises to restore struggling sectors of the American economy.
The United States coal industry and the jobs that support it have been in decline for decades as a result of environmental concerns, automation in mining and slowdowns in manufacturing industries that burned coal for power.
Quartz: Scientists Have Created a Solar-Powered Fabric
A group of nanotechnology scientists have created copper “ribbons” that are thin and flexible enough to be embedded in a woven fabric, and capable of harvesting and storing solar energy simultaneously. The innovation could prove important for making wearable tech self-powering -- as long as it’s sunny out, anyway -- and means a greater possibility that one day you’ll be able to buy a solar-powered jacket that can charge your phone.
“The most important thing is the portability of this device,” says Dr. Jayan Thomas, a scientist at the University of Central Florida’s NanoScience Technology Center and the lead researcher on the project. “Instead of having two separate devices, we integrated [the solar cell and storage battery] into a single filament.”
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