Clean energy industry faces economic headwinds

Aug 1, 2023
Inflation and rising interest rates are making it harder for some projects to get off the ground.
A ship carries wind turbine components to the Port of New Bedford.
Daniel Ackerman/Marketplace

Wyoming, long known as a top coal producing state, makes a big move into wind energy

Jul 31, 2023
A new power line project will transfer Wyoming wind to supply parts of the Southwest with electricity. Wyoming’s focus on renewable energy is a shift from its history with fossil fuels.
Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon attended the ground breaking ceremony. Despite the state’s fossil fuel history, he said this project is needed to address climate change.
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media

New energy projects are coming to small towns. Where will workers live?

Jul 11, 2023
The Biden administration is eyeing nuclear as one solution to ‘clean’ energy, but as a new nuclear plant moves into a rural community in Wyoming, there's another challenge — housing shortages for workers.
Kemmerer, Wyoming is known for both its prehistoric fossils and its fossil fuel industry.
Caitlin Tan for Marketplace

"Made in America" policy can actually hurt the U.S., economist says

Adam Posen agrees with the goals of boosting green energy and keeping China at bay. But he says protectionism won't achieve them.
One example of industrial policy is subsidies for companies doing work in clean energy, like the kind that the Inflation Reduction Act provides.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Taking stock of Big Tech and Russian energy with Europe’s Competition Commissioner

Sep 21, 2022
The BBC’s Victoria Craig speaks with Margrethe Vestager about Big Tech and the green energy initiatives.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's competition chief.
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Some African countries are benefiting from EU members' search for new energy sources

Jul 19, 2022
South Africa has seen a boom in coal exports. But critics say European countries shouldn't keep feeding their coal habit.
The European Union will stop importing Russian coal in August. Above, coal storage for the coal-fired power plant of the German energy supplier Steag in Duisburg, Germany.
Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

Sustainable fuel for planes is closer than you may think

Feb 17, 2022
Still, it will take greater regulation to popularize its use. "Voluntary goals don't work," one expert told us.
Carl Court/AFP Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Grid operators struggle with volume of connection requests from renewables

Feb 7, 2022
The number of proposed solar projects has spiked as costs have declined, but the transmission system can't accommodate them.
Energy experts say grids are not prepared for the tidal wave of renewable energy coming their way.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

One year in, Biden's clean energy and climate agenda are in the balance

Jan 19, 2022
The bipartisan infrastructure bill’s passage was a win for the administration’s climate agenda, but many think Biden's commitment to climate policy lies at the feet of the Build Back Better bill.
President Joe Biden speaks during the World Leaders' Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Nov. 1, 2021.
Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

Maine judge quashes Hydro-Quebec power line plan for now

Dec 17, 2021
The transmission line, in the works for years, would start in Quebec and bring hydro power through Maine to Massachusetts.
A view of Hydro-Quebec's Romaine 4 hydroelectric dam floor in the Côte-Nord Administrative Region of Quebec, Canada, on Oct. 5, 2018. Hydro-Quebec's plans for a hydro energy transmission line that would run through Maine into Massachusetts were put on hold by a judge.
LARS HAGBERG/AFP via Getty Images