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Solar power

Our old electrical grid is limiting how much wind and solar power we can use

by Caleigh Wells
Sep 17, 2024
It isn't easy to upgrade a 20th-century system of transmission lines, generating stations and home outlets for 21st-century needs.
Solar and wind power generate direct current, which must be converted to alternating current to "play well" with the existing electrical grid, historian Julie Cohn says.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Battery energy storage is a growing source of electricity

by Elizabeth Trovall
Sep 5, 2024
Using stored renewable energy can help the grid — and be profitable for battery operators — especially when electricity demand is high.
A solar power and battery energy storage system in Daggett, California.
Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Breaking Ground

How the Inflation Reduction Act could change the future of one Native American reservation

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Jun 24, 2024
Bob Blake, member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa and owner of a solar development company, explains how the IRA could lead to more solar power on the reservation.
Bob Blake and Ralph Jacobson are developing solar energy at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota.
Andie Corban/Marketplace
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The federal government is investing in solar. Chinese companies are getting a share of it.

by Amy Scott and Sofia Terenzio
Feb 7, 2024
Chinese manufacturers are building solar panel factories on U.S. soil to avoid tariffs and garner subsidies, reports WSJ's Phred Dvorak.
Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act are meant to offset some of the costs of manufacturing solar panels in the United States.
Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images
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To put more renewable power to use, utilities are doubling down on battery storage

by Henry Epp
Jan 16, 2024
Giant batteries can extend the reach of wind and solar power — which accounted for 22% of electricity generated last year, the EIA says.
Rows of lithium ion batteries that store renewable energy. The EIA expects utility battery storage to nearly double by the end of 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
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A Warmer World

Georgia program offers solar panels to lower-income households

by Emily Jones
Dec 19, 2023
A Georgia program is seeking to alleviate the financial burden of solar installation to promote green energy.
Solar installer Nicole Lee takes a photo of a house she says is “solar-ready” thanks to its sturdy roof and up-to-date electrical system.
Emily Jones/WABE
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Going solar isn't always sunshine and rainbows

by Kai Ryssdal , Sarah Leeson and Sofia Terenzio
Oct 13, 2023
For the early adopters of rooftop solar panels, maintaining and repairing faulty panels is a costly challenge of its own.
Many solar panel companies have gone out of business, making it hard for early adopters to repair faulty panels.
adamkaz / Getty Images
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Solar a bright spot in slow progress toward U.S. renewable energy goals

by Samantha Fields
Aug 30, 2023
Shipments of solar panels reached a record high last year, though most were imported. They're also getting cheaper.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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In the California desert, old EV batteries now store solar power

by Caleigh Wells
Jul 14, 2023
It's a small market so far, but using the excess supply of used batteries could help meet the high demand for stored clean energy.
Used electric vehicle batteries are pulled out of cars and plugged into systems in these trailers to begin their second careers as clean energy storage devices.
Caleigh Wells for Marketplace
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The Inflation Reduction Act will generate more than 1 million wind and solar jobs by 2035

by Elizabeth Trovall
Jun 12, 2023
How to staff up the slew of renewable energy projects ushered in under the legislation is a pressing question within the industry.
As renewable energy projects get underway, new jobs will be created in construction and especially in manufacturing. Above, wind turbine blades in New Mexico.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
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