Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

You are here: Home / Archives for solar installations

solar installations

Global solar power on the rise

By Leave a Comment

The current administration has essentially declared war on renewable energy.  President Trump stated recently that his administration will not approve solar or wind power projects.  Renewable companies are unlikely to receive permits that were once a normal course of business. Now, the United States is likely to struggle to meet its growing demand for electricity while the world moves ahead with solar power.

Solar power is the fastest-growing source of electricity worldwide.  Installations are up 64% in the first half of this year.  During that period, countries installed 380 gigawatts of solar power, compared with 232 gigawatts in 2024.

China is the main source of the growth.  It installed more than twice as much solar in the first half of the year as it did in the first half of 2024.  Under tremendous administration pressure, the U.S. saw solar installations rise by just 4% year over year.

China’s exporting of low-cost solar panels is driving growth of solar elsewhere, including India and much of Africa. 

China is at a crossroads with energy technology.  For the first time, solar power is not just supplementing coal power, but replacing it.  As a result, Chinese policymakers need to choose between propping up coal – which is an important industry in many cities – and doubling down on renewables, which are a major driver of the country’s economic growth.

The U.S. is currently headed in the direction of trying to prop up the fossil fuel industry and gut the renewable energy industry, with little or no regard for either the economic or environmental consequences.

**********

Web Links

Global Solar Installations Up 64 Percent So Far This Year

Photo, posted April 6, 2025, courtesy of Pencils for Kids via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solar on farmland

By Leave a Comment

New studies have found that devoting a small percentage of U.S. farmland to producing solar power would benefit both the country’s energy system and its farmers.

Currently, about 46,000 square miles of farmland – about the area of Pennsylvania – is being used to grow corn to make ethanol.  One study looked at the impact of using some of this land for solar power instead of corn ethanol.

Not much of all this farmland is close enough to electrical transmission lines to be practical for utility solar power.  In fact, only about 1,500 square miles fits the bill.  But if even this small fraction of the corn growing land was used instead for solar power, it would generate as much energy each year than from all of the farms growing corn for fuel.

Solar installations on farms are helpful for farmers as well.  The land beneath the panels can be used to grow wildflowers that attracts the bees, wasps, and other insects needed to pollinate crops in the nearby fields.  In addition, the solar arrays provide a steady income stream for farmers.

In some places, farmers can earn substantially more from leasing their land for solar than from growing crops.  But a study of farms in California suggests that the best option is to do both.  Farmers who both grow crops and host solar arrays can have more financial security than those who do just one or the other.  The income from solar arrays is pretty predictable and is paid throughout the year.  Income from crops can drop off from, for example, a seasonal drought, or from extreme weather events.

**********

Web Links

To Help Growers and the Grid, Build Solar on Farmland, Research Says

Photo, posted June 9, 2016, courtesy of Matt Lavin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California renewable energy

By Leave a Comment

California has aggressively pursued the use of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind power.  Last year, renewables supplied 54% of the state’s electricity needs.  This year, California has been achieving some remarkable milestones with its renewable energy.

As of May 26th, California had produced more than 100% of its electricity demand with wind, solar, and hydropower for parts of 51 straight days and 75 out of 81 days.  On May 25th, California’s grid ran entirely on renewable energy for 10.1 straight hours and renewables provided 83% of the state’s electricity for the entire 24-hour period.  California uses more electricity than any other state apart than Texas, which uses more than half its energy for operating refineries and petrochemical plants.

Excess power in California is either exported to other states or is used to charge up the state’s growing arrays of energy storage batteries.  California has the largest grid-connected battery storage facility in the world, located in Kern County.  The facility can store nearly 3,300 megawatt-hours of energy.

The ability to produce more power than the state needs occurs during the day when the sun is shining, and when many people are not at home.  At night, demand goes up and solar power is not available.  But as the quantity of energy storage available continues to grow along with additional solar installations, California will ultimately be able to wean off of the gas-fueled power plants it predominantly uses at night.

According to some experts, California may operate entirely on renewables and battery storage as soon as 2035. 

**********

Web Links

California exceeds 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 30 days

Photo, posted January 11, 2016, courtesy of Jared Eberhardt via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sunlight As A Cash Crop

By Leave a Comment

It isn’t so easy to be a farmer these days.  Farming has always involved long hours, hard work and the uncertainties of weather and yield.  The 21st Century has added new and unique challenges such as increasingly unpredictable weather, insect infestation and disease, and low commodity prices.  Add in sudden tariffs and farmers struggle even more to make ends meet.  The default rate for farmers’ loans is the the highest in at least nine years.

One thing that remains reliable for farmers is the sun.  It rises in the morning and goes down at night.  The sun can be trusted, unlike politicians, rain, or commodity prices.  These days, many farmers are taking advantage of the dependability of the sun to make money from a new cash crop: solar energy.

The trend is spreading.  North Carolina has been a leading solar energy state for several years and a 2017 report found that solar energy generates 30% of the income of many farms.  Typical annual rent payments for farmland by solar companies range from $500 to $1,400 per acre in North Carolina.

A growing list of states have clean energy mandates targeting 100% use of renewable energy.   These mandates provide incentives for farmers that make installing solar a financially smart decision and falling prices for solar installations make it an even better deal.

Solar works well when co-located on a farm and can be built in ways that minimizes impact.  It is quiet, uses almost no water, doesn’t pollute, and if it is decommissioned, the land can go back to its previous use.  If the solar facilities are raised up, the same land can be used to graze livestock or grow shade-tolerant crops.

**********

Web Links

Harvesting the sun is the new cash crop

Photo, posted December 25, 2017, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Two Million Solar Installations

By Leave a Comment

Three years ago, we reported that the United States had installed its one millionth solar energy system, a feat that took 40 years to accomplish.  Recently, the Solar Energy Industries Association announced that there are now more than 2 million U.S. installations.

Analysts forecast that there will be 3 million installation in 2021 and 4 million in 2023.

California continues to lead the nation in installing solar power.  More than 50% of the first million installations were in that state and California accounted for 43% of the second million.  Its share is nevertheless slowly dropping with the growth of the residential solar sector that is rapidly diversifying across state markets.  Some places have seen extremely rapid growth.  In South Carolina, there were barely more than 1,000 cumulative installations in 2016; today, the state is home to more than 18,000 solar systems and expects to add 22,000 more over the next five years.

The five leading states in terms of number of solar installations are California, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.    Other states recently seeing rapid growth in solar installations are Texas, Utah, Florida, Rhode Island and Maryland.  Looking ahead, Illinois is forecast to grow from only 4,000 installations today to nearly 100,000 by 2024.  The top ten state markets apart from California expect to add nearly 750,000 installation over the next five years.

The United States is at least the third nation that is home to more than 2 million solar installations.  (Australia hit the milestone late least year and Japan actually topped 2 million in September 2014).

According to forecasts from analyst first Wood Mackenzie, by the year 2024, there will be on average one new solar installation every minute.

**********

Web Links

The United States surpasses 2 million solar installations

Photo, posted January 11, 2012, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Farming In Solar Farms

By Leave a Comment

Utility-scale solar installations have been expanding rapidly.  The amount of land used for solar projects is becoming quite substantial.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) predicts that 3 million acres will be devoted to solar farms by 2030, and 6 million by 2050.  These numbers pale in comparison with the land used for corn, soybeans, and wheat, but are more than used for such familiar crops as oats, barley and rice.

[Read more…] about Farming In Solar Farms

Solar Power And The Landscape

By

solar-array

The use of solar power is growing rapidly but with all the growth, solar power only provides 1% of the country’s electricity.  On the other hand, in 2014, solar power accounted for almost a third of all the new US electric generating capacity.  According to the International Energy Agency, solar power could be the world’s leading source of electricity by the year 2050.

[Read more…] about Solar Power And The Landscape

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)