Edition 10: April 2, 2025
It's officially Earth Month, and climate action is happening all over the world!
Wind Farm Proposed for Former Coal Mine in Scotland
The Garleffan and Grievehill open-cast coal mine operated in Scotland from 1998-2014, and the site was then restored by the government due to the original operators abandoning the mine. Reclamation work finished up around three years ago, and now, an eight turbine wind farm has been proposed for the restored site by a company that started pivoting from coal to renewables two decades ago. The wind farm is expected to be approved by the local council later this month, and it will be able to power 55,000 homes once complete. The site developer will contribute up to £5,000 annually per megawatt of generation towards community projects. This community funding model is becoming increasingly popular with clean energy projects being built on former coal mines and other abandoned industrial sites — proving a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels is absolutely possible.
Source: Peter A Walker writes for Insider
Rooftop Solar Generation in Australia Breaks National Record
Last year, rooftop solar in Australia broke a national record by generating 3.2 gigawatts of energy despite a slight decline in installations over the past few years. There are currently around 4 million rooftop solar installations on homes, businesses, and institutions across the country. A whopping 1 in 3 households there have rooftop solar, and these residential installations are responsible for nearly 12% of total energy generation. This impressive feat has been made possible by the rapidly declining cost of solar and the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme — which is a government program that helps reduce upfront costs of installing solar on homes and businesses by up to 30%. Australia’s rooftop solar capacity is proof of concept it could generate up to ⅔ of the global electricity demand with the right support and incentives.
Source: Ev Foley writes for PV Magazine
Canadian Startup Using Abandoned Office Space for Indoor Farms
The rise of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a growing number of vacant office buildings. One option for building owners to get new tenants is to turn office space into housing units, but that is quite expensive due to the amount of new walls and utilities needed. Another option is to turn vacant offices into vertical indoor farms because it requires little to no additional work by building owners — and helps reduce both emissions and food inequities. The only downsides are high electricity costs and zoning restrictions, but one startup in Canada has successfully navigated these obstacles. Agriplay Ventures operates a 65,000 square foot indoor farm within a skyscraper in Calgary using a proprietary setup, and the over 100 varieties of produce it grows are bought by local grocery stores and restaurants. Now, they are expanding operations to the United States with plans to have a large indoor farm in Texas use their setup to improve food security across the state.
Source: Vittoria Traverso writes for the BBC
Underwater Turbines Being Built in English Channel
Tidal power is an emerging form of clean energy that uses the power — and regularity — of tides to turn turbines and generate electricity. Concerns about tidal turbines interfering with marine life and being too expensive to scale up have hindered development, but the tides are starting to turn on tidal energy in Europe and Asia. One project in France called Normandie Hydroliennes 1 (NH1) was recently awarded funding by the European Union to get started. This project will be constructed in a way that does not put marine life or ships at risk, and if other studies on tidal power are any indication, marine life isn’t just expected to return after construction — some species might build habitat along the cables holding the turbines too. The NH1 tidal project will start small with just four turbines being constructed in the English Channel, but they will generate enough power for 15,000 homes. That’s because the project will take advantage of the Raz Blanchard current which just so happens to be Europe’s strongest tidal flow. Hundreds more turbines could be installed along the coast of Normandy if the first phase is successful, and the whole project has the potential to power up to 8 million homes.
Source: Lottie Lamb writes for EuroNews
Three New Zealand Islands Set to Be Rewilded
In order to effectively protect biodiversity, experts agree that at least 30% of lands and waters must be protected by 2030. That’s why the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC) was created by a group of conservation organizations. The IOCC has a goal of rewilding 40 island-ocean ecosystems by 2030, and they plan to do so by working with Indigenous communities to remove invasive plant and animal species then reintroduce native ones. They recently partnered with the New Zealand (Aotearoa) government and Māori communities to rewild the islands of Maukahuka (Auckland), Rakiura (Stewart), and Chatham. The work will include restoring seabird populations, protecting habitat for a flightless parrot species, and restoring native wildflower populations. The partners hope these projects will not just protect biodiversity — but also help undo the colonial legacy on the islands that has harmed people and planet alike.
Source: Kristine Sabillo writes for Mongabay
Decommissioned Wind Turbines Are Being Turned into Tiny Homes
A wind turbine will last around 25 years before it needs to be replaced with current technology. Researchers all over the world have been attempting to find sustainable ways to deal with the growing pile of waste associated with decommissioned wind turbines, and the solutions fit into two categories: recycle and reuse. A company in the Netherlands has found one potential reuse solution that could also help solve another crisis — the housing one. They have developed a way to turn the enclosure that houses the top portion of a turbine, called a nacelle, into a tiny home that meets Dutch building codes. The 387 square foot structure features plumbing, electricity, as well as a solar panel that can be used to charge electric vehicles, and it has been designed in a way to make it easily and quickly reproducible — which is great news considering there’s around 10,000 nacelles either already decommissioned or about to be. That means at least 10,000 tiny homes could be built out of a waste product for those struggling with affordable housing!
Source: Kamrin Baker writes for Good Good Good
Solar Capacity in Africa Expected to Double by 2028
Africa has the best solar potential out of any continent, but it currently contributes to around 1% of global solar capacity. However, that is expected to change soon. A new report from the Global Solar Council has projected that solar capacity on the African continent will double over the next four years. Nearly 25 gigawatts of new solar projects are expected to go online by 2028, and they will primarily be built in Egypt and South Africa; these two countries have been responsible for around 75% of recent solar development in Africa. Despite this projected growth, solar will still be incredibly underutilized on the continent due to a lack of international funding, robust clean energy policies, and domestic manufacturing. Hopefully this will change in the coming years because clean energy can help Africa begin to undo a myriad of issues associated with colonization.
Source: Patrick Jowett writes for PV Magazine
Massachusetts To Trial Using Electric Vehicles for Backup Power
Bidirectional electric vehicle chargers are unique in that they can charge batteries and also discharge that electricity elsewhere — whether that be to the grid, a home, or another battery. This is known as vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and it’s an emerging technology that could help provide backup power at scale without having to build large energy storage plants. One major reason why it’s still emerging is because of the cost of bidirectional chargers; they cost anywhere from $5,000-$10,000 more than traditional chargers due to the extra hardware and installation requirements. Despite that, numerous American utility companies have been testing the ability of biodirectional chargers to reduce strain on the grid during peak demand, and now one state will be seeing if these chargers can help during power outages too. Massachusetts will soon hand out free bidirectional electric vehicle chargers to see if they can be used to help power communities during outages. The goal of this project is to have 100 chargers be able to provide 1.5 megawatts of backup power for the state in order to convince more utility companies and electric vehicle owners to get behind V2X programs.