Renewable Energy

The part of the year between the chill of winter and the heat of mid-summer tends to be when renewable energy systems perform best. Longer, milder days when electricity demand is relatively low are when wind and solar power are ramping up and can account for greater shares of grid energy consumption.

There is organized opposition to renewable energy. Most of it comes from the fossil fuel industry whose market share and business models are threatened by renewables. There is also opposition from conservative political groups, although that opposition doesn’t really have an ideological basis. And then there is NIMBYism: opposition to renewable energy because people don’t want any of it near where they live.

The Trump administration is trying very hard to prop up coal power in the US. The Department of Energy is keeping struggling coal plants on life support, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The Department of the Interior is blocking wind and solar developments that involve public lands. But in spite of all this, coal power is fighting a losing battle.

Solar power has been experiencing a massive boom for fifteen years, with an annual growth rate of 28% over the last decade. More recently, grid storage batteries have established a boom of their own. These battery banks, which can store the energy produced by solar and other sources, are expanding rapidly.

Hydrogen has long been envisioned as the ideal clean energy source for society. Used as a fuel, it releases only water as it is burned. Thus, it could be a direct replacement for fossil fuels in applications where it is difficult to find viable clean alternatives. In fuel cells, hydrogen can be used to generate electricity. But hydrogen faces a major problem: where to obtain it.

Lithium is driving the global energy transition, being used in the batteries that power electric cars and in the huge banks used for renewable energy storage. Demand for lithium continues to grow with the battery supply chain (from mining to recycling) being projected to reach a market value of $400 billion and create 18 million new jobs.

Renewable energy sources – in particular solar and wind – are growing by leaps and bounds around the world, in great part because the price for them has been plummeting over the years. This has made renewables the lowest-cost source of electricity in many places.

The United States has mostly stopped developing offshore wind, a technology vehemently opposed by the Trump administration. Five ongoing projects have managed to keep going as a result of federal court rulings against the administration. Meanwhile, the government is offering billions of dollars to recipients of offshore wind leases if they cancel their plans and drill for oil instead.

Texas is a red state. It has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1980. And yet, as a result of efforts by several past Republican governors, Texas is a national leader in renewable energy, with wind and solar providing over 30% of the state's electricity in 2023. The state produces more wind power than any other state and ranks second in solar capacity.

Battery storage is reshaping the U.S. electricity grid. There are more than 900 utility-scale battery storage projects across the country that enhance grid reliability, manage peak electricity demand, and store renewable energy from solar and wind farms. Most of these facilities are located far from urban areas but the Cormorant Energy Storage Project currently being built is located in Daly City, California, a city of 100,000 people located just 8 miles south of San Francisco.