Saturday, July 24, 2021

NATIONALIZE THEM 

P.E.I. energy minister 'disappointed' Maritime Electric limiting solar power

Company citing need to prevent ‘integrity issues’ with grid

More Islanders are looking to install solar panels, says Maritime Electric. (Submitted by Alex Ittimangnaq)

P.E.I.'s privately-owned electrical utility has introduced a new limit on how much electricity it will allow customers to make, while the province continues to provide incentives for residents to generate their own renewable energy.

Maritime Electric has introduced a cap of 30 kilowatts of generating capacity for new and existing customers through its net metering program.

The previous limit, which is written into the province's Renewable Energy Act, had been 100 kW.

Net metering allows customers to generate their own electricity using solar panels, wind turbines or other means, and feed that into the grid in exchange for credits they can use when they draw electricity.

The change is about maintaining the quality of the electrical grid for everyone, says Maritime Electric spokeswoman Kim Griffin. (Jessica Doria-Brown/CBC)

Maritime Electric spokeswoman Kim Griffin told CBC News the company has seen a "huge influx" of net metering applications as a result of provincial incentives for solar electricity, and said the utility is looking to prevent "integrity issues" with its electrical grid.

"It's really about keeping voltage consistent for all customers," said Griffin.

"We have over 80,000 customers so it's been about integration into the system that works and maintains quality for all, including the hundreds of solar customers."

'Disappointed and quite frustrated'

The company said most household users wouldn't require more than 30 kW capacity, and business customers can install up to 100 kW capacity if they have access to three-phase power, which is limited in the province.

P.E.I. Energy Minister Steven Myers said he's "disappointed and quite frustrated" Maritime Electric made the change without first consulting with government.

"We've introduced one of the most aggressive solar rebate programs in the whole country," Myers said.

Energy Minister Steven Myers is questioning whether Maritime Electric is a willing partner in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Ken Linton/CBC)

"I believe in distributed energy and the capabilities of it. And if our network has to shift in order to accept those changes, then … we would expect somebody to reach out to us and have that conversation from Maritime Electric versus making wholesale changes and not telling us."

Myers said he only learned of the change weeks ago. Maritime Electric says it implemented the change in December. 

Part of plan to reduce emissions

Maritime Electric and the province say there are now 900 Islanders taking part in net metering. The company says nearly half of those accounts started up in the past year.

P.E.I. introduced a solar electric rebate program in 2019, offering to pay 40 per cent of the costs, up to $10,000, when residents install solar photovoltaic panels at their home or business.

The province has also pledged to reduce its carbon emissions from fossil fuels as much as possible by the year 2030.

In light of the utility's move, Myers questioned whether the province has "a partner that's willing to work with us" to achieve its emissions targets.

"If we don't, we have to look at what we might need to do to fix that," he said.

Loophole in legislation

P.E.I.'s Renewable Energy Act stipulates utilities allow net metering customers to have up to 100 kW of generating capacity, but also provides for companies to refuse to sign up customers if doing so "is likely to have a serious adverse impact" on the grid or other customers.

Maritime Electric said customers who want to sign up for net metering should call the company before purchasing equipment. The company also said the 30 kW limit is per electric meter, so customers with more than a single meter can go beyond the limit.

Myers said he's considering legislative changes in response to Maritime Electric's move.

The utility admits to what it called a "miscommunication" in failing to tell government ahead of time of its plans.

Farms most likely to be affected

Green MLA Steve Howard, who owns a renewable energy company that he's placed in a blind trust, said large installations of up to 100 kW would take up to nine months of planning to get up and running. 

He said he's aware of at least one company whose plans have been affected by the change, adding the move is most likely to have a negative impact on farmers, many of whom do not have access to three-phase power.

"I find that particularly problematic," Howard said of Maritime Electric's new net metering limit.

'This was government's way of helping farmers,' says Green Party MLA for Summerside-South Drive Steve Howard. (Al McCormick/CBC)

Howard pointed to a pending increase in electrical rates for farmers because the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has ordered Maritime Electric eliminate a tiered billing structure that provided lower electricity rates for high-consumption users.

"The solar rebate program was held up as the main way to help farmers deal with the rate shock that might come along with getting rid of the descending block rate structure," Howard said.

"This was government's way of helping farmers deal with that, and now that tool has essentially been removed because it's really only the large farms that will have the large impacts, and it's the large farms that will no longer be able to install appropriately-sized systems."



NO SUCH CREATURE
Tesla & BHP Form An Alliance To Promote Sustainability In The Mining & Resources Sector


ByJohnna Crider
Published2 days ago

BHP announced that it and Tesla have announced a nickel supply agreement and that it will supply Tesla with nickel from its Nickel West asset in Western Australia. The company stated that this is one of the most sustainable and lowest carbon emission nickel producers in the world.

Financial Times noted that this would secure non-Chinese supply. FT also pointed out that this is the third nickel agreement that Tesla has signed within 8 months — since Elon Musk called for supplies of sustainable nickel last year. During Tesla’s Q2 2020 earnings call, he reemphasized to any mining companies out there to mine more nickel.

“Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel, and don’t wait for nickel to go back to some long — some high point that you experienced some five years ago or whatever. Go for efficiency, as environmentally friendly, nickel mining at high volume. Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way. So, hopefully, this message goes out to all mining companies.”

BHP noted that in addition to its new supply agreement with Tesla, the two will collaborate on ways to make the battery supply chain more sustainable. The focus will be on end-to-end raw material traceability using blockchain. Technical exchange for the battery raw materials production, as well as the promotion of the importance of sustainability in the resources sector, will also be a key focus. Part of this includes identifying partners who are aligned with both companies’ principles and battery value chains.

Tesla also plans to work with BHP on energy storage solutions that will help BHP lower carbon emissions in its operations through the increased use of renewable energy combined with battery storage.

Vandita Pant, BHP’s chief commercial officer, shared a statement:

“Demand for nickel in batteries is estimated to grow by over 500 percent over the next decade, in large part to support the world’s rising demand for electric vehicles.

“We are delighted to sign this agreement with Tesla Inc., and to collaborate with them on ways to make the battery supply chain more sustainable through our shared focus on technology and innovation.”

BHP Minerals Australia President, Edgar Basto, touched upon how BHP produces some of the lowest carbon intensity nickel in the world:

“BHP produces some of the lowest carbon intensity nickel in the world, and we are on the pathway to net-zero at our operations. Sustainable, reliable production of quality nickel will be essential to meeting demand from sustainable energy producers like Tesla Inc.

“The investments we have made in our assets and our pursuit of commodities like nickel will help support global decarbonization and position us to generate long-term value for our business.”

In the video above, Samantha Langley, Principal, Business Development at BHP, shared that the company was at the beginning of a revolution that will transform our world.

“We signed a nickel supply agreement with one of the world’s leading sustainable energy companies, Tesla. This is an alliance that will promote sustainability in the mining and resources sector. And Nickel West is one of the most sustainable nickel producers in the world.”

Fiona Wild, Vice President, Sustainability & Climate Change for BHP, described nickel as the workhorse for lithium-ion batteries and pointed out that it has a really important role to play in decarbonization,

“We expect to see an increase in demand. So this is really a future-facing commodity.”

The Tesla Effect on the Mining Industry


In 2019, just after Elon Musk shared that Tesla might get into the mining business, I shared a video from Sean Mitchell who shared his thoughts as to why Tesla getting into the mining business made sense. Mining Journal noted that Elon Musk was commenting on battery scaling, which was one of the challenges that Tesla was facing at the time.

“There’s not much point in adding product complexity if we don’t have enough batteries,” he told the meeting.


“We’re matching the product roll-out according to the scaling of battery production, that’s really the main limiting factor.

“As we scale battery production to very high levels, we actually have to look further down the supply chain.

“We might get into the mining business, I don’t know — maybe a little bit at least,” he quipped.

“But we’ll do whatever we have to, to ensure we can scale at the fastest rate possible.”

Towards the end of my article, I mentioned at the time that it would be interesting to see how Tesla would influence the mining industry since Elon Musk is well known for revolutionizing industries that he gets into. As you can see with this latest bit of news, Tesla is definitely impacting the future of mining with renewables plus battery storage.

Once BHP achieves its goal of net-zero emissions, how it accomplished this with Tesla’s help will be a blueprint for other mining companies.

World’s Largest Oil Trader Pays Billions To Execs, Staff

The coronavirus pandemic was good to the oil trading segment of the energy industry. While oil and gas companies floundered as oil demand tanked and lockdowns ensued, oil traders such as Vitol Group made a killing. And Vitol just shared its spoils with its employees--$2.9 billion of it, anyway.

Vitol Group’s $2.9 billion payment was the most it has ever paid out. A fact that seems fitting given the record results that the commodity trader saw in 2020. Its net profit last year was $3.2 billion, most of which was earned during the horrific Q2 that saw oil prices go negative.

But while the rest of the oil industry was hemorrhaging money, Vitol was raking it in.

Overall, according to Bloomberg, citing annual accounts, Vitol has paid out $19 billion over the paid 17 years to its partners. The money that Vitol Group, a privately held company, distributes is paid out to its 350 top employees through share buybacks.

A Good Time to be a Commodity Trader

If that money were to be spread out evenly across those 350 owner-partners, it would equate to more than $8 million. And this would be on top of the $2 billion payouts they received last year. And this would also be on top of their regular salaries, of course.

Speaking of salaries, Vitol increased that too. In 2020, Vitol saw a 67% increase in its salary bill, to $1.23 billion, which is spread across 2,480 employees.

Vitol’s banner years in 2019 and 2020 were under the leadership of a new CEO, Russell Hardy, who was presented with unique challenges—and volatile oil prices—as 2020 started out with warmer than usual weather, tensions in the Middle East, the oil price war, and the coronavirus lockdowns.

Vitol trades about 7 million barrels of crude oil and products per day.

When asked in February 2020 whether Vitol would be able to make money off this volatility, Hardy replied, “Well, volatility is not our business.”

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

The sunlight that powers solar panels also damages them: 'Gallium doping' is providing a solution

The sunlight that powers solar panels also damages them. 'Gallium doping' is providing a solution
Credit: Shutterstock

Solar power is already the cheapest form of electricity generation, and its cost will continue to fall as more improvements emerge in the technology and its global production. Now, new research is exploring what could be another major turning point in solar cell manufacturing.

In Australia, more than two million rooftops have solar panels (the most per capita in the world). The main material used in panels is silicon. Silicon makes up most of an individual solar cell's components required to convert sunlight into power. But some other elements are also required.

Research from our group at the University of New South Wales's School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering shows that adding gallium to the cell's silicon can lead to very stable solar panels which are much less susceptible to degrading over their lifetime.

This is the long-term goal for the next generation of solar panels: for them to produce more power over their lifespan, which means the  produced by the system will be cheaper in the long run.

As gallium is used more and more to achieve this, our findings provide robust data that could allow manufacturers to make decisions that will ultimately have a global impact.

The process of 'doping' solar cells

A solar cell converts sunlight into electricity by using the energy from sunlight to "break away" negative charges, or electrons, in the silicon. The electrons are then collected as electricity.

However, shining light on a plain piece of silicon doesn't generate electricity, as the electrons that are released from the light do not all flow in the same direction. To make the electricity flow in one direction, we need to create an electric field.

In silicon solar —the kind currently producing power for millions of Australian homes—this is done by adding different impurity atoms to the silicon, to create a region that has more negative charges than normal silicon (n-type silicon) and a region that has fewer  (p-type silicon)

When we put the two parts of silicon together, we form what is called a "p-n junction." This allows the solar cell to operate. And the adding of impurity atoms into silicon is called "doping."

An unfortunate side effect of sunlight

The most commonly used atom to form the p-type part of the silicon, with less negative charge than plain silicon, is

Boron is a great atom to use as it has the exact number of electrons needed for the task. It can also be distributed very uniformly through the silicon during the production of the high-purity crystals required for solar cells.

But in a cruel twist, shining light on boron-filled silicon can make the quality of the silicon degrade. This is often referred to as "light-induced degradation" and has been a hot topic in solar research over the past decade.

The reason for this degradation is relatively well understood: when we make the pure silicon material, we have to purposefully add some impurities such as boron to generate the electric field that drives the electricity. However, other unwanted atoms are also incorporated into the silicon as a result.

One of these atoms is oxygen, which is incorporated into the silicon from the crucible—the big hot pot in which the silicon is refined.

When light shines on silicon that contains both boron and oxygen, they bond together, causing a defect that can trap electricity and reduce the amount of power generated by the solar panel.

Unfortunately, this means the sunlight that powers solar panels also damages them over their lifetime. An element called gallium looks like it could be the solution to this problem.

A smarter approach

Boron isn't the only element we can use to make p-type silicon. A quick perusal of the periodic table shows a whole column of elements that have one less negative charge than silicon.

Adding one of these atoms to silicon upsets the balance between the negative and positive charge, which is needed to make our electric field. Of these atoms, the most suitable is gallium.

Gallium is a very suitable element to make p-type silicon. In fact, multiple studies have shown it doesn't bond together with oxygen to cause degradation. So, you may be wondering, why we haven't been using gallium all along?

Well, the reason we have been stuck using boron instead of gallium over the past 20 years is that the process of doping silicon with gallium was locked under a patent. This prevented manufacturers using this approach.

But these patents finally expired in May 2020. Since then, the industry has rapidly shifted from boron to gallium to make p-type silicon.

In fact, at the start of 2021, leading photovoltaic manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells estimated about 80% of all  manufactured in 2021 used gallium doping rather than boron—a massive transition in such a short time!

Does gallium really boost solar panel stability?

We investigated whether solar cells made with gallium-doped silicon really are more stable than solar cells made with boron-doped silicon.

To find out, we made solar cells using a "silicon heterojunction" design, which is the approach that has led to the highest efficiency silicon solar cells to date. This work was done in collaboration with Hevel Solar in Russia.

We measured the voltage of both boron-doped and gallium-doped solar cells during a light-soaking test for 300,000 seconds. The boron-doped solar cell underwent significant degradation due to the boron bonding with oxygen.

Meanwhile, the gallium-doped solar cell had a much higher voltage. Our result also demonstrated that p-type  made using gallium is very stable and could help unlock savings for this type of solar cell.

To think it might be possible for manufacturers to work at scale with , producing  that are both more stable and potentially cheaper, is a hugely exciting prospect.

The best part is our findings could have a direct impact on industry. And cheaper solar electricity for our homes means a brighter future for our planet, too.


Provided by The Conversation 

 KENNEY NEVER LOBBIED

Quebec nixes LNG plant that would have carried Western Canadian natural gas to markets overseas

Premier François Legault had initially supported the project, but it was met with widespread opposition

The Quebec government's decision not to approve a LNG facility in the Saguenay region effectively kills a $14-billion project that would have carried natural gas from Western Canada across Quebec to the Saguenay port, then shipped it overseas. (Julia Page/CBC)

The Quebec government has refused to approve construction of a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in the Saguenay, north of Quebec City, following years of opposition from citizens, Indigenous communities and environmental experts.

The decision, announced Wednesday by Environment Minister Benoit Charette, effectively kills a $14-billion project that would have carried natural gas from Western Canada across Quebec to the Saguenay port, then shipped it to markets overseas.

Premier François Legault's government had initially been a proponent of the project, which it hoped would diversify the economy in a region largely dependent on the aluminum and forestry industries.

But the government also set out three criteria for approving the natural gas facility: it had to help with the transition toward greener forms of energy, lower greenhouse gas emissions and have sufficient public support.

Charette said an analysis by his ministry determined the Énergie Saguenay project couldn't meet the first two criteria. Ministry officials didn't bother analyzing the third.

'It is a project that has more disadvantages than advantages,' Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette, seen here in November 2020, said Wednesday. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

"It is a project that has more disadvantages than advantages," he said at a news conference in Saguenay.

Legault's cabinet met hours earlier to finalize the decision not to support construction of the facility.

The $14-billion project was composed of a plan to build a 780 -kilometre natural gas pipeline from northern Ontario to Saguenay, and a separate project to build a plant to liquify the gas in Saguenay and load it onto tankers.

Wednesday's decision concerned only the LNG plant, but Charette acknowledged that without the plant it was very unlikely the pipeline would go ahead, too.

GNL Quebec, the company behind Énergie Saguenay project, said in a statement that it was "disappointed and surprised" by the announcement, and was evaluating what to do next.

Charette acknowledges disappointment likely in West

The natural gas would have come from Western Canada, mainly from hydraulic fracturing operations in British Columbia and Alberta. Charette said he expected many there, especially in Alberta, would be disappointed by Quebec's decision.

But he stressed that Quebec wasn't the only jurisdiction in the world to look critically at natural resource projects.

"To our friends from Alberta, we say, let's work together on other kinds of projects, on cleaner projects," he said.

The Quebec government's initial enthusiasm for the project became difficult to maintain as major financial backers withdrew their support and environmental concerns mounted. 

In March, the province's independent environmental review agency issued a report that was critical of the plans to build a plant and marine terminal in the Saguenay.

The project was likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions in Canada by eight million tonnes annually, the agency concluded.

A Greenpeace banner reading 'No GNL' is shown hanging from a building under construction at the University of Montreal in October 2020. Énergie Saguenay, a project by GNL Quebec, had attracted significant opposition from environmental groups. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Last month, federal environmental agencies determined the project, which would involve large tankers transiting along the Saguenay River, threatened beluga whales.

And last week, three Innu communities vowed to oppose the project because of the negative impact it would have on the environment.

"We signed a collaboration agreement with the promoter several years ago, but over time we realized the project wasn't that green," Martin Dufour, chief of the Essipit Innu band council, said Wednesday.

"It was an easy decision because the project went against our values about fauna and the environment."

Other investments coming for Saguenay, minister promises

For the Saguenay business community, however, the government's decision was a bitter pill to swallow, especially after it had openly supported the project for so long.

Charette was joined at Wednesday news conference by Andrée Laforest, the minister responsible for the Saguenay area.

"I didn't want to flee from the bad news," said Laforest, who was among Énergie Saguenay's most vocal supporters.

Laforest promised other major investments in the local aluminum and forestry industries would be forthcoming. Along with Charette, she tried to underscore that their government remained receptive to other large development opportunities.

"We believed in the GNL Quebec project. The government was very open to it. We will continue to be open to ambitious projects," she said.

Quebec rejects $14 billion natural gas project in Saguenay over environmental issues
By The Canadian Press
Thursday, July 22, 2021, 
Proposed Energie Saguenay project site Source: GNL Quebec

A $14-billion project that would have seen natural gas from Western Canada exported to Europe and Asia through Quebec has been rejected by the Quebec government.

Environment Minister Benoit Charette told reporters in Saguenay ­– the region where a natural gas plant would have been built – that the provincial government is not convinced the project would lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

“The promoter has not succeeded in demonstrating this, on the contrary,'' he said, adding that the government is worried it would discourage natural gas buyers in Europe and Asia from moving to cleaner energy sources.

“This is a project that has more disadvantages than advantages,'' Charette said.

GNL Quebec had proposed building a plant in Port Saguenay about 220 kilometres north of Quebec City, to liquefy natural gas from Western Canada. The project would have also required the construction of a 780-kilometre pipeline to connect the plant to existing natural gas pipelines in Ontario.

The project had initially been greeted positively by the Coalition Avenir Quebec government. Charette said he was predisposed to support the project, but in the end it didn't meet the required environmental conditions.

The company said it was disappointed and surprised by the decision.

“Our board of directors will evaluate the next steps to deal with this difficult decision that will have an impact on our employees, our investors and our stakeholders,'' GNL spokesman Louis-Martin Leclerc said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

GNL had said the plant would be carbon neutral and would encourage an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, because natural gas would replace dirtier fuels such as coal and oil. Quebec's environmental review board, however, concluded in March the estimated reductions were unlikely to occur.

A coalition of environmental groups, including Equiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation and Greenpeace, said the decision was a victory for activists who had opposed the project.

“The Quebec government's announcement of the rejection of the GNL Quebec project demonstrates that there is no future for fossil fuel projects,'' the groups said in a statement. Several Indigenous communities had also opposed the project.

© 2021 The Canadian Press

Here's Why Quebec Cancelled A Controversial Natural Gas Project

Everything you need to know about the failed LNG Project.

 

Quebec has cancelled the controversial Ã‰nergie Saguenay liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

The Ministère de l'Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MELCC) put an end to the project due to the findings of a report analyzing the environmental impact of building a natural gas facility in Saguenay.

What was the LNG project?

Énergie Saguenay wanted approval to construct a natural gas processing facility that would "liquefy natural gas in order to export it to world markets," according to its website. In addition to the facility, the idea was to construct an LNG pipeline that would cross into Northern Ontario.

The company said the project's aim is to "support efforts to fight climate change in Europe, Asia and elsewhere in the world, by providing transitional energy that will replace other more polluting energies, such as coal and fuel oil."

Quebec Premier François Legault was reportedly in favour of the project but was met with pushback from environmental and Indigenous groups.

In September 2020, the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE) began a public hearing as part of its systematic review of the project in consultation with the Innu communities of Mashteuiatsh and Essipit.

Why did Quebec cancel the project?

On July 21, the MELCC announced that the Quebec government had decided not to authorize the project.

It cited the results of BAPE's environmental impact report, which found that the LNG project in Saguenay "could have the long-term consequence of slowing down the energy transition of the project client countries."

In addition, the government established that there was no way the project could "count on a net reduction in [greenhouse gas] emissions on a global scale, since the project initiator cannot guarantee the use of liquefied natural gas as an alternative to sources that emit more GHG, such as coal and fuel oil."

The project's own GHG reduction measures were also found insufficient to offset its own emissions.

"We had to face the facts that the risks of the Énergie Saguenay project outweighed its benefits," said Benoit Charette, Quebec's minister of the environment and the fight against climate change.

"However, we are optimistic that the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region will quickly have the opportunity to enrich itself with other economic projects, such as the Élysis green aluminum project, which will create jobs while actively participating in the Quebec-wide fight against climate change."

World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Proposed For Indonesia

Sunseap Group plans to build the world’s largest floating solar farm in Indonesia.


Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm. Image courtesy of Sembcorp Industries Ltd.

By Steve Hanley

Sunseap Group is a solar energy system developer, owner, and operator in Singapore, with over 2000 megawatts (peak) of solar energy projects contracted across Asia. This week, Frank Phuan, co-founder and chief executive of Sunseap, told Reuters his company plans to build the world’s largest floating solar farm near the city of Batam in Indonesia, about 50 kilometers southeast of Singapore.

The floating photovoltaic system is expected to have a capacity of 2.2 gigawatts (peak). It will cover 1600 hectares (4000 acres) of the Duriangkang Reservoir on Batam Island and cost about $2 billion to construct. An agreement between Sundeap and the Batam Indonesia free zone authority (BP Batam) to move forward with the project was signed on July 19.

“This single project will double our entire portfolio, more importantly build our capability towards hyperscale solar and energy storage projects. Floating solar systems will go a long way to address the land constraints that urbanised parts of Southeast Asia face in tapping renewable energy,” said Phuan. Construction of the project, which will be financed through bank debt and Sunseap capital, is due to begin in 2022 and is planned for completion in 2024, the company said.

According to Sunseap, the energy generated and stored will supply non-intermittent solar energy around the clock. [That implies battery storage will be part of the project, but there is no confirmation of that in the Reuters story.] A portion of the electricity produced will be consumed within Batam, while any excess may be exported to Singapore via an undersea cable. At the present time, Batam has a total power generation capacity of 540 MW from gas, steam, and diesel plants. “This investment by Sunseap will be a timely boost for Batam’s industries as they seek to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations,” Muhammad Rudi, chairman of BP Batam, said in the statement.

In densely populated areas of southeast Asia, authorities would like to have access to more renewable energy but often do not have room available to mount solar farms on land. Floating solar not only solves that problem, but is also somewhat more efficient (about 5%) than land-based systems because the water beneath the panels helps keep them cool when exposed to strong sunlight.

The US Department of Energy says combining floating solar with hydroelectric installations could supply 40% of the world’s electrical energy needs. Floating solar also eliminates the NIMBY problem. People who might object strongly to cutting down trees or converting farmland to solar are apt to be less concerned by plans to cover a local reservoir with solar panels.


Is floating solar the answer to all solar power needs? Of course not. But if it’s more efficient and has fewer siting and permitting issues, it deserves to be a significant part of the renewable energy conversation.

Related story: One Of World’s Largest Floating Solar PV Power Projects Completed In Singapore