Free Republic

A 3,000-acre solar farm 40 miles from Houston, Texas, was massively damaged on March 15 when huge chunks of hail fell from the sky and shattered hundreds of panels, leaving the facility running at “reduced capacity.” From the look of the pictures, it would seem that it’s operating at heavily reduced capacity.A hailstorm this month has damaged thousands of solar panels at the 350-MW Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Fort Bend County, Texas, “Golf ball”-sized hail fell in the area on March 15, and aerial footage captured from a helicopter offered a glimpse at the extent of the damage pic.twitter.com/3G4SkaRTLI—...

“While in use, solar panels safely generate electricity without creating any air emissions. However, like any source of energy, there are associated wastes that need to be properly recycled or disposed of when solar panels reach their end of life,” said the EPA. “As the solar photovoltaic (PV) market grows, so will the volume of end-of-life panels.” By 2030, the United States is expected to have as much as one million total tons of solar panel waste. For comparison, the EPA says the U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons. By 2050, the United States is...

We have a solar array where I work..it's in a college setting..but image this being EVERYDAY in the UPPER MIDWEST.. SNOW on the panel...ZERO energy being "created"

An investigation has been launched into the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) after Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration was found to have sent billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money to a fraudulent solar company. Biden’s DOE recently gave a $3 billion award to a solar energy company that has been accused of scamming vulnerable customers. Republican leaders in the House and Senate are probing the DOE over the move. The investigations are being led by House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY). In a letter to DOE...

While investments in renewable energy have doubled since 2010, power grid funding has remained ‘static.’.. Electricity grid capacity available in the world isn't keeping pace with the rapid growth of "clean energy" technologies, possibly putting governments' climate goals at risk, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). In order to achieve climate goals set by global governments, more than 80 million kilometers (49.7 million miles) of electric grids have to be added or refurbished by 2040, which is the “equivalent of the entire existing global grid,” according to the Oct. 17 IEA report. Even though “electrification...

A solar salesperson spent five hours in July on a site visit with Jan, a 76-year-old homeowner, to convince her that installing a small rooftop solar system on her Northeast Heights home would eliminate her electric bills overnight. Later, after printing out the one-page financial document she signed, Jan realized it was a 25-year agreement with a $79-per-month repayment plan. That’s $18 more than her current utility payments, which average about $61 per month based on a review of all her Public Service Co. of New Mexico bills since January 2022. Jan did cancel after consulting with Affordable Solar, which...

Sunlight beats down on a graveyard for dead solar panels in Yuma, Arizona, hundreds stacked in neat piles, waiting for their next life. The great majority of worn and damaged panels are still dumped in landfills. But with more and more piling up, many people know that needs to change. In this desert city where Arizona, California, Sonora and Baja California meet, North America’s first utility-scale solar panel recycling plant has opened to address what founders of We Recycle Solar call a “tsunami” of solar waste. Plans to address climate change rely on massively scaling up clean, solar electricity. The...

Talk about being sold a bill of duds.Michael Shellenberger (that wonderful, courageous man) had a serious of tweets this afternoon and I could not believe my eyes.People say solar panels don't produce carbon emissions, but they do. And now, a major new investigation by Environmental Progress, drawing on the research of @enricomariutti , finds that solar panels made in China produce at least 3x more carbon emissions than IPCC claims. pic.twitter.com/y4a2dvgyZj— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) July 24, 2023The report from Environmental Progress points out a fatal flaw in the solar panel data all of this frenzied switch to renewables is based...

Wind turbines, once touted by the few wealthy and less populated countries as a clean solution for electricity, are now becoming an eyesore, a hazard, and a significant environmental threat. After decades of operating around the world for the few wealthy and less populated countries, wind turbines continue to have a live expectancy of about 20 years. To date there has yet to be discovered a financially viable means of recycling those wind turbines. As a result, today’s old wind turbines are being dumped into toxic waste dumps. Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream...

The Scottsbluff, Nebraska 5.2 MW Community Solar project was part of the NPPD’s Sunwise program that consisted of an array has over 14,000 solar panels. It’s reported that it had been put into operation in 2019. Surely the project had been ceremoniously put into operation, with dignitaries and proponents proclaiming it would reliably deliver cheap and clean energy, reduce the state’s carbon footprint and contribute to a bright and climate-friendly future. Now it has been just recently reported that the multimillion dollar solar energy park was literally reduced to a heap of rubble as hail literally pummeled it to a...

Back during the last solar eclipse over the continental United States in 2017, grid operators in California had to make adjustments to the electricity grid to account from the lost solar power during the 90 minutes or so that the eclipse dimmed sunlight in California. Such is the sensitivity of solar power to clouds and other obstructions such as routine dust, winter snow, and . . . forest fire smoke. The northeast is learning this right now amidst the smoke plume blowing down from Canada.

Inflicting heavy fines on developers of a project billed as supplying clean, renewable energy, a federal jury has awarded a couple in southwest Georgia $135.5 million after runoff from “Lumpkin Solar” severely polluted waters and soils on their rural property. According to a lawsuit filed by Shaun and Amie Harris, Lumpkin Solar’s developers – after clearing about 1,000 acres of timberland, farmland, and land previously used for hunting and fishing – failed to install adequate measures for erosion and sediment control. “The result is what one would expect – when it rained, pollution poured downhill and downstream onto the neighbors’...

President Biden vetoed a bipartisan resolution Tuesday that would have reversed his executive action last year ordering the Department of Commerce not to enforce tariffs on Chinese solar panel manufacturers for two years.

More than 90% of used solar panels get thrown in the trash, and the world's wind industry is estimated to produce 43 million tons of blade waste each year. But some companies have found recycling solutions. Ben Tracy reports.

Just yesterday Breitbart News reported that eight House Republicans joined the Democrats to support Joe Biden’s suspension of United States tariffs on suspected Chinese-manufactured solar panels. Last 2022, Biden announced a 24-month suspension of tariffs on solar panel imports from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The suspension came despite Biden’s Commerce Department official's discovery that the solar panels in question were actually manufactured in China. The China-based BYD based in Hong Kong is said to have rerouted its products through Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam for the sole purpose of evading the tariffs.Biden being soft on China should come not to...

An “ambitious” climate bill that would speed up Colorado’s decarbonization efforts, incentivize the purchase of electric lawn equipment and streamline the regulation of carbon-sequestration wells passed the state Senate on a Democratic-led party-line vote Friday. Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver, is one of several bills trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that is moving through the Legislature this year, but it stands out for the breadth of sectors and activities that it could affect. An amendment made Thursday to the bill, for example, would fine utilities as much as $20,000 per day for failing...

Biden slush fund money is now looking for a home. A battle is on over who gets to waste it.. Biden’s $27 Billion Clean Energy Catalyzer Slush Fund Competition is stiff over who gets first access to Biden’s $27 Billion Clean Energy Catalyzer slush fund. The US government is getting ready to unleash $27 billion to fund projects in disadvantaged communities that cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost clean energy. The cash infusion from last year’s sweeping climate and tax law is meant to drive the deployment of solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles in underserved places around the...

Joe Biden Says Buy Expensive Solar Panels If You’re Concerned About Freezing To Death This Winter Can't afford to heat your home? Pay thousands of dollars for solar panels!

President Joe Biden made the remarks during a speech on student debt relief in New Mexico 11/3/22

Utilities are paying more for natural gas, which means many Colorado customers will see higher bills starting Oct. 1. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved fuel rate adjustments Wednesday for Xcel Energy-Colorado and Atmos Energy Corp. Regulations allow the utilities to pass through higher fuel costs to customers. Although Xcel Energy customers will see monthly increases in the single digits, they could end up paying nearly 54% more in December than they did in December 2021, according to a notice sent by the company. The PUC’s action on the companies’ fuel-cost adjustment is separate from pending decisions on proposed increases...