Fortune: Fisker Automotive's Resurrection Begins in California
Fisker Automotive and Technology -- the resurrected luxury electric carmaker that famously crashed and burned after an auspicious beginning -- is setting up shop in California.
The company, which was acquired out of bankruptcy last year by Wanxiang America, plans to relaunch its Karma vehicle at a 555,670-square-foot factory in Moreno Valley, Calif. The company expects to create 150 full-time manufacturing jobs at the factory. About 240 people work at the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa, less than 60 miles from the new factory.
Wall Street Journal: Japan Building Giant Battery Systems to Store Solar Power
Japanese companies are building some of the world’s biggest battery systems to address one of solar power’s biggest problems -- its volatility.
Handling the surges in power when the sun shines and storing that energy for use when it is cloudy or dark is a major headache for solar power producers and the utilities they supply.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and NGK Insulators are assembling a 50,000-kilowatt battery system for Kyushu Electric Power Co. to study ways to better accommodate solar power.
Vox: The Economic Limitations of Wind and Solar Power
Wind and solar power are booming, rapidly becoming serious players in electricity markets around the world. The question now is not whether variable renewable energy (VRE) is viable, but how far it can go. Just how much of a grid's electricity can come from wind and solar?
What limits do exist are economic. At a certain point, in a given grid system, the cost of integrating more VRE exceeds the benefits. NREL refers to this point as a grid's "economic carrying capacity" for wind and solar.
New York Times: Solar Plane Departure From Japan for Hawaii Postponed
A solar-powered plane carrying no fuel has postponed its departure from central Japan for Hawaii due to worse than expected weather conditions.
Swiss pilot and project co-founder Bertrand Piccard said the weather window for the flight early Wednesday had closed. After analyzing conditions, the decision was made to take the plane back to its mobile hangar.
"It's a bad moment. It's really a bad moment. It was on the edge. We took the decision to go, but not everybody was enthusiastic. We had a conclusion that it's not worth trying anymore," said Piccard, who is taking turns flying the plane with his co-pilot Andre Borschberg.
Arizona Daily Star: Tucson Electric Plans to File for New Rates
Tucson Electric Power Co. says it plans to file a request later this year for new rates, including its controversial proposal to cut credits paid to customers with rooftop solar arrays.
In its upcoming rate request, TEP said it also will seek to recoup costs the company has incurred since 2011. Those include the purchase of a natural-gas-fired power plant to replace coal-fired resources, as well as new solar arrays, investments in new infrastructure and other improvements.