Bloomberg: Samsung in Talks With BYD to Buy Stake in Electric-Car Maker
Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of phones and memory chips, said it’s in talks with BYD Co. about investing in the Chinese electric-car manufacturer.
Details including the size of the investment will be disclosed when they’re confirmed, Samsung said Friday in an emailed statement. The investment in BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., would bolster Samsung’s semiconductor business for cars, the South Korean company said.
BYD said Samsung has been actively pushing forward talks about buying its shares in a private placement. Talks are still underway, the Chinese company said, denying a report by the Korea Economic Daily that an agreement was reached to acquire a 4 percent stake.
Sacramento Bee: California's Biggest Utilities Break Own Record for Solar Power
California’s booming solar industry had a record day this week when the state’s largest utilities generated more power than ever from the sun.
The state’s largest power grid, the California Independent System Operator, or ISO, on Tuesday managed enough solar energy to power 2 million homes.
Its 8,030 megawatts recorded at 1:06 p.m. from solar sources stood out as double the network’s best day in 2014. It also was 2,000 megawatts more than its solar peak from last year.
Design and Trend: Elon Musk Defends Tesla Motors, Teases Lidar-Like Radar Amid Autopilot Controversy
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter late Thursday and early Friday to defend his company and to drop a bombshell amid the beating Tesla is getting for the May 7 car crash that involved a Model S unit engaged in Autopilot mode.
The SpaceX visionary and billionaire first shared a news report about the European Authority's findings on the second case of a Tesla car crash that was reported earlier this week.
Proudly sharing the good news to his followers, Musk tweeted: "EU regulators find no safety concerns with Autopilot."
Climate Progress: Did an Entire Region of the U.S. Just Disincentivize Renewables? This Lawsuit Says Yes.
Following the polar vortex, PJM, the entity that oversees utilities in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of Appalachia and the Midwest, put a plan into action: It would help the local utilities ensure that power was more reliable. To do this, PJM fast-tracked new rules for capacity resources -- an industry phrase for guaranteed electricity supply. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the new rules last May.
But now four environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, have announced a lawsuit against FERC, saying the rules are going to cost consumers and are unduly burdensome to renewable energy.
PV Magazine: Crew Aboard the International Space Station Is Testing 3-D Solar Cells
It is no secret that NASA is right at the tip of the cutting edge of scientific innovation, and for many years it has been pioneering the use of solar energy, famously powering the International Space Station itself. A crew aboard the ISS is continuing this spirit, by testing out a new 3-D solar PV cell, which it hopes will show a higher efficiency than current solar cells.
The investigation was planned and is being led by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where they developed the NanoRacks-Nano Tube Solar Cell. The cell has 3-D tubes incorporated into its design that trap sunlight that hits the cell from any direction, and uses an earth-abundant photoabsorber material, copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS).