Fortune: Apple Car Might Have Already Been Delayed a Year

The Apple Car doesn’t even technically exist, but it’s already been delayed, according to a new report.

In a look at a pair of brothers who are working on Apple’s ultra-secret car project, said to be called Project Titan, technology site The Information revealed that Apple has delayed its vehicle to 2021. Several rumors have claimed Apple had planned a 2020 launch for Apple Car, but The Information’s sources say that the project has “run into challenges,” and that a person who had worked on the Project Titan team confirmed Apple has pushed back its target launch from 2020 to 2021.

Utility Dive: Net Metering Could Damage Utility Creditworthiness, Warns Fitch

Fitch said that inaction could lead to a "death spiral" for electric utilities as increasing power bills could propel customers to install more rooftop solar and recommended utilities increase fixed charges as a possible solution, SNL Energy reports.

"The conundrum for regulators and utilities from an energy policy point of view is facilitating development of distributed…solar and its clean energy attributes without unduly burdening [non-net-metering] customers with higher bills due to cross-subsidization," Fitch said in a report, "Net Energy Metering: A Secular Credit Challenge for IOUs," according to SNL.

PV-Tech: Solar Is Not the Solution Africa Needs, Says Bill Gates

Bill Gates once again shunned solar power from his vision for energy access in Africa in his talk at the University of Pretoria in South Africa on Sunday, where he argued that whilst “cheap, clean energy” is what Africa needs, solar does not fit the bill.

During the delivery of his Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist identified that Africa, like the rest of the world, is in need of a “breakthrough energy miracle that provides cheap, clean energy for everyone.”

Africa is more dependent on such a phenomenon than other continents, because seven in 10 Africans still lack power at present, while more than 500 million Africans still will not have electricity by 2040.

Reuters: Obama Administration Offers EV Charging Loan Guarantees

The White House on Thursday said it was expanding a federal loan guarantee program to include companies building electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, part of a broader effort to boost EV sales.

The U.S. Energy Department issued a notice clarifying that charging facilities, including hardware and software, are now an eligible technology. The program can provide up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

ANS Nuclear Cafe: Small Modular Reactors Take Large Step Forward

In recent years the allure of small, flexible, easy to construct and operate nuclear plants incorporating small modular reactors (SMRs) have continued to grow for a host of reasons. Here in the United States, we’ve watched the saga of the SMR unfold fairly slowly over the last few years, as companies have entered the fray to various levels of success and have achieved varied degrees of progress.* 

Now, the latest large step in getting these small and versatile reactors into the worldwide commercial market has been taken -- the result of an effort involving Saudi Arabia and South Korea.