Wall Street Journal: High-Tech Solar Projects Fail to Deliver
Some costly high-tech solar power projects aren’t living up to promises their backers made about how much electricity they could generate.
Solar-thermal technology, which uses mirrors to capture the sun’s rays, was once heralded as the advance that would overtake old-fashioned solar panel farms. But a series of missteps and technical difficulties threatens to make newfangled solar-thermal technology obsolete.
Forbes: Solar Goes Nuclear in the Sunshine State
The showdown over solar power in the Sunshine State is escalating into a constitutional crisis. Floridians for Solar Choice (FLSC), a solar advocacy organization based in Fort Lauderdale, has sponsored a ballot proposal that would amend the state’s constitution to prevent discrimination against solar power technologies.
Four investor-owned utilities and Florida’s attorney general asked the state’s Supreme Court to invalidate the ballot proposal for lack of clarity, even if enough voters endorse the measure to put it on the November 2016 ballot. The utilities involved include Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and Gulf Power.
Fortune: Tesla Secures up to $500 Million in Credit From Big Banks
Tesla has entered into an agreement to draw on credit of up to potentially $750 million from a group of banks, including Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Credit Suisse, according to a filing on Friday. The initial agreement is for $500 million in loans, but the filing says that if certain conditions are met, loans could be raised to up to $750 million.
Inside Climate News: Mass. Lawmakers Propose a $5 Billion Pension Fund Cleansing
It's not getting the fanfare of a less-ambitious California bill, but Massachusetts is in the midst of an even bolder divestment push, calling for the state's pension funds to completely rid themselves of fossil-fuel investments.
Rep. Marjorie Decker and Sen. Benjamin Downing, both Democrats, have proposed identical bills to divest Massachusetts' $62.3 billion public pension fund of its 8 percent holdings (about $5 billion) in coal, oil and natural gas.
Daily Sabah: Qatar Claims Breakthrough in Solar Power Research
Qatar's ambitious plans to diversify its energy supplies have taken a huge leap forward thanks to ground-breaking new research into solar power.
The Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, a Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development national research institute, says it has discovered the chemical secrets of a new material that could make the generation of solar energy far more economical and finally unleash the potential of this abundant renewable resource, according to Arabian Business.