Leave it to mother nature to show one weakness of solar farms….hail. The size of baseballs. It fell recently and destroyed a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. It shattered nearly every one of the panels on the 5.2 megawatt solar project according to the Cowboy State Daily. Don Day, Cowboy State Daily meteorologist, said …
Category: Solar Energy in Oklahoma
Wind and solar power beat coal for electricity production
All of those wind farms in Oklahoma helped generate more electricity than coal for the first time ever in the U.S. according to new federal information. E&E News recently reported coal lost out to wind and solar power. Together, the two renewable energy sources produced a combined 252 terawatt-hours in the first five months …
Ohio townships ban solar and wind farms
Not everyone is eager to jump onto the band wagon of wind and solar power. Just look at what seven townships did in southwestern Ohio. They banned commercial wind and solar projects because of the strong pushback from local residents such Mary Durbin of Tate Township in Clermont County where a public meeting was …
Energy quick reads
** Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, called on the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General to investigate Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm after she conceded to wrongly telling the committee she does not own individual stocks. ** The right-to-repair movement has suffered a setback in Massachusetts this week. The …
Xcel Energy makes another shift to renewable energy in New Mexico and Texas
Xcel Energy says it plans to build three solar energy operations in the Permian Basin area of southeast New Mexico and west Texas as the company shifts toward renewables. The company said the solar generating sites will be in Hobbs, New Mexico and Earth, Texas. The projects will augment existing power plants—the Cunningham Generating …
Solar power fell short for OGE in its $331 million rate hike project
Documents and testimony in the $331 million rate hike request made by Oklahoma Gas and Electric with Oklahoma regulators show the utility encountered challenges in attempting to obtain new power through solar energy. The utility is seeking the rate hike to cover the replacement of aging power generating units at its Horseshoe Lake Power Plant …
House failed to override Biden’s solar panel veto
Even though all five Oklahoma Representatives in the U.S. House stood locked in their support of resuming solar power tariffs against China and other Asia manufacturers, it wasn’t enough to override President Biden’s veto of a Congressional review Act. The House fell short this week of the required two-thirds majority on a 214-205 vote, …
Energy briefs
** U.S. natural gas production is expected to rise until 2050, according to a report released Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which said most of the demand fueling that increase will be driven by exports to foreign markets. U.S. domestic gas demand will stay flat or decline as renewables come online, the report found. But …
Couple stunned over cost of solar panels for their home
Obvious sticker shock hit one couple in Del City after the installation of solar panels for their home. KFOR TV news recently reported the story. Click here for KFOR TV
Enel makes formal announcement of solar manufacturing site in Oklahoma
Enel North America, the company that built 13 wind farms in Oklahoma, formally announced Monday it had officially chosen Inola in northeastern Oklahoma as the location for its nearly $1.8 billion solar panel manufacturing operation. The plant will be built at the Tulsa Port of Inola and the site had been widely promoted by …