Clean & renewable energy

This archive tracks real progress in clean and renewable energy — from solar and wind expansion to grid upgrades and policy wins. Each story focuses on what’s working, where, and why it matters for people and the planet.

Solar panels installed on rooftops in an African village for an article about Africa solar imports, for article on gigawatt-scale solar farm

Rio Tinto signs contract for Australian grid’s first gigawatt scale solar project

By / / Good News For Humankind

Rio Tinto has signed on to buy all the power from a 1.1 gigawatt solar farm in Queensland — the largest solar project ever contracted on Australia’s main grid. The electricity will flow to Rio Tinto’s alumina refinery, aluminum smelter, and boron plant near Gladstone, some of the most power-hungry industrial sites in the country. Built by Danish developer European Energy, the Upper Calliope farm will deliver clean energy at the scale of a large coal plant when the sun is shining. Heavy industry has long been one of the trickiest pieces of the climate puzzle, so a commitment this big from a global mining giant is a real signal that even the most energy-intensive sectors can start to run on sunshine.

Artist's concept of a solar power satellite in place, for article on space solar power

First ever space-to-Earth solar power mission succeeds

By / / Good News For Humankind

Space-based solar power just cleared a milestone scientists have been chasing since the 1970s: a Caltech satellite spent a year in orbit, collected sunlight, and beamed it wirelessly back to a ground receiver on Earth. The SSPD-1 mission completed all three of its planned experiments, including testing an origami-inspired panel that unfolds without hinges and a purpose-built microwave transmitter. The appeal is simple — above the atmosphere, the Sun never sets, no clouds get in the way, and power could flow around the clock. Caltech’s team is honest that commercial-scale space solar is still years off, with cost and radiation durability to solve. But moving this idea from whiteboard to working demonstration brings humanity a real step closer to truly continuous clean energy.

Solar farm, for article on U.S. solar supply chain

Microsoft places massive 12GW solar module order, bolstering U.S. solar supply chain

By / / Good News For Humankind

Microsoft just inked a deal for 12 gigawatts of American-made solar panels — enough to power more than 1.8 million homes a year. The eight-year agreement with manufacturer Qcells will be supplied by a Georgia factory that handles everything from raw silicon to finished module under one roof, a rarity in an industry where most panels travel across oceans before reaching a project site. By committing to such a long runway, Microsoft gives manufacturers the confidence to build out capacity that might otherwise sit on the drawing board for years. It’s a glimpse of what the clean energy transition looks like when corporate demand, smart industrial policy, and domestic factories actually pull in the same direction.

Wind turbines, for article on offshore wind farm

Offshore wind sites are delivering power to the grid for the first time in U.S. history

By / / Good news links

In December 2023, Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource announced that their first turbine was sending electricity from what will be a 12-turbine wind farm, South Fork Wind, 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. Now, the joint owners of the Vineyard Wind project have announced the first electricity from one turbine at what will be a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

Aerial view of London and the Thames, for article on U.K. renewable energy record

U.K. use of gas and coal for electricity at lowest since 1957

By / / Good News For Humankind

The UK’s electricity grid just hit a milestone unseen since 1957: gas and coal together produced less power than in any year of the last seven decades. Renewables — wind, solar, hydro, and biomass — supplied a record 42% of electricity in 2023, while coal alone has fallen 97% since 2008 and is set to disappear from the grid entirely when Britain’s last coal plant shuts in September 2024. Add nuclear, and more than half of the country’s electricity now comes from sources that emit no carbon. The deeper significance is simple: a major industrialized economy can run mostly on clean power not as a forecast, but as a lived, ordinary year — proof other countries can point to.

american public power association eIBTh DXW w unsplash, for article on global wind power capacity

In Scotland, renewable power has outstripped demand

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For the first time, in 2022, Scottish renewables generated more power than the country used, new government figures show. The growth of wind power, coupled with a small drop in electricity consumption, meant that the volume of electricity produced by renewables in Scotland was equal to 113 percent of demand.

Biogas plant in agricultural landscape.

South Korea to require producers of organic waste resources to make biogas

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According to the East Asian nation’s Environment Ministry’s new biogas law, public and private industries that generate organic waste such as livestock manure and food waste will now be required to produce them in the form of biogas. Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, plant material and manure and can be used in vehicles that operate on natural gas.

JAC Motors sodium-ion battery EV, for article on sodium-ion EV

China’s JAC Motors rolls out world’s first commercial lithium-free EV

By / / Good News For Humankind

Sodium-ion EVs just hit the road for the first time, with Chinese automaker JAC delivering its Yiwei hatchback to customers in January 2024 — the world’s first mass-produced electric car running on a battery made from one of Earth’s most abundant elements. The little urban hatchback offers about 157 miles per charge, plenty for daily commutes, and holds up better than lithium in cold weather. Because sodium is found in ordinary salt and spread across nearly every country, it sidesteps the supply bottlenecks and high costs that have kept EVs out of reach for many buyers. If the chemistry scales, it could open the door to affordable electric driving in places lithium has struggled to reach.

Industrial pipes and infrastructure at a coastal energy facility for an article about carbon capture and storage, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion endurance record, for article on nuclear fusion ignition

American scientists repeatedly produce nuclear fusion ignition for the first time in history

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nuclear fusion just cleared a crucial bar: scientists at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have now achieved ignition four separate times, with the best shot producing 89 percent more energy than the lasers delivered to the target. That repetition is what transforms a single 2022 breakthrough into real, replicable science — proof that the Sun-like reaction can be coaxed out of a frozen hydrogen pellet on Earth, again and again. Momentum is building beyond the lab, too, with more than $6 billion now invested in fusion worldwide and governments at COP28 agreeing to speed things along. The road from a boiled kettle’s worth of energy to a clean-powered grid is still long, but the hardest physics is finally behind us.