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.

Offshore wind turbines in the North Sea at dusk for an article about wind power in the U.K., for article on wind energy capacity

Global wind energy to surpass 1 terawatt milestone by end of 2023

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wind energy just hit a historic milestone: the world’s installed wind capacity has crossed one terawatt, equivalent to the combined output of roughly 500 large nuclear plants running at once. What took more than four decades to build is now expected to double within just eight years, according to Wood Mackenzie. Offshore wind is leading the surge, projected to grow sevenfold by 2032 and reach 30 countries, while emerging markets from Uzbekistan to North Africa are joining the boom. Behind the numbers are decades of engineers, policymakers, and workers steadily making turbines taller, cheaper, and more powerful. It’s a reminder that the clean energy transition, once dismissed as wishful thinking, is now a cornerstone of how the world keeps the lights on.

Wind turbine and solar panels, for article on solar-wind hybrid project

Adani Green Energy commissions world’s largest solar-wind hybrid project in India

By / / Good News For Humankind

# Excerpt\n\nIndia’s renewable energy ambitions just got a tangible boost. Adani Green Energy has completed a 700 megawatt solar-wind hybrid project in Rajasthan that pairs solar panels with wind turbines on the same site—smoothing out the gaps that would otherwise force utilities back to fossil fuels. The design is elegant: solar peaks during the day, wind fills in at night and across seasons, delivering power at an efficiency rate of at least 50%, exceptional for either technology alone. This single project moves India’s 500-gigawatt renewable goal from aspiration toward real arithmetic.\n\n—\n\n**Word count: 98**

Depiction of spiral-welded wind turbine construction, for article on spiral-welded wind turbine tower

GE installs world’s first spiral-welded wind turbine tower

By / / Good News For Humankind

Spiral-welded wind turbine towers could quietly dissolve one of the biggest barriers holding back wind energy: the highway. Because conventional towers must be trucked in, U.S. road regulations cap their diameter — and therefore their height — well below what the physics of wind actually allows. Keystone’s mobile factories build towers on-site from coiled steel, removing that constraint entirely and making towers tall enough to reach stronger, more consistent winds. One tower doesn’t rewrite the industry, but it proves the concept works. If the approach scales, it could bring competitive wind energy to regions that have never had it.

Solar farm in a green field, for article on EU wind and solar electricity

Wind and solar were E.U.’s top electricity source in 2022 for first time ever

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wind and solar together generated 22.3% of the European Union’s electricity in 2022, edging past nuclear and gas to become the bloc’s largest power source for the first time ever. What makes this remarkable is the year it happened — Europe was navigating war-driven gas shortages, a once-in-500-year drought that crippled hydropower, and unexpected nuclear outages. Clean energy quietly absorbed most of the shock, with solar alone climbing 24% and twenty countries setting national solar records. Analysts now expect fossil fuel generation to fall by a record 20% in 2023 as the buildout continues. Europe’s experience offers a hopeful signal to the rest of the world: renewables aren’t just keeping the lights on through a crisis — they’re becoming the backbone of a modern grid.