The Biden administration hopes to create a commercial nuclear fusion facility within 10 years as part of the nation’s transition to clean energy, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday. Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste. A successful nuclear fusion was first achieved by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last December in a major breakthrough after decades of work.
Mexico’s northern state of Sonora wants to export clean energy to California and Arizona from a massive new solar farm project, Sonora's governor said. The first phase of the Puerto Penasco solar plant in the sprawling border state, which boasts some of the highest temperatures in the country, was inaugurated in February as part of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's flagship solar push, which officials have said could boast four additional plants.
Redflow Limited will be the battery provider for a 34.4 MWh long-duration energy storage and solar microgrid to power a hospital in California. Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera aims to replace diesel generators with cleaner sources yet ensure uninterrupted power supply. The project is receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for 15 long-duration energy storage projects across 17 states and one tribal nation. The $325 million LDES program comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
On Monday, Fervo Energy held a groundbreaking ceremony for its “enhanced geothermal” project in western Utah, which is expected to create 400 MW of 24/7 electricity when it reaches full-scale production in 2028. Most of America’s existing geothermal plants operate in similar ways: by tapping into heat sources that lie relatively close to the surface. However, Fervo Energy’s project will be a new kind of geothermal plant — one that doesn’t require the presence of hot springs or geysers to deliver carbon-free energy to the grid. Instead, the project is using powerful drills to reach more than a mile down and access a more abundant form of subterranean heat.
A subsidiary of the French power company EDF Renewables in North America has signed a 150 MW solar-plus-storage 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with utility El Paso Electric in New Mexico. The Milagro solar-plus-storage project will be located on undeveloped private land in the Santa Teresa area of Doña Ana County and is expected to reach commercial operation in 2025.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for Dominion Energy's massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, a proposed 2.6 GW installation off the coast of Virginia Beach. It is a significant regulatory milestone and marks the end of the environmental review process for the project. Under the final plan, Dominion intends to install 176 14.7 MW turbines and three offshore substations on a lease area spanning 112,000 federal acres, about 27 miles off the coast.
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