For now, SFC’s success is more exception than rule, but fuel-cell firms are betting that a green hydrogen revolution will soon reverse the entire industry’s fortunes.
The supply chain for battery-grade lithium has become shaky. The metal is a key commodity component in most EV and storage batteries, and Tesla’s products are no exception. Persistent insecurity around lithium supply has caused the company to vertically integrate certain links of the battery supply chain.
Most recently, Tesla announced it would break ground on a lithium refinery near Corpus Christi, Texas in May, because, as Musk put it on the earnings call, “the choke point is much more on refining capacity than it is on mining.” He continued, “We will have, by far, the most lithium refining capability…in North America, I think.”
But Musk stressed that this is not a business Tesla wants to be in. “Can other people please do this work?” he pleaded. “That would be great. We’re begging you. We don’t want to do it. Can someone please? Like instead of making a picture-sharing app?”
After the biblical wind and rain of this winter, a two-worker crew lifted up a module on the interior of the array to reveal…dirt. Maybe a little wetter than the surrounding dirt, but there were none of the underground rivers, snapping turtles or scorpions of unusual size that I had envisioned.
Chart: US clean energy backlog balloons to unprecedented 2 terawatts
The huge figure shows that developers are ready to build renewables, but it also underscores a key problem: The country doesn’t have enough transmission capacity.
The huge figure shows that developers are ready to build renewables, but it also underscores a key problem: The country doesn’t have enough transmission capacity. According to a new Lawrence Berkeley Lab report.
A bipartisan group in the U.S. Congress is trying to undo President Biden’s two-year pause on new tariffs on some solar panels imported from Southeast Asia.
The Tesla CEO claimed a few years ago that the company would be installing 1,000 solar roofs a week — but last year it averaged just 21 installations a week.
Renewable energy is being deployed at a fast clip around the globe — especially solar and especially in China. That’s the story behind new capacity figures from IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency.
After several years running of massive solar capacity buildouts, the Lone Star State is rapidly gaining ground on the long-established renewables leader.
