Tag Archives: renewable energy jobs

Bluestem Energy Solutions conducting renewable-energy study for Edgerton, Wisconsin

By Ashley McCallum, Gazette Xtra

A Nebraska energy company is conducting a feasibility study to find opportunities for renewable energy in Edgerton. The study will analyze energy consumption data provided by the city and determine whether city facilities qualify for renewable-energy development, said City Administrator Ramona Flanigan . . . Flanigan said she hopes the city’s investment will encourage other individuals and businesses to look into renewable-energy sources. Edgerton’s city hall has been powered by solar energy since it was built in 2010. Read more here.

Bluestem Energy Solutions partners with Boyd Jones, a construction company founded in 1924, to engineer and develop renewable energy systems to provide clean energy to their clients.

Bluestem Energy News Releases

Featured Renewable Energy / Climate Action Initiatives in Wisconsin

New Documentary: The Power of Minnesota

Clean energy in Minnesota now employs more workers than
the coal industry in the United States.

Click image to watch the trailer.
View the full 18-minute documentary here.

About the Documentary

The Power of Minnesota is simple – it’s our people. We build things, invent things and care for our families and our neighbors.

The Power of Minnesota supports community conversations by sharing stories – stories of people who are building a clean energy economy that is powering our communities, our state and our nation.

Did you know that Minnesota is home to more than 59,000 clean energy jobs? These jobs sustain families – they pay well and they help children live in the communities where they grew up. Clean energy also keeps farmers on their land, generating income for families and property tax revenue that supports local schools, parks and police.

At the end of the day, this is about stewardship. We’re stewarding a way of life that supports our families and our communities, while protecting our land, our water and the air we breathe. We’re stewards of the places we call home.

The Power of Minnesota Website

U.S. Wind Power Is ‘Going All Out’ with Bigger Tech, Falling Prices, Reports Show

By Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News

Wind power capacity has tripled across the United States in just the last decade as prices have plunged and the technology has become more muscular, the federal government’s energy labs report. Three new reports released Thursday on the state of U.S. wind power show how the industry is expanding onshore with bigger, more powerful turbines that make wind energy possible even in areas with lower wind speeds. Offshore, the reports describe a wind industry poised for a market breakthrough. Continue reading here.

RELATED POST
New report: Wind continues growing while costs continue falling, Into the Wind, AWEA Blog

MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS

100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS

NATIONAL SOLAR TOUR

2018 National Solar Tour of Homes largest in event’s history

AWEA News Release: American Wind Week 2018 kicks off

WASHINGTON—America celebrates U.S. leadership in wind energy production and the benefits it creates this week as American Wind Week 2018, August 5-11, officially kicks off. Wind power is an affordable, reliable and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. electricity supply that supports jobs in all 50 states. Those benefits help drive broad popular support for wind power, on display this week at nearly 30 events in over 15 states [including Nebraska], on social media, and through proclamations from governors and mayors from Washington to Kansas and North Carolina.

 

“This American Wind Week, we salute the more than 105,000 U.S. workers who make it possible to transform the power of wind into affordable electricity that our families and businesses rely on,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA. “We’re building more U.S. wind power today than ever before. This is what leadership looks like – growing economic opportunity, homegrown energy, and cleaner air from sea to shining sea.”

Read more here.
Wind Energy Generation in Nebraska

ANNOUNCED TODAY

Sen. Grassley receives “U.S. Wind Champion Award”
The Senator’s role in securing over 8,000 wind energy jobs in Iowa and forging U.S. leadership in wind power recognized during American Wind Week.

“Senator Grassley is known to many as ‘the father of wind energy,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA. “His vision and decades of tireless support for America’s wind workers forged wind power into a major pillar of U.S. energy production, Iowa’s economy, and rural communities across the nation. Our industry is honored to recognize Sen. Grassley as an outstanding Wind Champion.”

Iowa is a national leader for wind power. Last year, wind farms generated 37 percent of the electricity produced in Iowa, a larger share than any other state. There are 8,000 Iowa wind workers and the state’s wind industry represents over $14.2 billion in private investment. Wind energy is also a new drought-proof cash crop for Iowa farmers, with land lease payments totaling $20-25 million each year.

Setting the stage for solar + storage

PV Magazine

In this op-ed for pv magazine, Camron Barati explores the trend towards what increasing state-level renewable power and storage targets mean for the U.S. market. The company projects 73 GW of solar PV systems will be installed in the United States from 2018 to 2022. Read more here.

Camron Barati is a Senior Analyst with IHS Markit Technology. Camron is part of the IHS Markit Technology Solar and Energy Storage Group and responsible for researching solar PV and energy storage markets in North America, covering supply chain trends and downstream market dynamics. He is based in Austin, TX. Prior to joining IHS Markit, Camron worked as an associate with GTM Research as part of their solar analyst team. He also has experience working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Enphase Energy.

Photo Credit: Recurrent Energy

MORE NATIONAL NEWS & AN INTERVIEW 

NEBRASKA NEWS

Solar cars to travel around Fremont as part of challenge, Fremont Tribune

NEWS FROM OTHER STATES

How solar energy helps Mennonites with their mission of global relief

GREEN BUILDING NEWS

Tim O’Brien Homes gears up for construction in zero-energy neighborhood, Milwaukee Business Journal

Solar for All: How to incentivize community solar projects to benefit low-, middle-income customers

By Charles W. Thurston, Solar Builder Magazine

Community solar has taken off within the renewable energy development leagues, melding the interests of residential and commercial or industrial customers, as well as the local utilities. While the inclusion of low- and middle-income (LMI) residential customers are widely enabled by state legislation on community solar, specific carve-outs or percentage requirements for LMI customers are less common. At times, solar developers have focused heavily on anchor commercial or industrial customers and paid little attention to residential participation, much less the LMI segment.

To help remedy this practice of under-weighting LMI customers in community solar development, local housing authorities have stepped up to bring their resources — if not regulations — to bear, early in the planning process. Developers also have found that the housing authorities and other social institutions can be valuable partners in locating and enrolling customers in a project well ahead of ground-breaking. Read more here.

Photo: Geronimo Energy team celebrating another community solar install in Minnesota, which recently sold a 100-MW community solar portfolio in Minnesota to Berkshire Hathaway.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

The hottest job over the next decade is expected to be solar panel installer

By Jeff Cox, CNBC

  • The economy is projected to add 11.5 million jobs over the next decade, with the bulk in health care, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • In percentage terms, the biggest growth will come from solar panel installers at 105.3 percent — from 11,300 now to 23,200.
  • The projections come amid the slowest year for job growth since 2010, as the economy was still reeling from the financial crisis.

Read more here.

SEE ALSO: Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Solar Photovoltaic Installer

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

Major Utilities Buying More Wind as Economics Drive US Energy Transformation

By Chris Brown, Renewable Energy World

Across the nation, smart business leaders are doubling down on wind power because new business realities are driving an energy marketplace that is more diversified and flexible. Clean power sources, such as wind, solar and natural gas, are now customers’ preferred energy choices. And this new energy mix is actually improving America’s grid, adding resilience and reliability, along with more than half a million U.S. jobs, while saving U.S. energy customers and ratepayers billions of dollars in electricity costs.

Last Friday, we heard more good news. Reports on DOE’s draft grid study confirm what major utilities have been saying with their wallets: “The power system is more reliable today” and “significantly higher levels of renewable energy can be integrated without any compromise of system reliability.” Continue reading.

Local View: One good way to create American jobs

Editorial written by Lucas Sabalka, Lincoln Journal Star

We are in a time of tremendous change. As President Trump’s term begins, our country is faced with great challenges as well as great opportunities. At the top of the list of problems to tackle is creating good American jobs.

Inextricably linked with job creation and economic growth are the areas of energy and the environment. Continue reading.

Lucas Sabalka is an Applied Mathematician at Nebraska Global.


ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

Forum speakers tout benefits of renewable energy

Art Tanderup discusses the solar panels he uses to generate electricity at his Neligh-area farm during a renewable energy forum Thursday night in Norfolk. Since January, the panels have supplied 82.5 percent of the energy he’s used, which decreased his energy bill by 66 percent compared to the same time frame in 2014.

By Christina Lieffring, Columbus Telegram  

NORFOLK – The Nebraska Farmers Union organized a forum Thursday evening at Northeast Community College’s Lifelong Learning Center, where presenters discussed renewable energy’s impact on the economy, climate change and faith.

NECC’s dean of applied technology, Lyle Kathol, first presented on the opportunities for students and professionals with the development of wind energy in Nebraska. NECC offers the state’s only wind energy technology associate degree, a two-year program that trains students to work in construction or repair of wind turbines.

Read more here.

Available grant funding & incentives for renewable energy projects:

  • A USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant, if awarded, would cover 25% of the project.
  • Federal Tax Credit of 30% for qualified installations
  • Accelerated depreciation for businesses
  • Self-Employment Tax Credit