Solar Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This month Brazil’s National Electric System Operator estimated that wind and solar are now producing nearly 40 percent of the country’s electricity. It was just in August of this year that the country’s wind and solar installations hit the milestone of generating over a third of the country’s electricity (some […]

Climate Crisis

For First time in History, Renewables Overtook Coal in Global Electricity Production in H1

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Ember energy analysis firm has released its global electricity report for the first half of 2025, and it contains two big surprises. The first is that sustainable sources of energy have now overtaken coal for the first time since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The second is that […]

Climate Crisis

Goodbye Petrostates, Hello ‘Electrostates’: how the clean Energy Shift is reshaping the World Order

The Conversation

By Niusha Shafiabady, Australian Catholic University and Xiaoying Qi, Australian Catholic University (The Conversation) – For more than a century, global geopolitics has revolved around oil and gas. Countries with big fossil fuel reserves, such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, have amassed significant wealth and foreign influence, helping shape the world order. But the global […]

Climate Crisis

Lebanon’s Solar Capacity surged since 2020 to 1.5 gigawatts, as Homeowners tired of Blackouts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Lebanese Ministry of Energy has let three bids for new solar farms of 15 megawatts each, for a total of 45 MW, which will power 22,000 homes in the perennially electricity-poor country. The bad news is that 11 such bids were accepted in 2022 and nothing ever got done. […]

Featured

Turkiye hosts Largest Solar Power Plant of any European Country, as its Solar Installations Surge to 3.1 GW in H1

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkiye [Turkey] is a European country, since part of its territory lies in Europe. So the following sentence is true: Turkiye hosts the largest solar power plant in any European country. The plant, however, is not situated in Turkiye’s European provinces but in the Karapinar Desert, about sixty miles east […]

China

Iran Seeks China’s help to Install 7 gigs of new Solar Capacity in “4th Industrial Revolution”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With the prospect of new Iranian nuclear power plants looking dim after Israeli and American bombing of its civilian nuclear enrichment sites, and with a need to export its fossil gas rather than consuming it domestically, the Tehran leadership is at last turning to renewables for electricity generation. President Masoud […]

Featured

Morocco Produces 1 gigawatt of Solar Panels Annually, as it turns to Floatovoltaics

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Morocco continues to be a pioneer in renewable energy in Africa and the Arab world. The International Trade Administration notes of Morocco, “Total installed capacity from renewable energy sources stands at 4,550 MW, corresponding to 38.2 percent of total installed electrical capacity.” The country plans to generate 56% of its […]

Climate Crisis

Global Solar skyrockets 64% in H1, as Trump SecEnergy Wright gets Schooled

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Ember energy consultancy reports that in the first half of 2025, the world put in 380 gigawatts of new solar capacity. That compares to 232 gigs in the first half of 2024, for a 64% increase. By the end of June, 2022, the world had only installed 90 new […]

Climate Crisis

When even Saudi Arabia Jumps into Solar and Wind Power, You know Change is Here

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Saudi Arabia’s massive oil deposits and its 9.53 million barrels per day (bpd) of petroleum production make it an enormous carbon polluter and the foremost enemy of climate science and of electric vehicles. Some 38% of Saudi power plants use petroleum and 62% of electricity generation is done by domestically […]