Latest news with #Eland
Los Angeles Times
06-08-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Major clean power plant serving L.A. goes fully online in Kern County
MOJAVE, Calif. — One of the largest solar and battery power plants in the United States is now supplying Los Angeles and Glendale from Kern County. Local leaders and clean energy experts gathered Tuesday beneath a blazing desert sun to mark the initiation of full production from 1.36 million solar panels and 172 lithium iron phosphate batteries that make up the Eland solar-plus-storage electricity project. It's as large as 13 Dodger stadiums, parking lots included, and will generate 7% of the electricity for all of the city of Los Angeles, much of it at a record-low price. 'This is the largest project for LADWP when it comes to solar and battery, and that is a huge accomplishment for us because it takes away the fear of doing more of these — and we need about 10 more of these to hit our goals,' said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The city has committed to 100% clean energy by 2035. With Eland's power now flowing through its grid, L.A. is nearly two-thirds of the way there: The project has pushed the city's total supply to 64% clean energy, Quiñones said. Other sources of power in L.A.'s portfolio include hydrogen, natural gas, biomass, geothermal, nuclear and coal, which the city aims to decommission by the end of this year. The $2 billion Eland project was developed by Arizona-based Arevon Energy and will also supply solar electricity to Glendale Water and Power. While Eland's sprawling solar panels are eye-catching, it's the unassuming batteries — which look like rows of large white shipping containers — that are the real crux of the project. Locating batteries together with solar power or wind allows them to charge up on the clean energy, then feed it back to people's homes after the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing. At the end of 2023, there were close to 469 such 'hybrid' clean power plants in the U.S., according to a recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In California, nearly every new solar project waiting to be connected to the electrical grid included batteries. All scenarios for effectively addressing climate change call for using storage. The Eland project is also coming online as the Trump administration is slowing the transition to clean energy with dozens of measures that favor electricity made from coal and natural gas. The president's so-called Big Beautiful Bill ends federal tax credits for wind and solar within the next two years. But in California and a number of other states where addressing climate change is mandated, the transition is likely to continue. 'I spent 12 years in D.C., and to be home, where this is not a controversy — there's no controversy about climate goals and solar and renewables — it's an exciting day,' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The Times. Eland 'represents a significant milestone toward reaching our climate goals, and it also just reinforces our stature of leading the country in terms of renewables and moving toward clean energy goals,' Bass said. Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of Arevon, said solar paired with battery storage is currently the cheapest source of energy 'with or without tax credits,' and the fastest to deliver to market. The Eland project took about two years to complete once the first shovel was in the ground, compared with nuclear or natural gas projects that can take several years longer, he said. Smith also cited the sudden increase in forecast need for electricity for data centers. 'If we don't meet that demand, that means the AI future is going to be won by the Chinese, because they're building more solar in a month than we build in a couple of years.' Two-thirds of all the renewable energy installed globally in 2024 was in China, which strongly encourages the buildout. In the U.S. now, such projects must either begin construction by next July or be placed into service by the end of 2027 in order to receive a federal tax credit from. But much of Eland's success will depend on DWP, which has committed to a 25-year, $1.5 billion contract for its power, with options to buy the facility outright as soon as year 10, according to company officials. Eland marks DWP's first utility-scale integrated solar and battery project. Its two facilities combined — the first phase opened last year — will generate 758 megawatts of solar power and store up to 1,200 megawatt-hours of energy, all of which can be dispatched during peak demand in the evening or nighttime. DWP officials said Eland is the lowest-cost project in their portfolio, with the cost of generation and storage averaging about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. The energy is expected to be neutral or even a cost savings for ratepayers, company officials said. That's partly because DWP was able to contract for the power prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing supply chain issues, and well before new market uncertainties related to tariffs, according to Quiñones. Experts say such projects can't come soon enough. Last year was Earth's hottest on record, with rising global temperatures driven primarily by fossil fuel emissions. The Eland project alone is expected to avoid emissions equivalent to about 120,000 cars, according to company officials. 'When the City of Los Angeles first pursued renewable power some twenty years ago, it did so on moral grounds. It was 'the right thing to do' to reduce the City's greenhouse gas emissions,' Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Resolve, said in a statement. 'Flash forward to today — and solar power is now the right thing to do economically, producing electricity at a cost lower than that of coal, natural gas and nuclear power.' About 75% of the state's energy on Tuesday came from renewables, according to the California Independent System Operator. With Eland, DWP is well on track to meet its 100% clean energy goal by 2035, although Quiñones said the last 3% to 4% will be the most challenging. But a project like Eland — the largest DWP has ever done — 'demonstrates our commitment toward our renewable and clean energy transition,' Quiñones said. 'We're not backing down from that.'
Mint
31-07-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
California has got really good at building giant batteries
A renewable energy corridor is rising in eastern Kern County, California—where the Mojave Desert meets the Sierra Nevada mountains. Among the wind turbines, solar panels and Joshua Trees are giant batteries that look like shipping containers. Tesla workers tinker with the ones at the Eland solar and storage project, developed by Arevon Energy. They wear sun hats and boots and warn your correspondent to watch out for rattlesnakes. The amount of battery power in California rose from 500 megawatts (MW) in 2018 to nearly 16,000 in 2025. Nearly a quarter of America's battery capacity is in California alone, according to BloombergNEF, a research firm. Texas is not far behind. The battery boom tells a story of solar power's supremacy. In the middle of the day, when the sun is strongest, as much as three-quarters of the state's electricity can come from solar. Batteries charge in the afternoon when solar power is cheap, and release energy in the evenings when Californians get home and crank up their air conditioners. At their daily peak, around 8pm, batteries can provide as much as 30% of the state's electricity. California and Texas supercharged their battery power in ways that exemplify the states' different approaches to energy markets. As per usual, the Golden State relied on regulation. In 2013 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered the state's three big investor-owned utilities to procure 1,325 MW of energy storage by 2020 to help meet renewable targets and stabilise the grid. That goal was easily met. 'Our system is much better positioned now, particularly to deal with extreme weather events", says Elliot Mainzer, chief executive of the California Independent System Operator, which manages electricity across the state's grid. In Texas, developers spied an opportunity for energy arbitrage. Operators could profit by buying cheap solar power and selling it at a higher cost later in the day. In 2024 Texas surpassed California to become the fastest-growing storage market. The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. Batteries help plug the gap. Mark Jacobson, an engineering professor at Stanford University, found that most days this year contained periods when solar, hydropower and wind, helped by batteries, met 100% of California's demand—even though just 54% of the state's electricity generation comes from renewables. Because most lithium-ion batteries are designed to provide four hours of power, they do not yet replace baseload generation from gas, nuclear or geothermal. The battery bonanza may slow down. Donald Trump's tariffs on China, where the battery supply chain is concentrated, and the gutting of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean-energy tax credits would be a double whammy. These changes will hurt renewables' ability to meet demand as power-hungry data centres come online, argues Kevin Smith, the boss of Arevon. Additionally, a recent fire at a battery facility in Moss Landing, on California's coast, has spooked communities. One Monterey County supervisor called it 'a Three Mile Island event". Such incidents are relatively rare, but the CPUC has set new safety standards to try to assuage fears. After a few heady years, the battery industry may soon need a jolt. Stay on top of American politics with The US in brief, our daily newsletter with fast analysis of the most important political news, and Checks and Balance, a weekly note from our Lexington columnist that examines the state of American democracy and the issues that matter to voters.
Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Irish Times
A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis – Five decades as wandering witness to the world
A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis Author : Edited by John Hatt ISBN-13 : 978-1780602318 Publisher : Eland Guideline Price : £25 Norman Lewis (1908-2003) was one of the most outstanding English travel writers of his generation, who also wrote 12 novels and several volumes of autobiography. Aside from his books, he contributed long-form journalistic essays to The New Yorker, Sunday Times and Observer magazines. Covering nearly five decades, this collection contains 36 pieces selected and edited by John Hatt, founder of Eland, which has republished many classic travel books. Lewis's geographical range stretched from Europe to West Africa, across parts of Asia and the Americas. With a prose style of wit and unobtrusive scholarship, he was noted for his forensic power of observation, often with a whiff of danger. His writing includes an interview with Herman Marks, self-styled executioner for Fidel Castro 's regime, encounters with West Papuan cannibals, and a study of the Sicilian Mafia. In Burma in 1951, when the nation was in turmoil, Lewis travelled on an uncomfortable journey on the Rangoon Express; the last train but one had been heavily mortared and the immediate predecessor was derailed. His train was made up of converted cattle-trucks and 'invested with a certain sombre majesty, as it rattled out into the hostile immensity of the plain'. Lewis's 12,000-word feature in 1969, about the genocide of indigenous tribes in Brazil , was at the time the longest ever printed in the Sunday Times and shocked the world. It chronicled Brazil's systematic and murderous destruction – by the government's Indian Protection Service, landowners, and diamond prospectors – of its native tribes. His reporting inspired the foundation of Survival International , which campaigns for tribal people worldwide. READ MORE In Havana, Lewis tracked down Ernest Hemingway , then 60, and at the peak of his fame. He found the writer in his pyjamas, seated on a bed in his residence at Finca Vigía, Havana, drinking heavily and in poor physical shape. To his astonishment, Hemingway poured himself a tumblerful of Dubonnet, half of which he gulped down. [ Sally Hayden on We Came By Sea: Stories of a Greater Britain - 'It feels comforting and right to have a writer of Clare's skill turn attention to this topic' Opens in new window ] 'This was an encounter,' Lewis wrote, 'that might have been dangerous and undermining to any young man in the full enjoyment of ambition and hope, because it presented a parable on the subject of futility. Hemingway's mournful eyes urged you to accept your lot as it was, and be thankful for it.' Paul Clements's biography Jan Morris: Life from Both Sides, is published by Scribe
Economist
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Economist
California has got really good at building giant batteries
A renewable energy corridor is rising in eastern Kern County, California—where the Mojave Desert meets the Sierra Nevada mountains. Among the wind turbines, solar panels and Joshua Trees are giant batteries that look like shipping containers. Tesla workers tinker with the ones at the Eland solar and storage project, developed by Arevon Energy. They wear sun hats and boots and warn your correspondent to watch out for rattlesnakes.
Al Arabiya
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Derek Eland: The war artist sharing untold stories from Ukraine
As diplomatic efforts to find peace in Ukraine continue to ebb and flow, most media attention focuses on the words of world leaders in Washington, Moscow, Riyadh, Kyiv and other European capitals… but while a ceasefire proves elusive – or perhaps evasive – soldiers and civilians continue to suffer in relative silence. Derek Eland is a former British paratrooper who jumped to a different career as a war artist, documenting the personal stories of soldiers and civilians in conflict zones. Eland has traveled to Afghanistan and most recently Ukraine to collect handwritten accounts from people on the frontlines – soldiers, medics, artists, and civilians. He gained remarkable access to frontline units and captured poignant accounts of loss, determination, and the desire for peace, despite the ongoing violence. Speaking to Al Arabiya's Riz Khan, Eland said: 'There's a desperate yearning for peace, but when you talk to them, there's also a strong sense that that peace will not be at any price. The soldiers I met said, 'We definitely don't want to give up our land. This is our homeland, our motherland and the blood of our soldiers is in the ground.' Eland believes these personal narratives are crucial to understanding the human toll of the war and providing a platform for voices that may otherwise go unheard. His goal is to give a voice to those experiencing the realities of war and to provide a human perspective beyond the political narratives. As Eland looks to the future, he is considering taking his work to other conflict zones, such as Gaza, where he hopes to continue giving voice to those affected by war and displacement. Watch the full Riz Khan Show interview above.
