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Why Spain’s Rooftop Solar Owners Weren’t Spared From the Blackout

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  When the electricity  suddenly went out in Spain  on Monday, Irene Casas and her husband Luis Morate, who live in an apartment building in a Madrid suburb, lost power along with everyone else. That’s despite the fact that they, along with their neighbors,  own a source of electricity : 200 rooftop solar panels installed at the end of 2023. The panels didn’t help them ride out the blackout because they are connected directly to the grid. Each co-owner, including Casas and Morate and their neighbors, gets a discount on their utility bill in exchange for the power they put into the electricity network, but the panels themselves don’t directly supply their apartments with energy. Casas and Morate’s experience goes against what many people would consider conventional wisdom: Solar on your roof provides energy independence. Yet, that’s not always the case. “On principle, solar panels give us power during the day, but in reality we are connected to the grid like everyone ...
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The Big Beautiful Bill Torpedoes Big Solar & Big Wind

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  Last November, I published  10 can’t miss predictions about the presidential election . One of my predictions was that if Donald Trump won another term in the White House, he wouldn’t repeal the alt-energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act. I wrote: The idea that the US will spend trillions on alt-energy projects while the deficit is soaring ($ 35.8 trillion and counting ) is the definition of fiscal insanity. But Big Business is feasting on the subsidies, and the most powerful trade associations in Washington have pledged to fight to continue the handouts. Thus, there’s little reason to expect Trump will be able to eliminate the IRA subsidies even if he wants to.   The other nine predictions are still looking pretty good. But right now, it looks like I was wrong about the IRA subsidies. (Yes, it happens.) The latest version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was released by the Senate yesterday, takes a flamethrower to the massive alt-energy subsidies that...
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Fort Drum eyed as site for nuc plant

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