Floating Wind Good, Floating Wind + Green Hydrogen Better
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4 years agoon
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adminAnyone who thinks rapid global decarbonization is out of reach should take a look at the floating wind turbine sector. Floating wind seemingly popped up out of nowhere in just the past couple of years, and it has already hooked up with the splashy new green hydrogen trend. Too bad those pesky cryptocurrency speculators are sucking up all the clean kilowatts, but that’s another new trend and a whole ‘nother can of worms.
Floating Wind & Green Hydrogen To The Rescue
For those of you new to the topic, putting a wind turbine on a platform that floats is a technologically difficult exercise, but the payoff is huge in terms of rapid decarbonization. Floating platforms can be tethered to the seabed in deeper waters and/or farther from shore, which takes advantage of prime wind speeds while minimizing opposition from coastal communities.
The green hydrogen angle comes in for squeezing the most available juice possible from wind turbines. Hydrogen is a zero emission fuel that can be combusted to run turbines, or deployed in a fuel cell to generate electricity. At the present time, though, almost all of the global hydrogen supply comes from natural gas. That’s going to change because low-cost renewable energy has upended the economics of hydrogen production, making it financially feasible to “split” hydrogen gas from water with an electrical current.
Since hydrogen acts as a transportable energy storage medium, water-splitting provides a way to salvage excess energy from wind turbines or solar panels. The case for wind turbines is especially strong because winds generally pick up at night, when electricity demand goes down.
Other sustainable hydrogen pathways include biogas, industrial waste gas, wastewater, and waste plastics, but water-splitting seems to be attracting the most attention these days.
Pie In The Sky? No, Wind Turbines That Float
Into this picture steps a venture called Cerulean Winds, which has come up with a financing formula for scaling the floating wind-plus-hydrogen connection to the national level.
The idea would have seemed far fetched just a few years ago, but both the floating wind industry and the green hydrogen industry are rapidly maturing.
“Cerulean utilises a tuned infrastructure project finance (IPF) construct with integrated delivery and finance that is proven for the offshore floating environment,” Cerulean explains. “At its core is the comprehensive understanding of risk for floating infrastructure and the most appropriate allocation of these risks across our partner and stakeholder ecosystem,” the company states.
Cerulean’s “Blueprint” model is aimed at cutting the timeline between applying for a license and producing clean kilowatts. According to the company, its Blueprint platform also provides for more flexibility than the conventional centralized power plant structure, which is a key point in the distributed energy landscape of today. Energy storage and cross-border trading are also in the mix.
Serial Oil & Gas Developers Turn To Green Hydrogen
The new Cerulean proposal is billed as the “UK’s largest offshore decarbonisation development.” At a cost of £10 billion, it would sport at least 200 wind turbines floating wind turbines with integrated green hydrogen systems, in two North Sea areas, West of Shetland and Central North Sea.
Before you get too excited, one leading aim of the project is to provide clean electricity to existing offshore facilities, namely, offshore oil and gas drilling sites. Cerulean projects that 3 gigawatts in hourly capacity will go to the oil and gas industry. Still, that leaves 1.5 gigawatts per hour in capacity for green hydrogen production systems to be located on shore.
If the offshore oil and gas angle sounds rather unappealing, it is. However, the reality is that switching millions of automobiles, buildings, and other systems over to clean power is a time consuming process. A movement is already afoot to replace diesel and gas generators on offshore drilling platforms with clean power. The Cerulean proposal is part of that trend, ramped up with the green hydrogen angle.
Cerulean has just submitted a seabed lease request to Marine Scotland, so if anything happens out there in the North Sea it could be a long way off. However, Cerulean has already set the contractor and financial wheels in motion, and in that regard the project does demonstrate that the oil and gas industry could pivot rapidly into low carbon mode, if it chose to do that.
“Cerulean Winds is led by serial entrepreneurs Dan Jackson and Mark Dixon, who have more than 25 years’ experience working together on large-scale offshore infrastructure developments in the oil and gas industry,” the company explains. “They believe the risk of not moving quickly on basin wide decarbonisation would wholly undermine the objectives set out in the recent North Sea Transition Deal.”
To sweeten the pot, Cerulean anticipates undercutting the cost of conventional gas turbine power for offshore platforms. According to the company, oil and gas operators would not incur any up-front costs from the switchover.
Floating Wind, Green Hydrogen, & Green Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
To make the case for speeding up the lease approval process, Jackson and Dixon are appealing to the potential for the wind-plus-hydrogen project to create thousands of new green jobs. Ideally the fossil energy jobs will phase out over time, but in the meanwhile Cerulean aims to show that the floating wind plus green hydrogen combo can maintain employment in the fossil sector while adding new green jobs to the economy, at scale. According to the company’s analysis, over the next five years the project will help preserve 160,000 oil and gas jobs while adding 200,000 new green jobs.
More Bad News For ExxonMobil
“The development of green hydrogen at scale and £1 billion hydrogen export potential” is another key pot-sweetener offered by Cerulean, and that should really give gas stakeholders the heebie-jeebies.
Looking at you, ExxonMobil. In terms of making global decarbonization happen, the company has lagged far behind Shell, BP, and other legacy fossil energy companies. Instead of pumping more money into proven clean tech fields like wind and solar, ExxonMobil banked on algae biofuel while doubling down on shale gas in recent years, apparently with the idea that it could continue making fossil energy relevant by comparing gas emissions to coal emissions.
The idea of natural gas as a “bridge fuel” has fallen flat for a number of reasons, including evidence that the recent spike in natural gas emissions may have offset any gains from pushing coal out of the power generation picture.
Now that hydrogen fuel cell demand is up, ExxonMobil and other natural gas stakeholders are been banking on increased demand for hydrogen to fuel the global economy’s thirst for natural gas. However, schemes like the Cerulean floating wind proposal are quickly shutting that window.
Gas stakeholders could try leaning on the exploding cryptocurrency market to pitch their wares. Speculative crypto mining is an energy intensive process that could help prop up both gas and coal producers for years to come.
To be clear, not all cryptocurrency is speculative. The firm Power Ledger, for example, is deploying a crypto-plus-blockchain model that helps electricity users share excess clean kilowatts.
It’s the speculative crypto market that has become a huge public relations problem for industries looking to decarbonize. Banking, real estate, auto sales and other high-dollar sectors have been getting cryptocurrency-curious, but energy consumption by crypto mining systems has become a public relations ball-and-chain.
As leading global corporations move into the supply chain phase of decarbonization, crypto miners are vulnerable. Switching to renewable energy is one solution, but in the context of the urgent need for climate action, any sector that adds to the global energy demand load will have to make the case that it is not simply playing carbon whack-a-mole with clean energy resources.
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Image: Floating wind turbines via US Department of Energy (credit: Josh Bauer, NREL).

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Environment
Navee’s new GT3 Pro smart regen e-scooter at $520 low, Ride1Up 4th of July Sale, Aiper smart pool monitor + robots, lawn care tools, more
Published
2 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
admin

We’re closing out this week’s Green Deals leading with a spotlight on Navee’s new GT3 Pro Electric Scooter that sports regenerative braking, Apple Find My, and more at its $520 low during the brand’s Independence Day Sale. Right behind it is Ride1Up’s 4th of July e-bike Sale with up to $500 discounts its lineup of e-bikes starting from $995. From there, we have Aiper’s HydroComm Solar-Charging Smart Pool Monitor in a blue colorway at $350, as well as several of the brand’s pool-cleaning robots. For our final tool deals of the week, we spotted Worx’s Nitro 40V 15-inch PowerShare Pro Cordless Driveshare String Trimmer bundle (two batteries and replacement head), which allows you to use alternate attachments from this brand or others, down at a $230 annual low. We also have Greenworks’ legacy 24V 22-inch Cordless Laser Cut Hedge Trimmer kit at its best price in years for $97. Plus, there’s all the rest of the hangover Green Deals in the links at the bottom of the page, like yesterday’s 4th of July Rad Power e-bike savings, the 48-hour EcoFlow flash sale on three units that will be ending tonight, and more.
Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.
Hop on Navee’s new GT3 Pro electric scooter for up to 37 miles with regen braking, Apple Find My, more at $520 low
Looking back in on Navee’s Independence Day Sale that is running through July 7, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the new GT3 Pro Electric Scooter down at $519.99 shipped during this sale. While it launched back in March carrying a $1,099 MSRP, it’s more recently been seen at $650 when at full price outside of these sales, with the deal here beating out its Amazon pricing by $80. You’re looking at the best price we have tracked while the stock and savings last, with the 20% markdown providing $130 in savings. You can also bundle two GT3 Pro electric scooters for added savings at $974.99 shipped.
Navee’s new GT3 Pro Electric Scooter debuted alongside the brand’s new flagship ST3 Pro model, with much of the same performance, albeit without the new damping arm suspension system, but it does sport a front fork suspension paired with a rear cylinder suspension. This high-end commuter comes equipped with a 400W motor that can ramp itself as high as 1,000W to tackle steep inclines and provide faster acceleration up to its 19.9 MPH top speed, while the 477.4Wh battery gives you a max 37.3-mile travel range.
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The GT3 Pro electric scooter comes with an IPX5 water-resistant construction for when you may be caught mid-journey by sudden weather changes, and sports other features, including regenerative rear brakes alongside front drum brakes, 10-inch tubeless puncture-resistant tires, an auto-on headlight, a taillight with brake lighting, turn signal indicators on the ends of its handlebars, a foldable design, an integrated LED display, and more. It also brings some smart features to your experience, like the Apple Find My integrations, as well as other app-based smart controls.
Be sure to check out the full lineup of Navee’s Independence Day Sale, especially if you’re considering grabbing the flagship ST3 Pro Electric Scooter with Apple Find My, the new damping arm suspension – plus the increased 25 MPH speed and 46.6-mile range – all at its $760 low.

Save up to $500 through 4th of July on a selection of Ride1Up e-bikes starting from $995
Ride1Up has launched its 4th of July Sale, which is offering similar savings that we’ve seen in recent sales, with up to $500 being taken off four e-bikes and their variants. Among the offers, you’ll find the lightweight and more urban-friendly Roadster v3 e-bike down at $1,395 shipped after being restocked, with it coming with either a 9-speed chain drive or a single-speed belt drive, and three options for frame sizing. It’s only down from a $1,495 full price, which we’ve seen throughout sales in 2025 so far, and sits as the best price we have tracked in the last year.
A considerably upgraded model from its predecessor, sporting more frame and drivetrain options, the Roadster V3 is a stealthy and minimalist ride that is easily managed within urban environments thanks to its 40-pound weight. It comes with a 500W angled-gear MIVICE hub motor for quieter performance, as well as a 320Wh battery, which pairs together to provide up to 40 miles of pedal-assisted travel (half that using the throttle), at top speeds of 25 MPH for the belt-drive setup or 28 MPH for the chain-drive.
Among the other features you’ll be getting, there’s the Intui-Drive torque sensor for ultra-responsive and smoothed out PAS support, 2-piston hydraulic brakes, a choice between Schwalbe G-One RS or Pirelli Cinturato gravel tires, fenders over each tire (depending on our tire choice), a water-resistant 36V 18A MIVICE controller, a two-tone 1.3-inch VeloFox tempered glass OLED display, and more.
Ride1Up’s full 4th of July e-bike deals:
- Portola Folding e-bike: $995 (Reg. $1,095)
- 20 MPH throttle, 28 MPH PAS for up to 40 miles
- Upgrade to 13.4Ah battery for $100 more and 45-mile travels
- Roadster V3 Lightweight Premium Belt-Drive e-bike: $1,395 (Reg. $1,495)
- 25 MPH for up to 40 miles
- Roadster V3 Lightweight Premium Chain-Drive e-bike: $1,395 (Reg. $1,495)
- 28 MPH for up to 40 miles
- Prodigy v2 Brose Mid-Drive 9-Speed e-bike: $2,095 (Reg. $2,495)
- 28 MPH for up to 50 miles
- Revv 1 Full Suspension Moped-Style e-bike: $2,395 (Reg. $2,595)
- 20+ MPH for up to 60 miles
- Revv 1 DRT Off-Road Moped-Style e-bike: $2,495 (Reg. $2,595)
- 20+ MPH for up to 60 miles
- Prodigy v2 Brose Mid-Drive Gates Belt CVT e-bike: $2,595 (Reg. $2,795)
- 28 MPH for up to 50 miles

Aiper’s solar-charging HydroComm smart pool monitor covers testing for pH, ORP, EC, TDS, and temp at $350
Coming through its official Amazon storefront, you can pick up Aiper’s latest HydroComm Smart Pool Monitor in its blue colorway at $349.99 shipped, after clipping the on-page $50 off coupon. This new device hit the market back in mid-April with a $500 price tag, which has recently been staying at $400 since the previous discount at the top of June. Today’s deal comes in as the second-lowest price we have tracked, giving you $50 off the going rate and landing it $50 above the launch discount from April. It’s also beating out Aiper’s direct website pricing by $20. Head below to learn about this device and check out the brand’s robot pool cleaners that are seeing discounts.
No need to deal with outdated testing kits after you’ve added Aiper’s HydroComm monitor to your pool, providing 5-in-1 testing support for pH, ORP, EC, TDS, and temperature levels. A standout feature is the built-in solar panel that gives it a continuous 24/7 runtime as long as it gets some sun during the days. And when the sun decides to hide amongst the clouds, rest easy knowing you can also recharge it via the DC input.
Aiper’s pool cleaning robot deals:
- Scuba SE: $170 (Reg. $200) | $30 less at Aiper
- for above-ground pools up to 860 square feet in size
- floor cleaning
- Seagull SE: $160 (Reg. $180) | matched at Aiper
- for above-ground pools up to 850 square feet in size
- floor cleaning
- 2025 Surfer S2 Solar Pool Skimmer: $340 (Reg. $540) | matched at Aiper
- built-in solar panel, remote manual steering, more
- Scuba S1: $500 (Reg. $700)
- for in-ground pools up to 1,600 square feet in size
- floor/wall/water line cleaning
- Seagull Pro: $530 (Reg. $600) | $30 less at Aiper
- for in-ground pools up to 1,600 square feet in size
- floor/wall/water line cleaning
- And much more…

Worx’s attachment-capable 40V Nitro 15-inch PowerShare Pro cordless string trimmer bundle hits $230 annual low
Amazon is offering the best recent pricing on the Worx Nitro 40V 15-inch PowerShare Pro Cordless Driveshare String Trimmer with two 4.0Ah batteries, a dual-slot charger, and a replacement trimmer head for $229.99 shipped. Down from its $300 price we have been tracking most recently, this bundled package hasn’t been this low in well over a year, with it otherwise keeping at its full rate. Today’s deal brings a 23% markdown into the mix, cutting $70 off the going rate to land it at the best price we’ve tracked over the last 12 months and the second-lowest price overall – $10 above the low. If you already have plenty of 40V PowerShare batteries, you can get the trimmer and the replacement head at $199.99 shipped.
A more versatile model of string trimmers, this 40V Nitro model from Worx comes sporting the Driveshare functionality, with a split-shaft design that allows for the brand’s various attachments to be swapped out with the trimmer head – and it’s compatible with many other brand’s attachments to boot. The brushless motor can be dialed up or back with the variable speed control, which includes an Eco mode for optimal runtimes, while the 15-inch dual-exit head makes replacing broken lines all the faster and easier. Plus, there’s the lack of gas, fumes, pull strings, and noise over gas-guzzling counterparts.
If you wanted to pick this trimmer up alongside any of the brand’s various attachments, be sure to browse what Worx has to offer in its official Amazon storefront on the landing page here.

Keep hedges in tip-top shape with Greenworks’ legacy 24V 22-inch cordless laser cut trimmer kit at $97
Amazon is offering the best rate we’ve seen in years on the legacy Greenworks 24V 22-inch Cordless Laser Cut Hedge Trimmer for $97.49 shipped, with the price also matching directly from Greenworks’ website. While it carries a $150 MSRP from the brand, we’ve been seeing it keep down at $127 over at Amazon since mid-April, with today’s sudden discount taking it lower than we’ve seen it go in over a year. You’re looking at a 23% markdown that gives you $30 off Amazon’s going rate and $53 off the MSRP, landing it at the best price we’ve tracked in over 12 months.
You’ll reliably be able to upkeep your hedges and shrubbery through the seasons with this tried-and-true Greenworks 24V cordless hedge trimmer. It comes with a 4.0Ah battery that provides up to 60 minutes of continuous runtime off a single charge, with the battery even doubling as a 24,000mAh USB power bank when it’s not powering the tool. The dual-action, laser cut 22-inch steel blades allow for up to a 3/4-inch cutting capacity, while the ergonomic rotating handle provides more flexibility and comfort when hitting awkward angles and performing more complex shape-ups.
If you’re more interested in the brand’s commercial-grade lawn care solutions, we’ve spotted quite a few low prices on solid packages over the week:
Best Spring EV deals!
- Aventon Ramblas Electric Mountain Bike: $2,599 (Reg. $2,899)
- Ride1Up Prodigy v2 Brose Mid-Drive Gates Belt CVT e-bike: $2,595 (Reg. $2,795)
- Heybike Hero Carbon Fiber All-Terrain 750W mid-drive e-bike: $2,599 (Reg. $3,099)
- Ride1Up Revv 1 DRT Off-Road Moped-Style e-bike: $2,495 (Reg. $2,595)
- Ride1Up Revv 1 Full Suspension Moped-Style e-bike: $2,395 (Reg. $2,595)
- Heybike Hero Carbon Fiber All-Terrain 1,000W rear-hub e-bike: $2,299 (Reg. $2,599)
- Ride1Up Prodigy v2 Brose Mid-Drive 9-Speed e-bike: $2,095 (Reg. $2,495)
- Rad Power Radster Road Commuter e-bike: $1,999 (Reg. $2,199)
- Rad Power Radster Trail Off-Road e-bike: $1,999 (Reg. $2,199)
- Lectric XPedition 2.0 35Ah Cargo e-bike w/ up to $703 bundle: $1,999 (Reg. $2,702)
- Tenways AGO X All-Terrain e-bike with $307 bundle: $1,899 (Reg. $2,499)
- Lectric XPedition 2.0 26Ah Cargo e-bike w/ $554 bundle: $1,699 (Reg. $2,253)
- Aventon Aventure 2 All-Terrain e-bike: $1,699 (Reg. $1,999)
- Lectric XPeak 2.0 Long-Range Off-Road e-bike with $316 bundle: $1,699 (Reg. $1,915)
- Aventon Level 2 Commuter e-bike: $1,599 (Reg. $1,899)
- Aventon Abound Cargo e-bike: $1,599 (Reg. $1,999)
- Lectric XPeak 2.0 Standard Off-Road e-bike with $227 bundle: $1,499 (Reg. $1,726)
- Tenways CGO600 Pro e-bikes with $118 bundle: $1,499 (Reg. $1,899)
- Velotric Nomad 1 Plus All-Terrain e-bike: $1,499 (Reg. $1,899)
- Lectric XP Trike with $405 bundle: $1,499 (Reg. $1,904)
- Velotric T1 ST Plus e-bike: $1,399 (Reg. $1,649)
- Aventon Sinch 2 Folding e-bike: $1,399 (Reg. $1,699)
- Lectric XPedition 2.0 13Ah Cargo e-bike with $326 bundle: $1,399 (Reg. $1,725)
- Ride1Up Roadster V3 Lightweight Premium e-bike: $1,395 (Reg. $1,495)
- Lectric XPress 750 Commuter e-bikes with $336 bundle: $1,299 (Reg. $1,635)
- Velotric Discover 1 Plus Commuter e-bike: $1,299 (Reg. $1,699)
- Lectric XP4 750 LR Folding Utility e-bikes with $356 bundle: $1,299 (Reg. $1,655)
- Heybike Brawn Off-Road e-bike: $1,299 (Reg. $1,799)
- Lectric XP Lite 2.0 JW Black LR e-bike with $414 bundle: $1,099 (Reg. $1,513)
- Ride1Up Portola Folding e-bike with BOGO accessory promo: $995 (Reg. $1,095)
- Lectric XP4 Standard Folding Utility e-bikes with $79 bundle: $999 (Reg. $1,078)
- Lectric XP 3.0 Long-Range e-bikes (clearance price cut): $999 (Reg. $1,199)
- Lectric XP Lite 2.0 Long-Range e-bikes with up to $414 bundles: $999 (Reg. $1,413)
- Hiboy EX6F Folding e-bike (new model – two launch savings): $950 (Reg. $1,580)
- Rad Power RadExpand 5 Folding e-bike (new low): $999 (Reg. $1,599)
- Navee ST3 Pro Electric Scooter (new model): $760 (Reg. $1,014)
- Navee GT3 Pro Electric Scooter (new model): $520 (Reg. $714)

Best new Green Deals landing this week
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
- Anker launches new modular SOLIX F3000 3,072Wh LiFePO4 station with up to $2,049 savings starting from $1,699
- Rad Power Bikes celebrates 4th of July with its new Radster Trail and Road e-bikes back at $1,999 lows, more
- EcoFlow 48-hour flash sale takes up to 54% off two expandable power stations and extra battery offers starting from $429
- Celebrate America’s birthday with Lectric’s new XP4 e-bikes and up to $356 in free gear from $999 in 4th of July Sale, more
- Get up to 50% discounts + bonus exclusive 5% savings on power stations during Bluetti’s early Prime Day Sale starting from $239
- Get up to 65% off Jackery power stations in early Prime Day Sale access with bonus + trade-in savings, more from $89
- Anker SOLIX early Prime Day flash sales drop C300 AC 90,000mAh 100W solar bundle to a new $369 low (Reg. $669), more
- EcoFlow’s early Prime Day Sale takes up to 60% off power stations + extra savings, free gear, subsidies, more – all from $179
- Save $698 on Heybike’s CityRun commuter e-bike with a 55-mile range at $1,099 in 4th of July Sale, more from $999
- Score Greenworks’ 82V commercial 25-inch cordless self-propelled mower with three 4.0Ah batteries at $700 (Reg. $950)
- Clean outdoor spaces with Greenworks’ 1,800 PSI electric pressure washer with an onboard soap tank for $120 (Save $50)
- Take this EGO 56V 3,200 PSI cordless electric pressure washer with two 6.0Ah batteries anywhere at a $699 low (Reg. $799)
- Greenworks’ 40V 13-inch cordless trimmer/edger and blower kit + 3 bonus spools at new $150 low (Reg. $190)
- NIU’s latest KQi 200F electric scooter with regen brakes lending to a 34-mile travel range drops to new $599 low (Reg. $799)
- Cut, collect, and/or mulch clippings with this Greenworks 40V 17-inch cordless push mower at new $230 low (Reg. $310)
- Control the length of line up to a 15-inch cutting swath with this 40V Worx Nitro cordless trimmer kit at $190 low (Reg. $270)
- Promote garden growth through pruning with Worx’s 20V 5-inch cordless mini chainsaw at new $84 low (Reg. $130)
- Score Greenworks’ 82V commercial 760 CFM cordless axial blower with two Bluetooth 4.0Ah batteries at new $300 low (50% off)
- Electrified Weekly – Rad Power RadRunner Plus and Max free console promo from $1,799, 4th of July EV sales from Lectric, Tenways, more
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Environment
Solar panel maker Meyer Burger US files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [Update]
Published
2 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
admin![Solar panel maker Meyer Burger US files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [Update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Meyer-Burger-Goodyear.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)

Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in the US after filing for insolvency proceedings earlier this month in Germany.
June 27, 2025: In a court filing on Wednesday, Meyer Burger stated that it was starting the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in the US. The company estimates its assets between $100 million and $500 million, and its liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion.
Meyer Burger lists its largest creditor with unsecured claims as US Customs and Border Protection, with $5.1 million in unpaid import duties, according to Solar Power World.
As Electrek reported at the end of May, Meyer Burger shut down its Arizona solar factory and terminated all employees, citing a lack of funding.
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June 2, 2025: On Saturday, May 31, Meyer Burger announced that its subsidiaries in Germany have each filed for insolvency proceedings. As we wrote below last week, the employees in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony were furloughed last year, but they’ve now been laid off.
Meyer Burger Germany in Hohenstein-Ernstthal employs 289 people in mechanical engineering and technology development. Meyer Burger Industries’ solar cell factory in Bitterfeld-Wolfen employs 331 people.
Subsidiary Meyer Burger (Switzerland) AG, which employs around 60 people in Thun, will remain in operation. Meyer Burger (Americas) Ltd. will also remain a company.
Due to ongoing financing discussions on restructuring, the company has requested an extension of the deadline for presenting its 2024 financial results, which expires today.
May 30, 2025: On May 29, all 282 remaining employees at the Goodyear, Arizona, factory received termination notices, and operations were shut down immediately. The site was still in its ramp-up phase and had a planned annual production capacity of 1.4 gigawatts. Meyer Burger had just started assembling solar cells imported from its factory in Germany.
The company says it’s been forced to shut down the US plant due to a lack of funding. The future of the Goodyear facility is now uncertain.
Meyer Burger is currently in talks with bondholders as it tries to restructure debt tied to two convertible bonds that mature in 2027 and 2029. Those bonds were issued by its subsidiary MBT Systems GmbH and guaranteed by the parent company.
It’s unclear what this means for Meyer Burger’s factories in eastern Germany, a company spokesperson told German press agency dpa. Around 300 employees at each site, in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony, were furloughed last year.
Meyer Burger has struggled for a few years, in no small part due to competition from cheaper Chinese solar imports. In 2024, it cut around 20% of its 1,000-person workforce, even as it moved ahead with US expansion plans. In December, the company secured nearly $40 million in bridge financing from creditors to keep things afloat, but that money appears to have run dry.
Meyer Burger says it will share more information as it becomes available.

Read more: Meyer Burger abandons German solar cell factory plans to build a US factory instead
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Environment
Hurricanes, heat domes, and holding up the grid with home batteries
Published
3 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
admin

Hurricanes, wildfires, and triple-digit heat domes are stressing America’s energy grid like never before, with millions experiencing rolling blackouts and brownouts as they struggle to keep their collective cool. As rooftop solar and home batteries show up in more and more places, however, we’re building something bigger than a backup: a virtual power plant that can keep things running when the grid can’t.
Imagine a network of hundreds, or even thousands of interconnected batteries, all networked together and coordinated with advanced distribution software to operate like a single store of energy, able to move energy from one battery to another, instantly, as soon as it’s needed, in a way that’s hardly noticeable to the people involved.
Got that in your head? Good. That distributed energy resource (DER) you’re imagining now is called a “virtual power plant,” or VPP.
Virtual power plants are a win-win solution that flips our traditional energy model on its head—instead of utilities spending billions on new infrastructure and passing those costs to ratepayers, VPPs allow homeowners to step in to help the grid keep electricity prices stable and prevent grid blackouts. It essentially turns neighborhoods into their own power plants, so we’re not forced to purchase expensive power from facilities miles away. This keeps money in our pockets and our grid more stable, which feels like common sense in a world where our electricity demand and prices keep climbing.
Kristina Zagame
Sr. Researcher, ENERGYSAGE
And, as more Americans bring solar power and home battery backup systems online, they’re building a new kind of fast, distributed, grid support — one that’s already sitting in people’s garages and basements.
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“We’ve been piloting the way in which we should do this for 30 years,” explains Jigar Shah, former Director of the Loan Programs Office in the US Department of Energy said on the Plugged In podcast earlier this week. “The utility says, ‘We need to be able to upgrade the distribution grid so that you can do whatever you want. You can turn every single thing on in your house at the same time, and we have to be able to serve you.’ That bargain is getting way too expensive. We can’t keep upgrading the distribution grid … What (the utilities) need to do is to figure out how to help work with customers to say, ‘Hey, we need you to opt into load flexibility, in a way that isn’t noticeable to you, and that requires cultural change.”
The good news is that that “cultural change” is already happening.
We’ve got the juice

At last year’s Solar & Energy Storage Summit in San Francisco, Wood McKenzie delivered an in-depth assessment of the current state of the US distributed solar-plus-storage market and showed that the attachment rate (the number of people adding a battery to their home solar system) had quadrupled since Q1 2020, growing from 6% in Q1 2020 to 25% in Q1 2024. That number has continued to climb, driven in large part by the Tesla Powerwall, which is being produced at the staggering rate of nearly 700,000 units per year. That same report forecasts 10 GW of residential storage capacity will be installed between by 2028, with the residential segment constituting about 80% of all DERs.
Those Powerwall installations are paying off, too — and not just for the utilities who are able the leverage the distributed energy resource/VPP aspect, but for their owners, too. And I mean “pay off” in the most literal sense, with Tesla having paid out $9.9 million to Powerwall customers in 2024 alone.
Following the pilot program, Tesla and PG&E, the electric utility covering Northern California, launched the first official virtual power plant through the Tesla app.
This new version of the Tesla Virtual Power Plant actually compensates Powerwall owners $2 per kWh that they contribute to the grid during emergency load reduction events. Homeowners are expected to get between $10 and $60 per event.
Later, we reported that Tesla’s California VPP expanded to Southern California Edison (SCE) to now cover most of the state.
Last year, Tesla’s California VPPs reached over 100 MW in capacity, and the company also started building significant VPPs in Texas.
Fred Lambert
Editor in Chief, ELECTREK
The growth of battery backup power isn’t just about emergency prepping or lowering your own energy costs, in other words. It’s about avoiding the multi-billion-dollar cost of constantly expanding and reinforcing the existing grid by optimizing the system we already have.
And, by shifting demand loads away from peak demand periods and creating a store of clean solar and wind energy that would otherwise be curtailed (read: wasted), VPPs also help utilities decarbonize by reducing the need for “peaker plants” that run on fossil fuels.
With smart policies, the right incentives, and willing utility partners, each new home battery can eventually become a tiny piece of a decentralized, more affordable, and more reliable grid — one that can flex, adapt, and support itself in real time.
Too bad we (probably) won’t have those for much longer.
Original content from Electrek.
Read More: It’s time to start recommending some Tesla Powerwall alternatives

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