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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

  • If Congress provides tax credits for the solar industry, it could grow rapidly by 2035.
  • First Solar breaks ground on a $680 million, 3.3 GW solar factory in Ohio.
  • UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

US solar’s future

The Biden administration and the US Department of Energy yesterday released an Issue Brief on “solar energy research, deployment, and workforce priorities.”

The brief states:

According to preliminary results of an upcoming analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to reach a largely decarbonized electricity sector by 2035, solar deployment would need to accelerate to three to four times faster than its current rate by 2030.

It also states that solar could supply more than 40% of US electricity by 2035 if Congress implements clean-energy-friendly policies, such as tax credits for solar farms and manufacturing facilities. Solar currently makes up 3% of US electricity.

Further, when it comes to job opportunities, it states:

A pathway to a largely decarbonized electricity sector by 2035 can add millions of new jobs across clean energy technologies, including potentially 500,000–1,500,000 people working in solar by 2035.

“Solar projects are currently eligible for a 26% tax credit that is in the process of being phased out. Biden has pushed for a 10-year extension, as well as new incentives for manufacturing solar components,” Reuters notes.

The Solar Energy Industries Association sent a statement to Electrek from its president and CEO, Abigail Ross Hopper:

The Biden administration’s report today on solar energy shows that with the right policies in place, solar will help tackle the climate crisis, build a strong US manufacturing sector and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. The Issue Brief clearly demonstrates the massive growth in solar over the last decade and charts a course for solar to grow market share and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

The report also makes it clear that meeting the Biden administration’s goal for a zero-emissions electricity grid will require billions of dollars of investment and market opportunities through 2050 across all clean energy generation, including energy storage, electricity delivery, operations and maintenance, as well as community solar and solar for low- and moderate-income communities.

President Biden also plans to extend the solar Investment Tax Credit, build US manufacturing, accelerate transmission and storage expansion and build diversity, equity, inclusion and justice goals into this transition to a clean energy economy. Good trade policy also will be critical to the president’s climate goals.

First Solar’s newest Ohio factory

US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh on a tour of a First Solar factory in Lake Township, Ohio, on August 17. Photo: First Solar

Tempe, Arizona-headquartered First Solar broke ground yesterday on its third factory in Ohio at a ceremony that was attended by US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.

The new 3.3 gigawatt (GW), 1.8 million-square-foot, $680 million facility in Wood County, south of Toledo, is expected to open in the first half of 2023, near where First Solar’s two existing factories are already located. The company claims that the third factory will bump its total annual capacity up to 6 GW, thus making it the largest fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing complex outside of China.

The new factory is expected to create more than 700 permanent jobs and 500 construction jobs for union tradespeople over the next 18 months. Walsh said:

Not only does this facility advance innovative manufacturing for a sustainable future, First Solar is also investing in its workers through skills training, competitive pay, and robust benefits. Empowering all of America’s workers is how we’ll build back a better economy and win the future.

First Solar is the only US-headquartered company among the world’s 10 largest solar manufacturers. It does not manufacture in China and uses a fully integrated, continuous process under one roof. The company says that its “eco-efficient module technology, which uses its proprietary Cadmium Telluride (CadTel) semiconductor, has the lowest carbon and water footprints of any PV module available today.”

Read more: Toledo, Ohio, connects a solar farm with neighborhood reinvestment

Photo: Solar FlexRack in Utah


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Jessica Chastain criticises decision to delay release of The Savant after Charlie Kirk killing

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Jessica Chastain criticises decision to delay release of The Savant after Charlie Kirk killing

Jessica Chastain has criticised Apple’s decision to delay the release of political thriller series The Savant after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The actress, who is also executive producer of the show for the tech giant’s TV+ streaming service, said she was “not aligned on the decision to pause the release”.

In a post on Instagram, she said the programme, in which she plays a woman who tries to draw out potential terrorists online, is “so relevant” and she has never “shied away from difficult subjects”.

Chastain portrays a military veteran who works at the Anti-Hate Alliance, where she secretly visits 4Chan-like message boards and poses as a white nationalist to identify possible terrorists.

“‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honouring their courage feels more urgent than ever,” Chastain said.

“I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone.”

She listed several acts of political violence in the US in recent years, including a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer, the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump last year and also the killing of controversial influencer Kirk.

Read more:
The string of bloody political violence in the MAGA era

Apple said it chose to postpone the show after “careful consideration” but did not give a reason why.

Kimmel’s comeback show brings in record ratings

Meanwhile, millions of people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after he returned to TV after Disney suspended him for nearly a week after he made comments about Kirk.

Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show. Pic: AP
Image:
Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show. Pic: AP

ABC said 6.26 million people watched Kimmel as he said it was “never my intention to make light of” Kirk’s death. It was the late-night show’s highest-rated regularly scheduled episode.

Read more:
Explained: Why Jimmy Kimmel was taken off air

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Kimmel returns – and not everyone’s on same page

“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.

“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.

Kimmel had been accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the killing.

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Claudia Cardinale: Star of The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West dies aged 87

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Claudia Cardinale: Star of The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West dies aged 87

Acclaimed Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, who starred in The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West, has died aged 87, according to French media reports.

The actress, who starred in more than 100 films and made-for-TV productions, died in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent told the AFP news agency.

At the age of 17 she won a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born to Sicilian parents, and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice Film Festival, kick-starting her acting career.

She had expected to become a schoolteacher before she entered the beauty contest.

Claudia Cardinale at the Prix Lumieres awards ceremony in Paris in January 2013. Pic: AP
Image:
Claudia Cardinale at the Prix Lumieres awards ceremony in Paris in January 2013. Pic: AP

Cardinale gained international fame in 1963 when she starred in both Federico Fellini’s 8-1/2 and The Leopard.

She went on to star in the comedy The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West in 1968.

She considered 1966’s The Professionals as the best of her Hollywood films.

Read more from Sky News:
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When she was awarded a lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, she said acting had been a great career.

“I’ve lived more than 150 lives, prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself,” she said.

“I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.”

Cardinale was named a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the defence of women’s rights in 2000.

She is survived by two children.

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Convicted killer jailed after turning up at Cheryl Tweedy’s home for fourth time

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Convicted killer jailed after turning up at Cheryl Tweedy's home for fourth time

A convicted killer who turned up at Cheryl Tweedy’s home for a fourth time has been jailed.

Daniel Bannister, 50, was sentenced to 12 months after admitting a single charge of breaching a restraining order.

He was also given a new restraining order, which warns him against contacting the former Girls Aloud singer.

“You are causing her anxiety,” Judge Alan Blake told him.

“She does not wish any contact with you. You have shown defiance to the court order. You need to draw a line under that behaviour.”

Bannister turned up at Tweedy’s rural home for the fourth time on 19 June.

Reading Crown Court heard he arrived in a taxi just before 10pm and rang the intercom twice before peering over the gate.

Bannister believed the singer had invited him to her home over Microsoft Teams, the court was told.

Daniel Bannister. Pic: Thames Valley Police
Image:
Daniel Bannister. Pic: Thames Valley Police

Tweedy said she was “stunned” when Bannister visited her home yet again and had been forced to hire security.

“Each time he returns the worry of his intentions intensifies,” she said in a victim impact statement.

“I’m worried, nervous and on edge every time I open my gate. No person should have to feel this way.

“Daniel has made my young child scared,” she added.

Read more:
Epping hotel asylum seeker jailed
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Bannister was initially jailed for four months in September last year – and handed a three-year restraining order.

But he breached it by turning up at Tweedy’s home in December.

In March, he was jailed for 16 weeks at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly going to Tweedy’s Buckinghamshire home while under the restraining order.

During that appearance, the court heard that Tweedy “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.

Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA shelter in 2012 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Patel died from an injury to his leg, a court heard.

Tweedy’s former partner Liam Payne died last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.

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