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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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Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

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Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

The rapper Ghetts has been charged after a man was killed in a hit-and-run in northeast London.

The musician, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He allegedly failed to stop after hitting a 20-year-old man in Ilford last Saturday, the Met Police said.

The 41-year-old appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday – the same day the man died in hospital.

The indictment is expected to change from causing serious injury to causing death by dangerous driving at the next hearing.

Ghetts was remanded into custody and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 27 October.

The police are appealing for witnesses to the crash to come forward.

Read more from Sky News:
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Ghetts is a grime rapper who played at Glastonbury last year and has collaborated with Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Skepta.

He also had a role in the Netflix drama Supacell.

Last year, he received the Mobo Pioneer Award for his significant contribution to British black culture.

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‘People want you to stay in your lane’: Reese Witherspoon on her ‘deeply personal’ decision to write a novel

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'People want you to stay in your lane': Reese Witherspoon on her 'deeply personal' decision to write a novel

It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.

When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.

He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”

Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
Image:
Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye

As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.

Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.

“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.

“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”

More on Reese Witherspoon

Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.

Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Image:
Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try

Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.

“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”

While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”

Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Image:
Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground

Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”

“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”

Read more from Sky News:
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When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”

Coben says they 'fell into a rhythm right away'
Image:
Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’

Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.

“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”

While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.

“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”

Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?

Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”

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Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

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Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

Kim Kardashian has revealed that she has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

  • Footage from the latest season of The Kardashians shows the reality TV star going for an imaging scan.

The 45-year-old appears to suggest her small aneurysm may have stemmed from stress.

Brain aneurysms are relatively common, with data suggesting they affect about one in every 50 people.

In many cases, patients may be unaware that they have one – as they tend to cause few symptoms when unruptured.

Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic
Image:
Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic

Should an unruptured aneurysm grow to a larger size, it can cause headaches, balance problems and speech issues.

Those that burst are extremely dangerous and can prove fatal in some circumstances.

While aneurysms can emerge throughout the body, they are most typically found in the aorta, which carries blood out of the heart.

More on Kim Kardashian

Research suggests brain aneurysms are most common in adults between the ages of 30 and 60 – with women disproportionately affected.

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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”

She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.

“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.

Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.

Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.

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