Clean energy
Portugal just ran on 100% renewables for six days in a row
For nearly a week, the country of 10 million met customer needs with wind, hydro and solar — a test run for operating the grid without fossil fuels.
By Julian Spector .
Julian is a senior reporter at Canary Media, where he covers batteries and emerging technologies to store clean energy and unlock a carbon-free grid. He also reports on the budding clean hydrogen industry, and chases down clean energy breakthroughs in far-flung locales.
Prior to the launch of Canary Media in 2021, Julian covered the rise of the grid storage industry for much-loved industry news outlet Greentech Media. Previously he covered clean energy and transportation for CityLab atThe Atlantic, and conducted grant-funded climate journalism in Bangladesh. His stories have appeared in The Guardian, HuffPost, Al Jazeera America and other outlets. He speaks regularly at energy-related events and on podcasts. He graduated from Duke University and still misses Carolina barbecue, but enjoys investigating local cuisine wherever his reporting takes him.
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Energy storage
Will this startup finally crack the code on flow battery tech?
Germany's CMBlu just pulled in a 100-million-euro investment, is ramping up manufacturing and has contracts with major utilities. Can it succeed where others have failed?By Julian Spector .
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Utilities
Mainers reject historic bid to make for-profit utilities publicly owned
The ballot initiative aimed to bolster Maine’s energy transition, grid reliability and affordability. Utilities fought the effort with a torrent of cash.By Julian Spector .
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Clean energy
Kauai became a clean energy leader. Its secret? A publicly owned grid
Making the island’s utility a cooperative resulted in cheaper and cleaner power. It could hold lessons for communities around the country debating local utility control.By Julian Spector .
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Video
Canary on TV: Confronting the downsides of mining for battery materials
Julian Spector appeared on the Weather Channel to parse the environmental and climate impacts of battery supply chains and how the clean energy industry is working to mitigate them.By Julian Spector .
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Utilities
Mainers will vote on replacing for-profit utilities with public power
Organizers of the ballot initiative hope to improve service and speed up the shift to clean energy by taking profits out of the utility sector.By Julian Spector .
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Hydrogen
We need green hydrogen to clean up heavy industry. Who's making it?
There’s essentially no clean hydrogen produced in the U.S. today, but developers are hustling to build projects to supply low-carbon steel, cement and chemicals.By Julian Spector .
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Hydrogen
11 winners from the US’ $7B investment in 'clean hydrogen'
Get familiar with the entities best positioned to shape — and benefit from — the plan to create 7 "hydrogen hubs" around the nation.By Julian Spector .
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Long-duration energy storage
Why Energy Vault went from disrupting batteries to selling them
The buzzy startup raised a record $110M back in 2019 to transform grid storage with novel long-duration tech, but now it's embracing industry favorite lithium-ion.By Julian Spector .
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Hydropower
Hydropower out of whack thanks to record heat and precipitation
In California, hydropower output is expected to double this year. But in the hydro-dependent Northwest, abnormal heat could cause it to shrink by 19%.By Julian Spector .
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