The future of the green hydrogen industry in the United States will become a bit clearer in the coming weeks. Comments on the proposed hydrogen tax credits in 26 USC 45V were due by February 26, 2024, and will be discussed at a public hearing scheduled for March 25, 2024. This hearing will provide the public a clearer prediction of 45V’s final form.
Solar energy and agricultural production often find themselves competitors. Both have strong incentives to expand, and they share a key input: land. Solar developers continue ramping up solar installation worldwide to meet heightened clean energy targets aimed at combating climate change, while agribusiness faces pressure to expand food production to support a growing population. Because solar development and crop production thrive under similar land conditions, namely, large, contiguous parcels of traditionally agricultural land, the two industries often find themselves competing for space.
Agrivoltaics aims to transform this competition into synergy: farming operations and solar development can coexist and reap benefits by sharing land. These arrangements are called agrivoltaic systems, and their widespread implementation can help popularize solar energy in agriculture-dependent communities hesitant to welcome solar development.
When President Jimmy Carter installed rooftop solar panels on the White House, public support for adoption of renewable energy was at a then all-time high and many imagined the possibility of rooftop solar on their own homes and in their own communities. Yet, barriers such as the high up-front installation cost of panels, and of
The siting of renewable energy infrastructure remains a contentious issue in some communities. Throughout the United States — both on the coasts and in the Midwest — new renewable energy development pits unlikely advocates against unlikely opposition. That said, more and more State governments that are looking to grow their renewable energy industries and meet climate goals are implementing legislative solutions to these renewable energy siting issues.