Nevada regulators have approved a plan submitted by NV Energy to encourage electric vehicle adoption through development of electric vehicle infrastructure. NV Energy will invest $15 million into charging stations that are available to the public.

California utility Pacific Gas & Electric has submitted a request to state regulators to replace three gas power plants with facilities that have energy storage capacity. The proposal would make the largest storage capacity facilities in the world.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will fund four to six projects aimed at advancing geothermal technologies, a source of renewable energy that comes from geothermal activity beneath the ground. The projects will be focused on research and development for applying “machine learning” to geothermal operations, promising to greatly reduce costs of this renewable energy source.

Environment Minnesota’s Research and Policy Center issued a statement to the press outlining how the state can achieve the goal of producing 100 percent of its energy with renewable sources. Since 2008, Minnesota as increased its solar electricity production by 550 percent. The report outlines a multifaceted path that includes a focus on renewable energy, as well as energy efficiency, storage and use of electric vehicles.

Minnesota utility company Xcel Energy recently filed its Clean Energy Plan with state regulators that outline the retirement of 660 MW of coal capacity. The utility proposes to replace this generation with 1.8 GW of renewable sources, along with creating energy storage capacity and relying more on gas resources.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced it will approve six projects that will support research and development of technologies that can generate safe and reliable power from marine water resources. The projects total $6.7 million.

During the first quarter of 2018, solar power represented the highest portion of new electric power capacity, according to a report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industry Association. There have been some setbacks to new residential solar power progress due to tariffs, but non-residential and utility-scale additions remain strong in spite of tariffs.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy recently published a global ranking of countries based on their progress toward achieving energy efficiency objectives. While no country scored perfectly within the “scorecard based report,” Germany and Italy received the best scores (75.5 points out of 100) followed by France (73.5), the United Kingdom (73) and Japan (67).

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced how the state will meet aggressive energy storage targets. Under New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, the state is working to generate 50 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. Energy storage will be used to integrate renewable energy resources into the state’s grid.

New York utility National Grid recently launched an online tool that is designed to help customers in the upstate area research and purchase solar photovoltaic systems. The portal tool provides information about various devices and available incentives.