🐝 World’s largest offshore solar plant, Utah hosts world’s oldest living organism, rare bees block Meta’s data center plans

A Taipei-based renewable energy firm has commissioned the world’s largest offshore floating solar power plant.

Hexa Renewables has installed a 373MWac (megawatt alternating current) solar array project in Changhua County on the western coast of Taiwan.

The project builds on an earlier installation that was commissioned in 2020. The enhanced capacity will now supply energy to approximately 74,000 households in Taiwan. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

☀️ Taiwan debuts world’s largest offshore solar plant to power 74,000 homes yearly

The project’s first stage, completed in 2020, included two plots with a total capacity of 181 MWac, developed by Chenya Energy, which was then part of HEXA’s investor, I Squared Capital.

Following Chenya Energy’s divestment later that year, Hexa continued with the project’s second stage in partnership with the Taiwanese government, adding 192 MWac of power generation.

According to the firm, the pioneering project covers four plots across 347 hectares, exemplifying the future of renewable energy innovation. Together, these stages brought the project to a total capacity of 373 MWac, establishing it as the world’s largest offshore floating solar installation.

🌳 Utah’s 80,000-year-old aspen forest may be world’s oldest living organism

A forest of quaking aspen trees in Utah called Pando has been confirmed to be incredibly old. It is estimated to be between 16,000 and 80,000 years old.

This makes Pando one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. This remarkable forest is located in Fishlake National Forest, and its unique nature has fascinated scientists for years.

Pando, whose name means “I spread” in Latin, isn’t just a forest. It is a single living organism that has cloned itself tens of thousands of times. Spanning 105.3 acres (42.6 hectares), Pando is made up of approximately 47,000 individual stems, all connected by a single, massive root system. This root system is the key to the forest’s survival, allowing it to regenerate new trees continuously.

🐝 Meta gets stung: Rare bees block Zuckerberg’s nuclear-powered data center plans

Meta’s ambitious plans for a new AI data center hit an unexpected roadblock in the form of a tiny yet crucial creature—rare bees. The tech giant, led by Mark Zuckerberg, was working to secure a deal with a nuclear power plant operator to power a new facility dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

However, according to the Financial Times (FT), environmental concerns related to these rare bees halted the project.

The bees were found on the land intended for Meta’s data center. As Zuckerberg reportedly shared at a company meeting, their presence added a layer of complexity to the project.

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