Proponents of "green" energy have good reason to be optimistic as they look back on 2021, a year that saw major new project announcements and billions of dollars in support pledged for carbon-free energy.

Here are a few of the bigger green project developments of the year:

Virginia-based utility Dominion Energy, along with Spanish engineering firm Siemens Gamesa, announced plans in October to construct a first-of-its-kind factory to manufacture blades for offshore wind turbines in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Dominion plans to build 180 turbines by 2026 as part of its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which would generate 2.6 gigawatts of electricity — enough to power 660,000 homes.

Further north, Vineyard Wind, which is positioned to be the United States's first utility-scale offshore wind installation off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, began work last month on the project.

Vineyard Wind had placed an order earlier in the year for 62 General Electric Haliade-X turbines, the most powerful on the market. GE announced that deal for the 13 MW offshore turbines on Oct. 11 and said the order was enabled by Vineyard Wind securing a $2.3 billion loan in September. Vineyard Wind is expected to come online in 2023.

Additionally, the Interior Department approved a construction and operations plan for the South Fork Wind offshore project, which is to be built about 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, and 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. South Fork Wind's approximately 130 megawatts of capacity is enough to power about 70,000 homes.

Vehicles

Several automobile manufacturers announced plans to expand their electric vehicle footprints this year as Congress, through funding for charging stations in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and the Biden administration push for wider adoption of EVs.

General Motors is planning to spend $3 billion to make electric vehicles in Michigan. The company is working on plans to convert its Orion Assembly plant near Detroit to produce electric pickup trucks and to build a battery-cell factory near one of its plants in Lansing.

For its part, Toyota selected the Greensboro, North Carolina, area for its planned $1.29 billion battery manufacturing plant. The Japanese automaker plans to hire 1,750 workers to support plant operations, which the company said will initially consist of four production lines, each capable of producing batteries for 200,000 vehicles per year. It plans to extend production capacity to six lines, with each capable of supporting 1.2 million vehicles per year.

New EV-related developments have continued through the end of the year. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and officials with EV company Rivian announced a plan on Dec. 16 to invest $5 billion to build a vehicle manufacturing plant that's projected to produce up to 400,000 vehicles per year.

Hydrogen

Hy Stor Energy announced it is developing a clean hydrogen hub in Mississippi that is designed to produce an estimated 110 million kilograms, or more than 121,000 tons, of green hydrogen (or hydrogen whose production is emissions-free) per year in its first phase.

The hub is also designed to have a storage capacity amounting to more than 70 million kg of hydrogen through the utilization of subterranean salt caverns. The company is planning for 2025 for the hub's entrance into commercial service.

Separately, California-based Universal Hydrogen announced plans to test-fly a 40-seat regional jet powered by its hydrogen fuel cells next year.

The fuel cells are the key input in Universal Hydrogen's first planned product, a conversion kit that replaces traditional jet fuel-powered turboprop engines on ATR 72 and De Havilland Canada Dash 8 regional aircraft with the electric hydrogen-fueled motors.

The company is aiming for 2025 for entry into commercial service, followed by air cargo.

Solar

Lightsource BP, a 50-50 joint solar energy venture with BP, unveiled its 750,000-panel solar project in Pueblo, Colorado, in October. The Bighorn Solar farm provides electricity to EVRAZ North America, and developers say it is the world's first steel mill to get most of its power from the sun.

Lightsource BP announced a second 298-megawatt solar project weeks later that will also be in Pueblo. The company said the Sun Mountain Solar farm will abate 404,080 tons of carbon dioxide annually, or the equivalent of taking more than 87,000 cars off the road each year, once online.