2014-07-31 Energy Week

Please note that this post is being developed.

Friday, 7-25

¶   The National Hockey League is the first A-list pro sports league to issue a Sustainability Report. In its report, the NHL took on climate change deniers and set a new high bar for all the other pro sports leagues in the US. [CleanTechnica]

¶   European power sector stakeholders are fully aware that a substantial transition is taking place there. A poll taken during POWER-GEN Europe revealed that half of the delegates present expected that the European market for large power plants will never return. [Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production Magazine]

¶   Plans for a series of new UK offshore wind farms have been thrown into doubt after the Government disclosed it would only award enough subsidies this autumn to fund one such project. Wind farm developers for other projects will be forced to wait to find out about funds. [Telegraph.co.uk]

Saturday, 7-26

¶   Russia is a major exporter of crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas. Sales of these fuels accounted for 68% of Russia’s total export revenues in 2013, based on data from Russia’s Federal Customs Service. [Energy Collective]

¶   The signals coming from Australia’s Federal Government say it is preparing to cut the renewable energy target back. But Melbourne and Sydney have set ambitious targets to slash carbon emissions and are determined to make it happen, whatever direction Canberra takes. [ABC Online]

¶   Seneca Mountain Wind issued a statement saying it has ceased development its project in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. It has withdrawn a request to connect the project to the New England power grid and it has terminated all its leases it had to build the turbines. [Greenfield Daily Reporter]

¶   A lobbyist for Exelon Corporation recently bragged about killing the wind industry and claimed they would kill the solar industry next. Now the company favors extension of a net metering cap in Massachusetts, though in a watered-down form. It remains to be seen why. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, 7-27

¶   Kudos Energy, a new Australian start-up solar company, believes that the Australian market for rooftop solar leasing for the residential and commercial sectors could reach $100 billion in the next decade. Kudos is the brainchild of two leading private equity investors. [CleanTechnica]

¶   With a new battery pack built in partnership with LG Chem, it seems like GM plans to usurp Tesla’s plans to deliver a long-range and affordably priced EV to the masses. The rumors of a 200-mile GM-branded EV have been around for a while, and now the car may appear soon. [CleanTechnica]

¶   In the past few years a tremendous technological transformation has occurred. The barriers for electric companies to entertain unprecedented growth potential by devouring a large piece of the oil companies’ share of the US energy market for transportation is now clearly in reach. [Energy Collective]

Monday, 7-28

¶   Soon, all of Germany’s coal-fired power plants will be dependent on imports, with the country expected to halt coal mining in 2018 when government subsidies end. US exports of power plant-grade coal to Germany have more than doubled since 2008. [Times Colonist]

¶   Clarkson University, partnering with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, National Grid and others, is designing a grid that will provide renewable and conventional electricity to many entities in the village of Potsdam, New York. [WatertownDailyTimes.com]

¶   A Texas Empowerment report released by Choose Energy shows that about one in three Texans choose renewably sourced energy options. That’s 100% more than any other state, according to Levente McCrary, spokeswoman for Choose Energy. [Tyler Morning Telegraph]

Tuesday, 7-29

¶   Atomic power’s share of global electricity supply is at the lowest level since the 1980s and may fall further without major new plant construction, according to a draft of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2014. [Thomson Reuters Foundation]

¶   The American Wind Energy Association has just come out with some facts and figures about the so-called hidden cost of wind power. According to AWEA’s calculations the “hidden cost” for conventional power plants in Texas is 17 times more than wind. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Green Mountain Power is expanding its groundbreaking heat pump pilot program to Montpelier as part of the city’s major initiative focused on making Montpelier the first net zero capital city in the country. [vtdigger.org]

Wednesday, 7-30

¶   PV installations in Germany generated significantly higher profits than onshore installations despite producing less electricity overall, according to a new study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. [pv magazine]

¶   On the second anniversary of a scheme aimed at boosting Japan’s renewable energy after the Fukushima crisis, its powerful industry ministry is taking steps critics say will choke off solar investment and pave the way for a return to nuclear power. [eco-business.com]

¶   The longer the world waits to act on climate change, the more costly it will be to rein in the environmental impacts of releasing heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, according to a White House report on climate change. [Christian Science Monitor]

Thursday, 7-31

¶   “FERC Commissioners: Clean Power Plan Doesn’t Spell Doom for Grid Reliability” All five members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission agree that acting on climate change is critical and none indicates the EPA’s plan to cut carbon emissions would hamper grid operations. [Natural Resources Defense Council]

¶   Energy monolith GE has announced that it will be investing equity in three Atria Power wind projects currently under construction in India — a move that goes a long way towards GE’s commitment to invest $1 billion annually in the global renewable energy industry. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Flexible alternating current transmission systems have been implemented in electric grids since the 1920s, but growing renewable energy deployment has increased their demand. According to Navigant Research, the market for them to 2022 will be $42 billion. [CleanTechnica]

2014-07-25 Energy Week

Please note that this post is under construction:

Friday, 7-18

¶   “Decarbonizing the world energy system without nuclear” In 2013, where nuclear power supplied 11% of the world’s electricity, renewables about twice as much. And in 2013 renewables had a 72% share of new electricity generating capacity. [The Ecologist]

¶   The price for thermal coal has plunged more than 10% in the last two months as the presumed major customers for Australian fossil fuels – China and India – make it clear that renewable energy is offering a competitive alternative to coal and gas. [RenewEconomy]

¶   Germany comes in first in a new energy efficiency ranking of the world’s major economies, followed by Italy, the European Union as a whole, China, and France, according to the 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The US ranks 13th out of 16 countries ranked. [InvestorIdeas.com]

Saturday, 7-19

¶   “24% Renewable Energy Over 27 Years — Is That All?!?” EIA is the experts, but we wonder if they left a couple of things out of the equation when it comes to the competition between natural gas and renewables for a share of the new capacity market from 2015 on out. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Wind farms in the Australian state of Victoria may face termination due to the highly inflexible and restrictive nature of new anti-wind laws and permit rules. Companies granted permits before the new laws were passed cannot make simple upgrades to their turbines. [Green Left Weekly]

Sunday, 7-20

¶   UK manufacturers are ­increasingly looking to generate their own power to sidestep fears of rising energy prices and threats to supply security, according to the Confederation of British Industry. New power options include wind, solar, and anaerobic digestors. [Express.co.uk]

¶   In India, power demand is on an upswing due to lengthening summers, but declining monsoon rainfall has caused apprehension about hydropower output. With coal production dwindling, Coal India Limited has been asked to increase output. [SteelGuru]

¶   California has announced $26.5 million in grants for microgrid projects that put renewable integration front and center. Applicants should be able to incorporate low-carbon energy resources with energy storage and on-site energy management. [Energy Collective]

Monday, 7-21

¶   Siemens has installed the third and fourth of five offshore transmission platforms scheduled for the North Sea. The four grid connections will have a total transmission capacity of more than 2.9 GW, with enough wind power to supply around three million households. [Your Renewable News]

¶   Global investment bank HSBC says the repeal of the carbon price last week leaves Australia’s resource-intensive economy “even more vulnerable” as the world moves in opposite direction. The impact extends to commodities beyond those that are energy-based. [RenewEconomy]

¶   India’s finance minister has decided to double the tax on every metric ton of coal mined or imported in the country. The revenues from the tax will be dedicated to increasing renewable energy capacity in the country. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, 7-22

¶   Just how fast the California’s climate is changing became apparent Monday when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released figures showing the first six months of this year were the hottest the state has ever recorded. [Willits News]

¶   The globe is on a hot streak, setting a heat record in June. That’s after the world broke a record in May. NOAA’s climate monitoring chief said both the June and May records were driven by unusually hot oceans, especially the Pacific and Indian oceans. [Lexington Herald Leader]

¶   New South Wales aims to be “Australia’s answer to California”, accelerating the use of renewable energy and finding new ways to curb waste, in a push that puts it at odds with Coalition counterparts in other states and at the federal level. [Sydney Morning Herald]

¶   According to the latest  Energy Infrastructure Update from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, solar and wind energy constituted more than half of the new generating capacity in the country for the first half of 2014. [AlterNet]

Wednesday, 7-23

¶   A new material developed at MIT is able to convert 85% of incoming solar energy into steam — a significant improvement over recent approaches to solar-powered steam generation. Very little heat is lost in the process, and it can produce steam at relatively low solar intensity. [Energy Collective]

¶   California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review more than 100 others in the state’s drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there. [Resilience]

¶   The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will hold a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction for the 250-MW Beacon Solar Power Project. This new solar array is an important component of LADWP’s complete power supply transformation. [Sierra Wave]

Thursday, 7-24

¶   South Australia’s Tindo Solar is being provided up to $20 million senior debt finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to locally manufacture, install and own rooftop solar arrays and sell the power to building occupants under a power purchase agreement. [Manufacturers’ Monthly]

¶   According to data from the Solar Industries Association, more than 44% of solar capacity installed in the US during the first quarter was non-utility. Adding that amount to the utility solar power indicates that solar is leading the nation in terms of installations. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Though solar power is still far from surpassing coal as America’s primary energy source, the number of people employed by the solar industry has surpassed the number of coal miners. There are about 142,000 people in the US workforce working at least half time on solar. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Last year, California created a mandate calling for 1,325 MW of energy storage projects by 2020. As of mid-2014, more than 2,000 MW of energy storage projects have already applied to interconnect with the state’s grid. [Energy Collective]

2014-07-17 Energy Week

Please note: this post is still being developed.

Friday, July 11

¶   The White House threatened to veto a proposed $34 billion House bill setting FY 2015 spending for the DOE, the Department of Interior, and the Army Corps of Engineers, saying it “significantly underfunds” investments to develop clean energy technologies. [POWER magazine]

¶   Global oil production advanced in 2013 by 557,000 barrels per day (bpd), an increase of 0.6 percent over 2012 and a new all-time high of 86.8 million bpd. After declining in 2009, global crude oil production has now increased 4 years in a row. [EnergyTrends Insider]

Saturday, July 12

¶   There may now be 6.5 million direct and indirect jobs in renewable energy, according to new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency. Global PV employment is estimated to be 2.3 million in 2013, with 1.45 million in biofuels and 834,000 in windpower. [Emirates 24/7]

¶   German hard coal consumption for power generation was down by 11% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014 as the use of coal in electricity production gave way to higher renewable power production, coal importers lobby VDKI said on Friday. [Reuters]

¶   Facing strong opposition from students, faculty and nearby residents who opposed a fossil fuel plant did due to its carbon footprint, the University of Delaware has scrapped plans for a 279 MW natural gas burning co-generation power plant. [Natural Gas Intelligence]

Sunday, July 13

¶   A geothermal project valued at $958 million was approved by the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly last week. Over $600 million of the total will potentially be funded by two sources: the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and European Investment Bank. [CleanTechnica]

¶   NTR is lining up a €400m investment in wind energy on the island of Ireland as it seeks to diversify its US-focused power business. The company has just announced its first annual profit since the financial crash in 2008. [Irish Independent]

Monday, July 14

¶   On Saturday and Sunday in Oklahoma, there were seven earthquakes. As of last month, Oklahoma had surpassed California in the number of earthquakes. It’s possible that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, could have played a role in causing them. [CNN]

¶   Despite ‘best efforts’ by the Punjab government, it is not getting the coal supply from the Centre to run its newly-commissioned thermal plants, which would easily give the state more than 2,000 MW. Punjab is in a desperate need of coal to power irrigation for crops. [Hindustan Times]

Tuesday, July 15

¶   California-based Siva Power has an ambitious cost roadmap for its thin-film solar modules. Siva says its first 300-MW production line will manufacture modules at 40¢ per watt, but believes it can get all-in costs down to 28¢ per watt after another two years of operation. [Energy Collective]

¶   Minnesota Power has taken delivery of equipment for Bison 4, a 205–MW addition to a wind farm. Once operational, Bison 4 will push Minnesota Power past the 25% renewable energy goal established by state legislators, 11 years ahead of the 2025 deadline. [Northland’s NewsCenter]

¶   Global clean energy investment surged to $63.6 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up 33% compared to the first quarter and 9% compared to Q2 2013, according to the latest authoritative figures from research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance. [Commodities Now]

¶   “Electric Cars Will Change the Way You Power Your Home” When you put a solar panel on your roof, your home becomes a mini-power plant. When you buy an electric vehicle, you suddenly control an automobile-shaped energy-storage device. [TIME]

Wednesday, July 16

¶   Japanese authorities have declared that two nuclear reactors at Sendai meet new standards put in place after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and are safe enough to be restarted, paving the way for the revival of the country’s atomic energy industry. [Washington Post]

¶   Rather than simply working against the (likely inevitable) spread of distributed generation, Vermont’s Green Mountain Power has been transforming itself into a company with a business model that puts renewable energy and distributed generation at its core. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Just when Cape Wind officials thought it was safe to go back in the water, the GOP-controlled House approved an energy and water appropriations bill that included a measure to bar a $150 million federal loan guarantee for the Nantucket Sound offshore wind farm. [RenewablesBiz]

Thursday, July 17

¶   The Australian Senate voted on Thursday to scrap the country’s carbon tax and plans for emissions trading, a major victory for conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott that leaves uncertainty about how the country will meet its carbon reduction goals. [Gulf Times]

¶   Following two record-setting months in May and June of this year, total American EV sales have surged past 222,000 units since late 2010, and while the Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt remain the dominant players, there are many more options now. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The U.S. will build 351,000 MW of new electric generation capacity by 2040, according to an Energy Department forecast. The agency projects new capacity over the next three decades will be 73% natural gas, 24% renewable and 3% nuclear. [FuelFix]

2014-07-10 Energy Week

Please note that this posting is under development:

Friday, July 4

¶   Aston Martin recently announced a partnership with the Hanergy Global Solar Power & Applications Group that will fit solar panels on the roof of the Vantage GTE racing in the World Endurance Championship. [SmartMeters]

¶   The US DOE announced a new $4 billion loan guarantee program to support renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. The program is geared specifically for projects that avoid, reduce or store greenhouse gases and prevent their release into the atmosphere. [FuelFix]

¶   Historically, distributed generation has largely been limited to a handful of progressive states. But as solar power gains presence and storage prices go down, microgrids are expanding into new territory. [Energy Collective]

Saturday, July 5

¶   Whether it is in reaction to international trade conflicts, booming local demand for solar, or the firm belief that solar PV will soon be a dominant player in the energy market, recent company announcements highlight the great promise that solar manufacturing holds. [Renewable Energy World]

¶   Over the past month Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont have all either established climate adaptation laws or created long-term plans to tackle the increasing impacts of climate change. [CleanTechnica]

¶   Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will be allowed to continue discharging millions of gallons of heated water into the Connecticut River until the plant shuts down later this year, despite owner Entergy Nuclear relying on “flawed science,” a draft state permit stated. [Barre Montpelier Times Argus]

Sunday, July 6

¶   UK researchers today announced what they believe to be a game changer in the use of hydrogen as a “green” fuel, by using ammonia as a clean and secure hydrogen-containing energy source to produce hydrogen on-demand in situ. [phys.org]

¶   In Australia, the combination of low demand and strong output from the Queensland’s 1.1 GW of rooftop solar helped send the state’s electricity prices into negative territory on Wednesday – in the middle of the day, when demand is usually the highest, and prices too. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The American Council On Renewable Energy released the results of its “Business Leaders Opinion Polling.” It showed broad support for renewables in all areas , with 78% of business leaders saying renewable energy technologies are a real growth opportunity for the economy. [Electric Light & Power]

Monday, July 7

¶   Australia is expected to spend some $55 billion on new electricity generation over the next decade and a half, but two thirds of this will be in the form of solar technology, and nearly half in rooftop solar PV, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast. [Echonetdaily]

¶   After examining the publicly available compliance records of more than 41,000 wells in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Cornell-led researchers reported that 40% of the oil and gas wells in parts of the Marcellus shale region will probably leak methane into the atmosphere. [Energy Collective]

¶   “Give It Up, ‘Skeptics’ — America Is No Longer Debating Climate Change” This week, the Heartland Institute is holding a conference on climate change in Las Vegas, which they’ve dubbed “the biggest gathering of global warming skeptics in the world.” [VICE News]

Tuesday, July 8

¶   “Solar has won. Even if coal were free to burn, power stations couldn’t compete” As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it’s used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over. [The Guardian]

¶   Increased generation capacity, high wind speeds, and low electricity demand has pushed the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to 19.4% in the UK during the first quarter of 2014, a substantial increase from 12.4% a year earlier. [CleanTechnica]

¶   One thing that might get lost amidst the headlines on renewable energy is the fact the coal power is increasing, too. It was the world’s fastest growing fossil fuel last year, according to British Petroleum’s annual energy review. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, July 9

¶   Pathways to Deep Decarbonization, a report prepared by researchers in 15 different countries, looks into what’s needed to achieve sufficient cuts in our carbon emissions. The report finds that current government pledges aren’t sufficient. [Ars Technica]

¶   For the first time, a large fraction of the world’s fossil fuels could be replaced at a lower cost by clean energy, with today’s renewable technologies and prices. And virtually no further investments in fossil fuels make long-term economic sense. [Huffington Post]

Thursday, July 10

¶   Wind and solar accounted for approximately 27% of Germany’s electricity generation in the first half of 2014. With 4% more coming from hydro, renewable energy sources accounted for a larger portion of electricity production than brown coal for the first time. [Business Spectator]

¶   China recently overhauled its basic environmental law in a way that brings it closer to the structure of the US Clean Air Act.  Among other things, the new law also contains a provision authorizing public interest litigation by certain Chinese NGOs. [Energy Collective]

¶   Saudi Aramco has come up with cost-effective ways to get at its tight gas and is now targeting a competitive price of $2.00 to $3.00 per thousand cubic feet. This is seen as a big blow to the US fracking industry. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The Abbott government’s bid to repeal Australia’s carbon tax has again been defeated in the Senate. It is still widely expected that the Senate will pass it, depending on how negotiations progress, but negotiations are not Abbott’s strong point. [RenewEconomy]