2016-03-31 Energy Week

Thursday, March 24:

Horns Rev 2 (Dong Energy)

• Siemens has unveiled a new solution for the protection of offshore wind turbine rotor blades against leading edge erosion. The protection layer is designed to absorb the impact energy from rain drops and other particles and thereby protect the leading edge from fatigue damage. [reNews]
• US renewables, excluding hydropower plants, now hold a combined share of roughly 9.5% of the country’s total available installed generating capacity according to FERC. The country’s total wind power capacity totals 74.6 GW, while its operational solar plants are 15.6 GW. [SeeNews Renewables]

© PA

• Scotland’s huge Longannet power station is to produce its last electricity on March 24, ending coal-fired generation north of the border. Scottish Power said the 2,400-MW power station on the banks of the Forth in Fife would burn through its remaining coal stocks by about 3:00 pm. [Financial Times]

Friday, March 25:

• Chinese media reported that the country’s National Energy Administration ordered 13 provincial governments to suspend approvals of new coal-fired power plant projects until the end of 2017. Another group of 15 provinces was ordered to delay new construction of projects already approved. [EcoWatch]

The University of Toronto has developed a catalyst that could improve energy storage. (Marit Mitchell/University of Toronto)

• A colorful goop, developed at the University of Toronto, could be a real-life blockbuster. When spread on a strip of metal and subjected to an electric current, it can break apart molecules of water at about three times the rate and far more cheaply than any substance currently available. [The Globe and Mail]
• A report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the deepest dive on solar’s potential since 2008. It examines the country’s potential for rooftop solar power. According to the report, we could get bout 39% of the country’s electricity consumption, at current levels. [Grist]

Saturday, March 26:

The US DOE will participate in the Clean Line transmission project.

• The US DOE will participate in the Clean Line transmission project, to bring 4,000 MW of low-cost electricity from wind farms in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle to the Southeast. The project will bring enough affordable wind power for more than 1.5 million homes. [EcoWatch]
• The Indian government has a new goal. Come 2030, and every car user in India could have an electric vehicle. Under the plan, the vehicles will be given without an upfront payment and will be paid for by users over a period of time from the savings made on fuel, according to the energy minister. [Livemint]

Harvest Power’s energy garden in Orlando. Photo by Harvest Power.

• At the end of 2014, Europe had 17,240 biogas plants, with a total installed capacity of 8,293 MW. The electricity they produced stood at 63.3 TWh, enough for 14.6 million European households. The numbers are growing fast in such places as the UK, where they doubled in just one year. [Biomass Magazine]
• Investment in renewable energy hit a record $286 billion (€256 billion) in 2015, a UN report says. For the first time, over half came from developing countries. New investment in cleaner energy has exceeded $2.3 trillion since 2004, when investments totaled less than $50 billion. [Daily Sabah]

Sunday, March 27:

The site of the Mulshi solar plant run by Tata Power

• In India, Tata Power’s Mulshi solar plant shows how energy needs do not have to be met at the cost of the environment. Suitable plants will be grown immediately below the solar panels so that all the available land there can be utilized to its fullest, with its fertility maintained. [Daily News & Analysis]
• The number of energy loans in danger of default is on course to extend above 50% this year at several major banks, including Wells Fargo & Co and Comerica Inc, according to bankers and others in the industry. Oil prices remaining at around $40 a barrel would be bad news for the banks. [morningstar.com]

Monday, March 28:

The canal connecting the Ganges to the power station dried up.

• Authorities in the Indian state of West Bengal were forced to suspend generation at the 2,300-MW plant because the canal carrying cooling water to it went dry. The township it was in lost water, residents had to be given bottled water to drink, and the whole area had electricity shortages. [BBC]
• China is aiming to triple its solar PV generation capacity by 2020, bringing it up to 143 GW, its National Energy Administration says. The plan is to add between 15 GW and 20 GW of PV capacity a year, investing about $368 billion in types of grid infrastructure at the same time. [CleanTechnica]
• Power generators are resisting Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s plan to tap Canadian hydropower to meet the state’s energy needs. His plan, which hinges on lawmakers’ approval, calls on the utilities to import 1,200 MW to 2,400 MW of hydro-electricity. [Gloucester Daily Times]

Tuesday, March 29:

Energy storage on rails. ARES photo

• Advanced Rail Energy Storage said its proposed commercial-scale gravity-based rail energy storage project has been granted a right-of-way lease by the Bureau of Land Management. The 50-MW project, on 106 acres of public land in Nevada, will help stabilize the electric grid. [AltEnergyMag]
• The Vermont Senate is due to consider legislation this week that proponents say will give municipalities a say over where renewable energy projects get built. To have that say, towns and regions would have to write energy development provisions into their regional and town plans. [vtdigger.org]
• Rooftop solar panels could meet 74% of California’s electricity needs, and the country could get about 39% of its, according to a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 2008, NREL estimated that the nation could get 21% of its power from solar. [The Desert Sun]

Wednesday, March 30:

Oklahoma oil well and wind turbines. Creative Commons via BBC World Service on Flickr

• Wind energy reduces a variety of health-harming air pollutants, including smog-causing oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. This helps reduce rates respiratory diseases such as asthma. Electricity generated by wind in 2015 represented $7.3 billion in avoided health costs last year alone. [Green Energy Times]

• About 7.9 million people are now at risk from earthquakes scientists believe are caused by fracking, including certain regions in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas, the US Geological Survey said. The earthquakes don’t factor in building-code maps, but do create a hazards. [CNN]

2016-03-24 Energy Week

Thursday, March 17:

A child scavenges for coal scraps in a slum in Manila. (Photo: Adam Cohn / flickr / cc.)

• Nearly a quarter of all deaths around the world are caused by living and working in toxic and polluted environments, and the worst affected are children, the poor, and the elderly, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). [CommonDreams]
• NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii reported a spike in CO2 levels this week, 3.05 ppm, which was the largest year-to-year increase ever observed in the 56 years of recording and research done at the station. It was the fourth consecutive year that CO2 grew more than 2 ppm. [CleanTechnica]

• This is likely to be the first year in which natural gas has a higher market share for electricity generation than coal does, federal analysts predict. EIA is predicting that when 2016 ends, natural gas will have generated 33% of the country’s electricity, compared to 32% for coal. [The Hill]

Friday, March 18:

Waterspout off the Florida Keys. Photo by Dr. Joseph Golden, NOAA. US Government image. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

• So … was that climate change? • While the broad trends of climate change, and our role in causing it by burning fossil fuels, have been clear for decades, it was not possible until recently to tie a specific storm, drought, flood or heat wave to long-term warming trends. Thankfully, that’s changing. [CNN]

Temperature departures from normal for the month of February 2016

• February smashed the previous record for the warmest February and even became the warmest month ever compared to average, according to NOAA. February temperatures averaged 1.21° C (2.18° F) above the 20th century average. The past three months hold the top three places. [CNN]
• Doubling the global share of renewable energy by 2030 could save $4.2 trillion annually, 15 times the costs. This is the primary conclusion from a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. It examines options to boost renewable energy from its current 18% to 36% by 2030. [CleanTechnica]
• The California Public Utilities Commission gave the 392-MW Ivanpah CSP park more time to reach the output levels agreed in its power purchase agreement. Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to give the owners of the power plant until end-July 2016 to improve performance. [SeeNews Renewables]

Saturday, March 19:

This wind farm in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern helps the entire state to run on 100% renewable energy. Photo: Clemens v. Vogelsang via Flickr (CC BY).

• Dispelling the nuclear ‘baseload’ myth: nothing renewables can’t do better! • The main claim used to justify nuclear is that it’s the only low carbon power source that can supply ‘reliable, base-load electricity. But renewables can match grid demand continuously in a way nuclear power cannot. [RenewEconomy]

• This is already turning out to be a very bad year for the “clean” image of natural gas, with earthquakes in Oklahoma, water pollution in Pennsylvania, a gas leak in California, and new federal emissions scrutiny. Now a proposed LNG export terminal on the Oregon coast failed to get approval. [Triple Pundit]
• According to a report by the Lazard investment fund, the cost of electricity generated with wind power fell 61% in the years from 2009 to 2015. And the cost of solar energy fell 82%. This puts renewables into a price range that is competitive with fossil fuels, coal, or oil. [Manila Bulletin]

Sunday, March 20:

• The Spanish utility company Endesa purchased 410 GWh of solar electricity, during a recent solar energy auction for Portugal and Spain, at a price of €39.6/MWh ($43.82/MWh). The quarterly auctions relate to roughly 500 GWh of generation, varying at the various times of year. [CleanTechnica]
  (This is extremely important. In this case, the wholesale price of unsubsidized solar power has fallen below 4.4¢/kWh. Even with the price of battery storage added, it competes with electricity from natural gas at a time when the price of gas fuel is low.)

Abandoned UK farmhouse on the edge open-pit mine. Photo by Robert Guthrie. CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• The UK government will make a net-zero emissions goal that it agreed to at the COP21 talks in Paris the law, following advice from the Committee on Climate Change, according to recent reports. The UK’s legal target will change from an 80% emissions reduction to net-zero. [Sustainnovate]
• The growth of cheaper renewable power is outpacing that of nuclear in India, and renewables now account for much more production. In fiscal year 2014-2015, renewable energy accounted for 5.6% of electricity generated in India, against 3.2% for nuclear power. [The Hans India]

Monday, March 21:

2010, 2014, and 2015 were all record-breaking years. Climate Central Graph.

• According to NASA, February 2016 was the most anomalously warm month in 135 years of record keeping – 1.35° C (2.43° F) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 average. While the recurring El Niño event certainly drives short-term oscillation, the long-term warming trend is quite apparent. [CleanTechnica]

Drought and heatwave affected London Plane Trees. Photo by Bidgee. CC BY-3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

• The first four days of March saw maximum temperatures in much of Australia 4° C above average, and 8° C to 12° C above average in most of southeastern parts, a Climate Council report says. It argued that heat impacts lent urgency to climate mitigation efforts. [The Marshalltown]

Tuesday, March 22:

Map by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

• The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has found a lease request for a floating wind project of up to 800 MW off California to be qualified and will proceed with the next step in its leasing process. It is the first formal interest in wind development off the California coast. [SeeNews Renewables]
• Together, China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia have plans for 1,824 coal power plants, three-quarters of the total worldwide. But analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit suggests fewer than half of those, and possibly as few as 500, will be built by 2020. [Climate Home]
• Apple today announced that 93% of its facilities run on renewable energy, including 100% of its facilities in the US, China, and 21 other countries. Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Issues made the announcement. Apple had set a goal of 100% renewable two years ago. [The Verge]

Wednesday, March 23:

St. Petersburg Florida. Photo by John O’Neill. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• Officials of St Petersburg, Florida, are taking on the seemingly daunting challenge of remaking the way the city consumes energy. It will be one of the 100 US cities to embark on the Sierra Club’s “Ready for 100” campaign, opting for 100% renewable energy for all municipal power needs. [Creative Loafing Tampa]
• PowerStream unveiled Canada’s first of its kind virtual power plant. The virtual power plant dubbed Power House, is meant to showcase how residential customers can simultaneously generate their own clean energy and work together as a virtual power plant to augment the grid. [CTV News]
• US wind farms now pay $222 million dollars a year to farming families and other rural landowners, according to new data released by the American Wind Energy Association today, with more than $156 million dollars going to landowners in counties with below average incomes. [Windpower Engineering]

2016-03-17 Energy Week

Thursday, March 10:

Children protesting outside the courthouse in Eugene, Oregon. Photograph: Matthew O Berger for the Guardian

• Twenty-one teenagers appeared in an Oregon courtroom to challenge the federal government over what they claim is a failure to protect them from the impacts of climate change, while several hundred schoolchildren protested outside. The case is just one of a large group of similar cases. [The Guardian]
• A proposed New York state subsidy for nuclear power will come too late for the James A FitzPatrick plant near Oswego. An Entergy vice president told the state Public Service Commission that the subsidy will not affect company plans to shutter the plant by January 2017. [Albany Times Union]

Friday, March 11:

Sunset in the Sahara by Christopher L. on flickr.com CC BY 2.0

• A consortium comprising Italy’s Enel Green Power SpA, Morocco-based Nareva Holding, and Germany’s Siemens Wind Power have won the preferred bidder status in a 850-MW wind power tender in Morocco. There are five wind parks involved ranging from 100 MW to 300 MW. [SeeNews Renewables]

Vattenfall Image

• After a run in with Donald Drumpf, the European Offshore Wind Deployment Center has seen the beginning of offshore works start this month. The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre is being developed by a partnership of Vattenfall and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group. [CleanTechnica]
• According to a new study published by researchers from the University of Queensland and Griffith University in Australia, global warming could occur much more quickly than previously thought. The model forecasts an increase in the global average temperature by 1.5 degrees as early as 2020. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, March 12:

A robot developed by Toshiba Corp. AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

• It takes two years to build them. Each operator trains for a month before picking up their controls. And they get fried by radiation after working for just 10 hours. The robots sent in to search the core of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have a very short and specialized lifespan. [National Post]
• Oregon is the first state to eliminate coal from its power supply through legislation and now boasts some of the most stringent demands for renewable energy among its state peers. The law phases coal-generated energy by 2030 and requires utilities to provide half of its power renewably by 2040. [CNSNews.com]

Fracking Site in Warren Center, PA.
Photo by Ostroff Law. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• After six years and many reams of legal papers, two couples won a rare $4.24 million jury verdict against a fracking company, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. The jury found that the company contaminated their water wells with methane leaching underground from natural gas fracking sites. [CleanTechnica]
• The Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy approved a bill aimed at reforming Vermont’s energy siting process. State Senator John Rodgers said the Public Service Board still makes the final call despite increased local participation. [Watchdog.org]

Sunday, March 13:

• This year’s winter has been quite strange, with temperatures throughout much of the northern hemisphere being considerably higher than at any other time since high-accuracy records began over a hundred years ago. Now here is a video showing just how fast Arctic ice is declining. [CleanTechnica]

Scottish Isles. Image by Moyan Brenn (some rights reserved).

• A new report from the energy consultancy firm Baringa projects that the Scottish isles could see economic benefits of around £725 million (over the next quarter century) from renewable energy development. The benefits include revenues of up to £390 million for community-owned projects. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, March 14:

Flooding in a Florida community. Photo by Barry Bahler. Public domain – FEMA photo. Wikimedia Commons.

• Last week, a bipartisan group of 21 Florida mayors wrote to debate moderators to argue it would be “unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida [climate change and sea level rise] to not be addressed.” Candidates were asked and responded. [The Guardian]

Operation Tomadachi delivering supplies. Photo by Lance Cpl. Mark Stroud. Public domain photo, Marine Corps. Wikimedia Commons.

• Sixteen US ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan’s nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes. A total of 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi. [Stripes Japan]
• US wind and solar electricity generation grew by 20,659 MWh in 2015, compared to the full year 2014. That’s compared to fossil fuel electricity generation dropping by 18,041 MWh. Unfortunately, in part due to terrible drought, hydroelectricity generation dropped 8,199 MWh. [CleanTechnica]

Tuesday, March 15:

The contaminated soil is shoveled into plastic sacks

• Workers from Peru’s state-controlled petrol company have been mopping up and scooping oil from a pipeline spill for the past month, as it stuck in ravines and on vegetation in the smaller rivers. It is the second major spill this year in the northern part of Peru’s jungle region. [BBC]

• Uruguay went from having virtually no wind generation in 2007 to become a double world-record holder in less than a decade. By 2013, it was receiving the largest share of clean energy investment as a percentage of GDP, and in 2014, installed the most wind per capita of any country. [CleanTechnica]
• Tasmania’s energy crisis drags on. Water levels in the hydro reservoirs are at a record low of 14.8%. The fault in the Basslink interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria remains. There is not enough wind power to maintain the power supply, so diesel power must be used. [Energy Matters]
• Total electricity sales in 2015 fell 1.1% from the previous year, marking the fifth time in the past eight years that electricity sales have fallen. The flattening of electricity sales reflects declining sales to industry and little or no growth in sales to the residential and commercial sectors. [Energy Collective]

Wednesday, March 16:

Wind turbines. Image Credit: Flickr/naql

• Opinion: How Google Became to World’s Largest Corporate Purchaser of Renewable Energy • The Google approach to renewable energy is not unlike how many utilities purchase power. It often enters into power purchase agreements, and its projects range from California to Sweden. [Triple Pundit]
• Swedish energy firm Vattenfall announced this week that it has started development on the 3.6-GW Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm. Vanguard is 47 kilometers off the coast, and will generate the equivalent electricity necessary to supply more than 1.3 million UK households. [CleanTechnica]
• A group of 100 Massachusetts state representatives broke ranks with House leadership, urging that reconciliation of House and Senate bills on a net metering bill hew more closely to the Senate approach. Nearly two-thirds of the House members signed the letter. [CommonWealth magazine]

2016-03-10 Energy Week

Thursday, March 3:

Wind turbines in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Photo by Fletcher6. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

• Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo made it official that the omnibus energy bill scheduled to come up for a vote in April will include provisions to encourage the development of offshore wind power and create a competitive procurement process for renewables. [CommonWealth magazine]
• Plans were unveiled for a community-owned Cornish wind farm that could be the first in the UK to operate without government subsidy. New plans have the same number of turbines of the same height as an earlier scheme, but new technology allows a 50% increase in output. [Windpower Engineering]
• Changes in UK government energy policy have chased off investors and may have added £120 a year to household bills, according to a parliamentary report. Funding U-turns on windfarms and energy efficiency schemes have reduced investor confidence and increased funding costs. [The Guardian]

Friday, March 4:

Ontario wind turbine. Image via Shutterstock

• The Canadian province of Ontario will invest $100 million into “green energy” projects in its push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 37% by 2030. Ontario’s premier said this will help the province cut greenhouse gas emissions while improving local business prospects. [CleanTechnica]
• The US energy storage market grew a phenomenal 243% in 2015, the largest year on record, according to new figures from GTM Research. The US energy storage market deployed 112 MW in the fourth quarter, bringing the full year 2015 to a record 221 MW. The figure for 2014 was 65 MW. [CleanTechnica]
• Nearly 49% of electricity provided to the Big Island by the Hawaii Electric Light Co in 2015 came from renewable energy, according to a statement from HELCO’s parent company, Hawaiian Electric. Maui County reached 35% renewable and Oahu is at nearly half that level. [Honolulu Civil Beat]
• A group of engineers in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission say they have identified a design flaw in nearly all nuclear reactors in the country that should result in their mandatory shutdown unless operators fix the problem, Reuters reports. The issue became known in 2012. [Utility Dive]

Saturday, March 5:

Image by Holgar Ellgard (CC BY-SA 3.0 unported license)

• A parliamentary committee in Sweden proposed a way to bring the nation to carbon neutrality by 2045. It would achieve this huge goal by reducing domestic emissions by 85% from 1990 levels. The rest could be offset by investing in international projects that cut carbon emissions. [CleanTechnica]

Colstrip power plant.

• Actions by two separate state legislatures could lead to the future closure of all four coal-fired power plants at Colstrip, Montana. On Wednesday, Oregon’s legislature passed a bill to eliminate use of coal-fired electricity within 20 years. Washington state followed suit on Friday. [KTVQ Billings News]
• Supreme Court Chief Justice John G Roberts Jr rejected a request to stay the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule, which was adopted by the EPA three years ago to tighten restrictions on a class of harmful pollutants, that are byproducts of burning coal. [Washington Post]

Sunday, March 6:

Iditarod start in Anchorage, 2008. In those days, they did not have to import snow. Photo by David Weekly from Cupertino, CA. CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• This winter was a no-show throughout most of Alaska, forcing officials in charge of the iconic sled dog race known as the Iditarod to bring seven rail cars of snow from Fairbanks to Anchorage, where the race starts. A tarp will cover the snow in Anchorage in case it rains. [Mashable]

Icebergs float in a bay off Ammassalik Island,
Greenland. (AP photo / John McConnico)

• The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that Arctic sea ice extent is running not only well below average, but also below levels seen during 2012, which went on to set the all-time record for lowest Arctic ice extent (which occurs in the late summer or early fall). [Bowling Green Daily News]
• Electrification has been done in 6,000 of the 18,500 villages in India that had been without electricity, and the renewable energy capacity has reached 39.5 GW, a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was told. Progress of the initiative is being tracked in real-time. [The Hindu]

Monday, March 7:

High-voltage direct current transmission lines could help transfer electricity over long distances much more efficiently and make renewable energy more viable. Credit: Chris Hunkeler/Flickr

• A NOAA study shows that by building new high-tech transmission lines, the US could cut energy sector global warming emissions by 80% within 15 years, while keeping consumer costs low and meeting increased demand. The idea came from studying the national weather map. [PRI]

Renewables could be a better answer to India’s power problems.

• Opinion: Australian coal v renewables: how much will it cost to bring electricity to India’s poor? • The Australian government continues to claim that coal will play a vital role in bringing cheap energy to developing nations. But is that really the case? (Spoiler: No.) [EconoTimes]
• The nuclear disaster has cost Japanese taxpayers almost $100 billion despite government claims TEPCO is footing the bill, according to calculations by the Financial Times. Almost five years after the disaster, the figure shows how the public have shouldered most of the disaster’s cost. [CNBC]

Tuesday, March 8:

Data center operator Switch will open a super green facility in Grand Rapids.

• A Nevada-based data center operator, Switch, would convert a pyramid-shaped building that once housed a research center near Grand Rapids into a data center that operates 100% on renewable power. The Michigan Public Service Commission will review the contract. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

Kentish Flats offshore wind farm (Vattenfall image)

• Developers Vattenfall and ScottishPower Renewables are eyeing over 5 GW of offshore wind farm projects off the UK coast. The Crown Estate has signed off on final plans for Round 3 offshore wind farms. SPR has committed to two new projects of up to 800 MW in the East Anglia zone. [reNews]
• The Florida Supreme Court is set to weigh in on a controversial ballot measure that purports to strengthen the legal rights of homeowners with rooftop solar panels. But the measure was created by an organization financed by the major electric utilities and groups with ties to the Koch brothers. [Grist]

Wednesday, March 9:

Emily Cole, co-founder and chief science officer of Liquid Light.

• Liquid Light is a startup company pioneering a process to convert carbon dioxide into chemicals that can be used to make consumer products. The company developed a catalyst that can combine carbon dioxide with water and electricity, to make liquid fuels and chemicals to replace petroleum. [CNN]

• Nearly 18 GW of electric generating capacity was retired in 2015 in the US. More than 80% of the retired capacity was conventional steam coal. The coal-fired generating units retired in 2015 tended to be older and smaller in capacity than the coal generation fleet that continues to operate. [CleanTechnica]
• Threatened wildlife including turtle doves and skylarks could benefit from a scheme which has been launched to create natural habitats at solar farm sites. Wildlife charity RSPB and clean tech company Anesco aim to boost wildlife at the firm’s solar farms across England and Wales. [Yorkshire Post]