2016-10-06 Energy Week

Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.wordpress.com.

Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.

Thursday, September 29:

Golden Eagle (Photo by Martin Mecnarowski, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• The findings of a twenty year-long research project shows that golden eagles in proximity to the Beinn an Tuirc windfarm in Scotland are thriving. The wind farm has long-term resident birds successfully raising chicks, throwing a spanner in the works for anyone who claims wind farms and wind turbines are inherently dangerous to birds. [CleanTechnica]

Damaged transmission towers that brought the grid down
(Photo: Twitter / Vic_Rollison)

• Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has put the country’s renewable energy mix up for discussion, unleashing a political storm over the blackout in South Australia. Experts insisted the statewide electricity failure had “absolutely nothing” to do with that state’s heavy reliance on wind power. [North Queensland Register]
• China’s largest private investor group, China Minsheng New Energy Investment Co, is developing a 2-GW solar farm in the Ningxia region which will be made up of some 6 million solar panels. According to Bloomberg, it will be the largest solar farm the world has ever seen, requiring an investment of up to $2.34 billion. [Bloomberg]
• The City of Burlington, Vermont, wants to use waste heat from several major sources around town, which otherwise would be vented into the atmosphere, and use it to heat buildings and create hot water. A partnership of the city, businesses, advocates, and organizations will explore the potential of creating a district energy system. [Vermont Biz]

Friday, September 30:

Longannet power station in Scotland (Photo: Deadline News / REX / Shutterstock)

• Coal generated a record low 6% of the UK’s electricity this spring, official figures show. The share of coal in the power mix fell from 20% in the same period last year. Ferrybridge C, in West Yorkshire, and Longannet, in Scotland, have both closed, and Drax, in North Yorkshire, has switched from the fossil fuel to burning biomass. [The Guardian]
• New York Governor Andrew M Cuomo announced the completion of Long Island’s 35,000th residential solar project, marking a 320% growth in solar over the last four years. The Governor’s Clean Energy Standard would supply 50% of the state’s electricity from renewable energy resources by 2030. [LongIsland.com]
• The UK has signed its £18 billion contract with France and China to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, giving the final go-ahead for construction at the site in Somerset. The deal was finalized at a low-key ceremony in London, just two months after Theresa May put the entire project under review.
  [The Guardian]

Saturday, October 1:

German coal-burning plant (photo by Harald Lordick, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• A quarter of hard coal-fired generation capacity in Germany may shut ahead of schedule if plant operators forgo spending on upgrades, according to Norwegian consulting firm Nena AS. Steag GmbH, the fifth-biggest power producer in Germany, is considering shuttering at least five of its 13 German coal stations. [Bloomberg]

Owl (Photo by Shutter Stock/Matt Gibson)

• Siemens unveiled a new raft of wind turbine designs this week at the WindEnergy Hamburg trade show, including a low-noise wind turbine which the company explains was inspired by the silent flight of the owl. The new SWT-3.3-130LN wind turbine operates at a reduced rotor speed and has addons for reduced noise. [CleanTechnica]
• Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley, and several other municipalities in California’s San Mateo County, have signed up as customers of the new Peninsula Clean Energy program to buy municipal electricity that is 100% sourced from renewable sources. The Peninsula Clean Energy program starts October 1. [The Almanac Online]

Sunday, October 2:

Tesla Powerwalls at an event at the Gigafactory

• Eneco, a Dutch utility, wants to use several hundred Tesla Powerwall batteries to create a “virtual power plant,” and they are willing to pay customers to participate. If Eneco can tap into just 30% of the storage capacity of hundreds of Powerwalls, it can avoid using peaking plants powered by fossil fuels to balance the grid. [Teslarati]
• A review of the safety of France’s nuclear power stations found that at least 18 of EDF’s units are “operating at risk of major accident due to carbon anomalies.” The review was carried out at the request of Greenpeace France following the discovery of serious metallurgical flaws in a reactor vessel at Flamanville. [Center for Research on Globalization]

Monday, October 3:

Intake for a micro-hydro plant in Colorado (Cally Carswell for Inside Energy)

• Rural electric cooperatives once brought electricity to far-flung communities, transforming rural economies. One co-op in Western Colorado is trying to spur economic development again, partly by generating more of their electricity locally from renewable resources. But that requires legal action. [Harvest Public Media]
• Donald Trump has said he wants to abolish the EPA. That’s no small feat, given that the agency was created by law – one signed by President Nixon. Now, he has named a prominent climate science denier and longtime foe of regulation, Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to lead his EPA transition team. [InsideClimate News]

Tuesday, October 4:

Diablo Dam, generating power for Seattle (Image credit: Getty Images via GE Reports)

• There are 80,000 dams in the US, and 97% do not produce electricity. There are only 2,500 dams that are actually retrofitted with hydropower. Of those 80,000, 54,000 more could be retrofitted at one MW or greater capacity, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Upgrading and modernization is a low-hanging fruit. [Manufacturing.net]

Cape Verde (Photo by Hans Kreul, via Foter.com, CC BY-NC-SA)

• At the beginning of the decade, Cape Verde authorities set a goal of getting 50% of its power from renewables by 2020. The country is already supplying 25% of the electricity consumed in Cape Verde from 30 wind turbines spread across its 4 largest islands. Now, it has moved its target of 100% renewable power up to 2020. [CleanTechnica]

Wednesday, October 5:

• “Coalition’s stunning hypocrisy – and ignorance – on renewable energy” • Australia’s Coalition Government, dropping all pretended support for renewable energy, contradicted the grid owner, the market operator, and the biggest generator, saying a coal plant would have kept the lights on when the power lines were blown down. [CleanTechnica]
• Canada will impose a federal price on emissions of carbon dioxide nationwide in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced. The policy approach could push tougher limits on provinces that already use a carbon tax or a program for cap-and-trade, and could require major new programs for other parts of the country. [Bloomberg BNA]

Rush Creek Wind Farm (Photo courtesy of Xcel Energy)

• “New 600 MW Colorado Wind Farm Blows Past ALEC Roadblock” • The powerful lobbying organization ALEC has been trying to trip up the US wind industry for years. Even so, despite objections from at least one organization linked to ALEC, Colorado officials have just approved a massive new 600-MW wind farm. [CleanTechnica]

2016-09-29 Energy Week

Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.wordpress.com.

Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.

Thursday, September 22:

Taftsville site on the Ottauquechee River in the town of Woodstock (GMP image)

• Green Mountain Power announced that it has filed with the Public Service Board an agreement with Enel Green Power NA to acquire 14 of Enel’s small hydroelectric power stations located mainly in northern New England, with an approximate total capacity of 17 MW. The deal will create low cost resources for GMP. [Vermont Biz]
• For the first time ever, investment in new renewables was more than enough to cover rising global electricity demand in 2015. That is according to the first World Energy Investment report, published by the International Energy Agency. The IEA says changes in investment indicate “reorientation of the energy system.” [CleanTechnica]
• A group of 375 “concerned” scientists, including the famed physicist Stephen Hawking, released an open letter sharply criticizing Donald Trump, citing the threat of climate change and blasting his push for the US to leave the Paris Accord. CNN reached out to the Trump campaign for a response to the letter, but has not received one. [CNN]

Friday, September 23:

Hikers in Olympic National Park in Washington. (Ralph Arvesen/Flickr)

• “Celebrate national parks by fighting climate change” • This year our country is celebrating 100 years of national parks. They are special places woven into the fabric of American life, from the iconic view of California’s Yosemite Valley to our own Crater Lake. Yet these places are increasingly threatened by climate change. [OregonLive.com]
• Opinion: “Distributed Biogas: $11.8 Billion Market Hidden in Plain Sight” • Every year in the US, 37 million tons of food waste are sent to landfills. At a $125-per-ton tipping fee, this costs $4.6 billion annually. Used to make biogas, at 4,200 cubic feet per ton, this same amount of waste could power five million homes for an entire year. [Biomass Magazine]

Leedco plans to build the Lake Erie demonstration project in 2018.

• The Lake Erie Energy Development Co has selected MHI Vestas to supply six V126-3.45MW turbines for the 20.7-MW Icebreaker freshwater offshore project in Ohio. Leedco’s president told reNews a decision has been made to use the Danish hardware, completing a shift away from the previously selected Siemens. [reNews]

Saturday, September 24:

Alstom iLint (Alstom image)

• During the Berlin InnoTrans trade show, France’ Alstom unveiled the Coradia iLint, the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train, and it is bound to make its home in Germany. The train essentially emissions-free, and the only sounds it makes come from air resistance and the wheels making contact with the track. [German Pulse]
• “How the jaw-dropping fall in solar prices will change energy markets” • Every time solar prices have been bid lower, they have been met with howls of derision by less cost-competitive rivals. The multiple bids for solar power below $30/MWh on a 350-MW tender in Abu Dhabi suggest the projects are financially viable. [RenewEconomy]

Sunday, September 25:

California vineyards are at risk from drought related to climate change.

• The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, along with government and industry supporters, including Microsoft and Google, launched a partnership to harness the data revolution to strengthen climate resilience efforts, streamline climate data delivery, and inform researchers and data providers. [PlanetSave.com]
• An analyst for Bloomberg believes the low cost of solar power in the Abu Dhabi Electricity and Water Authority (Adwea) auction should not be understood as a simple price for power. The winning bid, 2.42¢/kWh, is only for nine months per year. During the summer, Adwea will pay 1.6 times as much (about 3.87¢/kWh). [The National]

The SA power crisis should be a wake-up call. (photo by Joe Armao)

• A report from the Grattan Institute said the blame for July’s high power prices in South Australia should not be placed on renewables. It highlighted the need for the federal government to have a more effective climate policy as older, brown and black coal-fired power stations prepare to exit the nation’s energy mix. [The Australian Financial Review]

Monday, September 26:

Fracking field (Image via Simon Fraser University)

• A new study from research scientists at Stanford University has linked a 4.8 magnitude earthquake recorded in East Texas in 2012 to the now common oil industry practice of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and the accompanying wastewater injection wells. The study was done by use of satellite data. [CleanTechnica]
• In a major announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will ratify the Paris Climate Change Agreement on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2. The date to ratify the COP21 protocol was chosen as Mahatma Gandhi’s life was an example of how to leave a minimum carbon footprint. [Daily Pioneer]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Tuesday, September 27:

Hydro dam (Statkraft image)

• Statkraft has officially opened the 73-MW Banja hydropower plant in Albania, the first of two projects that will make up the 256-MW Devoll hydro scheme. The plant, which is located 65 kilometers southeast of the capital Tirana and is Statkraft’s first in the country, will generate about 255 GWh of electricity a year. [reNews]

A box of signs up for auction (Howard Weiss-Tisman / VPR)

• The owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had to keep a lot of spare parts around to keep the facility running. While the plant was open, the VY had a warehouse filled with equipment that workers might need in case something broke down. It closed in December 2014, and now the plant is auctioning off inventory. [Vermont Public Radio]
• On September 27, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing challengers’ arguments against the Clean Power Plan, but many power companies are not waiting for the courts to resolve the legal challenges. Instead, they are cutting carbon emissions already and accelerating the shift to clean energy. [Natural Resources Defense Council]

Wednesday, September 28:

Solar panels on a Rockefeller Center rooftop in midtown
Manhattan in New York. (Photograph: Mark Lennihan / AP)

• New York City is set to be increasingly challenged by sea level rises caused by melting glaciers and thermal expansion of the ocean as the planet warms. By 2100, sea levels could be up to 50 inches higher than today in New York, a scenario that has prompted the city to pledge billions of dollars for flood defenses and adaptation. [The Guardian]
• Almost all of us on Earth, 92% of the world’s people, now breathe polluted air, the World Health Organization says. An interactive map, based on global air pollution data, shows places where outdoor air quality fails to meet WHO guidelines. About 3 million deaths each year can be linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution. [CNN]
• Twelve minutes into the first face-to-face encounter between the candidates, Clinton raised the issue of climate change by pointing to Trump’s past claims that question the science behind rising temperatures and assertion that climate change was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. “I did not,” Trump said. “I do not say that.” [Scientific American]
• Vermont’s Department of Public Service released a public review draft of the energy planning determination standards and recommendations. The Department is due to issue final standards and recommendations by November 1. The public is encouraged to comment on the draft standards and recommendations through October 20. [vtdigger.org]

2016-09-22 Energy Week

Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.wordpress.com.

Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.

Thursday, September 15:

USS Chung-Hoon (Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Barker. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons)

• Climate change could potentially cause great distress to military operations, according to US military officials. In a statement by the Center for Climate and Security, they say climate change increases risks for international conflict, that it could pose strategic risks, and that inaction against the issue is not advisable. [Science World Report]
• According to a report from the independent financial think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative, renewable power generation costs are already lower on average worldwide than fossil fuels. It says clean energy plants will only become more cost-competitive by 2020. The findings are based on examination of the Levelized Costs of Electricity. [CleanTechnica]

SunCommon solar home in Caledonia County (Courtesy photo)

• Green Mountain Power and SunCommon today announced a partnership allowing customers to store their solar power for security during power outages. The first of its kind program in Vermont partners a utility with a solar company to offer home storage that strengthens the grid and allows homes to power from solar during outages. [Vermont Biz]

Friday, September 16:

August 2016 temperature anomaly

• In what has become a common refrain this year, last month ranked as the hottest August on record, according to NASA data. The month tied July as the hottest month the world has seen in the last 136 years. August came in at 1.76˚F (0.98˚C) above the average from 1951-1980, and 0.16˚C above August 2014. [CleanTechnica]
• Tesla has won a bid to supply grid-scale power in Southern California to help prevent electricity shortages following the biggest natural gas leak in US history. The battery system will provide 20 MW of power, with energy sufficient for 2,500 homes for a full day. A 2-MW system costs $2.9 million, but larger systems are negotiated. [SCNow]

Pearl Harbor

• The High Technology Development Corporation announced that its Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies program just awarded a $1.5 million contract to design a series of six interconnected microgrids at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Each microgrid is to be supplied by its own renewable energy. [Microgrid Media]

Saturday, September 17:

• The once-lucrative Kidston gold mine, in northern Queensland, ceased operations 15 years ago. Now, it will be the home of a one-of-a-kind renewable energy project. Genex Power will use the mine’s two craters to create the world’s first pumped hydroelectric energy storage system in conjunction with an integrated solar farm. [Energy Digital]

Growth of solar generation – 8 years – average 44% growth

Growth of wind power – 11 years – average 24% growth

• As the DC Circuit Court of Appeals prepares to hear challengers’ arguments against the Clean Power Plan on September 27th, the most up-to-date analysis shows that the Clean Power Plan’s goals have become even more readily achievable. The electricity sector is already shifting to clean energy. [Natural Resources Defense Council]
• Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the release of New York State’s offshore wind blueprint, a framework that could lead to a proposed 90-megawatt, 15-turbine wind farm 30 miles east of Montauk. The blueprint is an initial step toward harvesting the 39 GW of wind energy potential that lies off the state’s Atlantic coast. [East Hampton Star]
• The Los Angeles City Council took a major step toward making the city run on clean energy alone. The Council directed the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to develop a plan for going 100% renewable, including looking at where, when, and how the city should allocate resources to achieve that goal. [ThinkProgress]

Sunday, September 18:

The Raglan Mine’s wind turbine in Quebec. (Tugliq Energy Co.)

• A University of Waterloo study says bringing solar and wind energy to Canada’s remote Arctic communities goes beyond being possible and environmentally beneficial to big savings. “If you run the system as is now, versus you run with renewables, the savings are so compelling that basically you have a business case,” [CBC.ca]
• A total of 18,960 out of 19,567 villages have been electrified in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh so far, the Central Government has announced. This leaves 607 villages to be supplied. Some of the villages have been provided with power from the state electric company’s grid. Others have been supplied with local solar power. [Daily Pioneer]

Monday, September 19:

The Cahaba River. Photo Pat Hayes via flickr.com, creative commons license.

• On September 9, a 36-inch pipeline was shut down in Alabama, after it began leaking thousands of gallons of gasoline into the Cahaba River. Six different states declared emergencies in anticipation of significant fuel shortages resulting from the shutdown, but so far the news has barely scratched its way onto the national radar. [CleanTechnica]
• Vermont utility Morrisville Water and Light has appealed a state finding that utility officials say could turn a marginally profitable hydroelectric dam into an operation that loses more than $100,000 a year and poses downstream dangers. Agency of Natural Resources officials said federal law required them to rule as they did. [vtdigger.org]

Tuesday, September 20:

Offshore oil rig

• Opinion: “Oil Investment Crash Could Continue For Another Year” Investment in upstream operations in the oil and gas industry shrank by a quarter last year and is expected to continue to shrink this year by another 24%. Next year the trend could continue, for the longest investment decline period in the history of the industry. [OilPrice.com]
• The price of solar PV continues to fall. On Monday, a new record low of 2.42¢/kWh was set in a tender for a large solar park in Abu Dhabi, not by an industry outlier but by the biggest manufacturer of solar modules in the world, JinkoSolar. Even this could be beaten, as there are reports of another, lower bid coming. [RenewEconomy]
• A federal appeals court ruled it will take more time to consider a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for an emergency injunction against the Dakota Access pipeline. But at the same time, the US Army Corps of Engineers issued a Special Use Permit for protesters to legally occupy federal land at Lake Oahe. [CleanTechnica]
• Avangrid Renewables representatives, joined by Vermont Governor Shumlin and local elected officials, broke ground on Deerfield Wind today in Searsburg, on US Forest land. The 30-MW project will include 15 Gamesa wind turbines, and it will provide enough energy each year for about 14,000 Vermont households. [Vermont Biz]

Wednesday, September 21:

Huitengxile wind farm, Inner Mongolia (Photo by Steven Buss, CC BY SA, Wikimedia Commons)

• As an outcome of the recent G20 meeting in China, both China and the US volunteered to publish peer reviews of their current fossil fuel subsidies. Together, the two countries are annually providing over $20 billion in inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. Of this, $8.1 billion comes from the United States, and $14.5 billion from China. [CleanTechnica]
• A revolution is taking place in the global energy sector, with investments in oil and gas declining by 25% in 2015 while energy produced from renewables rose by more than 30%. “We have never seen such a decline [in oil and gas investment]”, said Dr Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. [AlterNet]

2016-09-15 Energy Week

Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.wordpress.com.

Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.

Thursday, September 8:

Øvre Forsland hydroelectric station. Photograph: Pedro Alvarez for the Observer.

• Opinion: “Beauty and power: how Norway is making green energy look good” • On the edge of a forest in northern Norway, an unusual hydroelectric plant is generating a buzz. Øvre Forsland is a big departure from the hulking power stations. It looks more like an elegant, custom-built home from TV show Grand Designs. [The Guardian]
• A new report highlights 15 signals of an energy transition occurring across the world, indicating a sustainable and equitable global energy system has irrevocably begun. The signs, detailed in a report by WWF-France and WWF-China, provide encouragement that the transition can be found just about everywhere. [Energy Matters]

Flooding and devastation in Baton Rouge, 15 August 2016. Credit: Melissa Leake/US Department of Agriculture.

• Torrential rains unleashed on south Louisiana in August were made almost twice as likely by human-caused climate change, according to a quick-fire analysis. The team of scientists concluded that the likelihood of such an event is probably twice as great now as in 1900, but it is at least of 40% more likely. [Carbon Brief]

Friday, September 9:

• Despite not receiving funding in the Australian Renewable Energy Agency large scale solar funding round, Lyon Solar says it is committed to going ahead with the largest single large scale solar and battery storage facility in the world – in South Australia – along with a similar solar plus storage plant in north Queensland. [RenewEconomy]
• China is drawing more and more power from renewables. In fact, new data collected by Greenpeace shows that in 2015 the country’s growth in wind and solar energy more than exceeded its increase in electricity demand. Putting this in perspective, China installed half of the world’s new solar and wind capacity last year. [ZME Science]

A wind energy project in Vermont. File photo by Roger Crowley / VTDigger

• A wind power proposal submitted to Vermont regulators includes an offer to buy out close neighbors who object to the turbines, according to consultants for the project. Property owners living within 3,000 feet of the Swanton Wind project will have six months after the project goes online to take up the offer. [BurlingtonFreePress.com]

Saturday, September 10:

• Developer Iberdrola Renewables has said it will abide by the results of a November vote by residents in the Vermont towns of Windham and Grafton on whether a 28-turbine project should proceed. However, town officials say town residents will have all the information they need by Election Day. The wind farm would be the state’s largest. [vtdigger.org]

New Bedford, Massachusetts. (EPA photo by C Pesch. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons)

• The city of New Bedford was highlighted as two Cabinet members released a national strategy for offshore wind development, while touring a turbine testing facility in Charlestown, capping a month-long period launching the renewable energy industry in America, Massachusetts, and SouthCoast. [SouthCoastToday.com]
• The National Electrical Manufacturing Association laid out a strategic vision for microgrid development and use for the 21st century in ¨Powering Microgrids for the 21st Century Electrical System.¨ It says microgrids will make a transition from off-grid ¨island¨ systems to integral parts of broader-based power grid networks. [Microgrid Media]

Sunday, September 11:

Fang geothermal plant, Chiang Mai, Thailand (Helmut Duerrast, creative commons)

• Thailand has been seeking to diversify from its currently fossil fuel based power generation towards more renewable energy power generation. Geothermal is one of the available options, and a local TV station carried some footage covering geothermal plant in the province of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. [ThinkGeoEnergy]

Danish offshore wind turbines (Shutterstock)

• The vision the federal government unveiled on Friday calls for wind farms off of nearly every US coastline by 2050, in an effort to generate 86 GW of electricity from offshore wind, enough zero-carbon power for more than 23 million homes. Offshore wind is a major part of the US strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [Grist]

Monday, September 12:

End for fossil fuels (Photo by Bill Allsopp / Loop Images)

• “Beginning of the End for Fossil Power” • The prospectus of E.ON’s conventional generation spin-off, says, “Conventional generation of power faces the risk of losing competitiveness against renewable energy and thus market share, and, over the long term, even faces the risk of disappearing completely from the market.” [Bloomberg]
• Some downstate New York lawmakers don’t like the fact that their constituents must now subsidize energy produced at nuclear plants in upstate regions. The legislators take issue with the state Public Service Commission’s decision to include subsidies for nuclear power in the Clean Energy Standard, approved in August. [WatertownDailyTimes.com]

Tuesday, September 13:

Julia Olson, chief legal counsel of Our Children’s Trust

• Opinion: “Meet the mom litigating the ‘biggest case on the planet'” • Julia Olson is litigating what should be considered the most important court case in the United States: She’s helping 21 kids, as young as age 9, sue the Obama administration over its insufficient action on climate change. Olson will attempt to make their case for the future. [CNN]
• Phoenix Energy, an alternative energy company from Nevada, is bidding $38 million for the unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Alabama. The Tennessee Valley Authority has invested some $5 billion in the plant since construction began in the mid-1970s, but it was never finished as demand leveled off. [WAAY]
• Austin Energy’s partial ownership of a coal-fired power plant might cost the utility $10 million a year, a report says. The analysis, commissioned by Public Citizen, found that dramatic expansions of wind and solar generation combined with rock-bottom prices for natural gas had ruined the economics of most coal plants. [MyStatesman.com]

Wednesday, September 14:

Upstream oil and gas investment in 2015, by region. Source: World Energy Investment 2016, IEA.

• “Seven charts show new renewables outpacing rising demand for first time” • For the first time ever, investment in new renewables was more than enough to cover rising global electricity demand in 2015. While fossil fuels still dominate energy supplies, investment data point towards a “reorientation of the energy system”. [eco-business.com]
• According to the International Energy Agency, which gave details in a detailed analysis of investment across the global energy system, global energy investment fell by 8% in 2015, with a drop in oil and gas upstream spending outweighing continued robust investment in renewable, electricity networks and energy efficiency. [Business Standard]
• Energy leaders from across Vermont met in Vernon this week to help the town plan for life after Vermont Yankee. Entergy Corporation closed VY in December, 2014, leaving behind an enormous switchyard that can handle hundreds of megawatts of electricity from a power plant. The town wants to use that for its tax base. [Vermont Public Radio]

2016-09-08 Energy Week

Visitors Please Note: This blog is maintained to assist in developing a TV show, Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell. The post is put up in incomplete form, and is updated with news until it is completed, usually on Wednesday. The source is geoharvey.wordpress.com.

Within a few days of the last update, the show may be seen, along with older shows, at this link on the BCTV website: Energy Week Series.

Thursday, September 1:

Flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene in Quechee, Vermont. Photo by Stephen Flanders. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research released a study on hurricane losses. The researchers concluded that not only will the financial damages from hurricanes increase dramatically by the end of the century, but that the rate of economic growth won’t keep pace with hurricane-caused financial losses. [CleanTechnica]
• A Maine-based company appears to have found a formula to win local backing in Vermont for often controversial solar-energy projects: careful siting, a dose of patience and a willingness to alter plans to overcome objections. Ranger Solar has won outright support in three towns for arrays that average 100 acres apiece. [Seven Days]

The luxurious nation of Costa Rica is setting an example. Photo by Wha’ppen Costa Rica.

• Costa Rica has gone 113 days without using fossil fuels to keep the lights on. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been keeping tabs on Costa Rica, because in 2015, 99% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, there is a certain symbolism to getting all your energy from renewables. [ZME Science]

Friday, September 2:

• Average power supply delivered to the UK grid was the lowest on record in August. The increase in embedded generation capacity and improved energy efficiency measures combined to cut the amount of demand the transmission system was required to meet. [Argus Media]

An 11.5-MW solar array in India. Photo by Citizenmj. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• Construction on one of India’s largest, if not the largest, solar park is expected to being soon. The Minister for Energy in the southern state of Karnataka told media outlets that construction on the proposed 5-GW Pavagada solar park will begin there soon. [CleanTechnica]

NREL renewables modeling.

• The National Renewable Energy Laboratory used detailed software and a supercomputer to model how much solar and wind power the eastern United States’ power grid could accommodate. It said it could have a 30% penetration of wind and solar by the year 2026. [Energy Matters]

Saturday, September 3:

• A joint commitment from China and the US, the world’s super-polluters, expected to be announced later on Saturday, is a big step towards turning the Paris climate agreement into reality. The deal will take legal force when it is ratified by 55 signatories producing 55% of global emissions. [BBC]
• Solar plus storage may be cheaper than grid prices within one year for some Australian households. A study suggest that the standard tariff offered to households in West Australia will be more expensive than rooftop solar and battery storage at some time in 2017. [RenewEconomy]

The eastern US has experienced colder days, while there were extremely warm days in the West. Stock image

• Over recent decades, the US has seen a dramatic rise in the number of extreme winter temperature events at opposite ends of the country. According to a new study, the ‘warm West, cold East’ temperature gap is growing, and is likely driven greenhouse gas emissions. [Daily Mail]

Sunday, September 4:

Why stop at coal. We could bring back manual typewriters! Slide rules! Whale oil for Lamps!
Photo Credit: Max Goldberg/Flickr CC

• Opinion: “Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Ambitions Are Totally Out of Step With Economic Trends” • Considering how much he brags about his business acumen, shouldn’t Donald Trump do a better job of keeping up with economic trends? Instead of looking to the future, Trump is wallowing in nostalgia for coal mining. [AlterNet]
• Siemens Energy announced its Hutchinson, Kansas, plant is filling an order from Apex Clean Energy for 64 wind turbines for Grant Plains Wind in Oklahoma. Officials expect the 147-MW project to be operational this year. This will bring Siemens’ completed orders for Apex Clean Energy in Oklahoma to 600 MW for the year. [Hutchinson News]
• The Oklahoma Corporation Commission told operators to shut down 35 disposal wells that may have played a role in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook at least six states Saturday, the state’s governor said. She said the directive is mandatory, and added that the EPA is investigating the earthquake as well. [CNN]

Monday, September 5:

Solar power can help water crop fields and augment farm incomes by feeding the surplus power generated into the grid. Photo: Bloomberg

• India has set an ambitious target of achieving 100,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2022 as well as doubling farm incomes. Both these targets can be a game changer for rural India if implemented in unison, suggests a recent study by the International Council for Research in International Economic Relations. [Livemint]

RedT battery storage at Power Networks Development Centre (RedT)

• UK energy storage manufacturer RedT has completed testing of a 75-kW/1.68-MWh vanadium redox flow battery system to be installed on the Scottish island of Gigha. The London company will install by the end of the year seven 15-kW/240-kWh vanadium redox flow batteries to remove constraints on the island’s 1MW wind farm. [reNews]
• Western communities are facing effects of a warming climate with slower and earlier snowmelt, reducing stream flows and possibly the amount of water reaching reservoirs used for drinking water and agriculture, a recent study says. Counterintuitively, as the climate warms, there is actually a slower snowmelt. [Growing Produce]

Tuesday, September 6:

Solar canopy under construction over parking. Daily Collegian Archives.

• A solar energy initiative by the University of Massachusetts will have 15,576 solar panels newly installed this year, with an aim to save $6.2 million in a span of 20 years. There will be eight solar panel installations, with six of them placed on rooftops and the other two placed above parking lots. [The Massachusetts Daily Collegian]
• The town of New Paltz, New York, has proposed a nested microgrid project, a $12 million system to maintain critical energy supplies. Within the microgrid are 10 independent zones, or nodes, each with its own energy resources to serve one or more of the critical facilities within its geographic footprint. [Microgrid Knowledge]
• The price of oil jumped after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to discuss ways to stabilize the oil market. The announcement was made by the countries’ energy ministers, Alexander Novak and Khalid al-Falih. The price of Brent crude initially jumped by 5%, but then it fell back to stand 1.6% higher at $47.56 per barrel. [BBC]

Wednesday, September 7:

• The G20 meeting in China may have been notable for the decision by both China and the US to ratify the Paris climate treaty. But the G20 nations are still taking little action on ending fossil fuel subsidies, despite agreeing to the move in 2009 to end what has been described as the “dumbest policy” in the world. [CleanTechnica]

Cedar Point wind farm Colorado (Enbridge)

• Canadian renewable energy producer and pipeline operator Enbridge agreed to acquire Houston-based Spectra Energy in a $28 billion all-stock deal, to create the largest energy infrastructure company in North America. Low oil prices have forced companies, including even pipeline operators, to consider mergers to cut costs. [reNews]
• Massachusetts has signed a letter of intent with Dong, Deepwater Wind and OffshoreMW to lease a marine terminal as a base for offshore wind projects. The developers will lease the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as a staging and deployment location, paying $5.7 million annually under a two-year commitment. [reNews]