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Energy Week #387: 9/3/2020
Thursday, August 27
Wind turbines (Credit: GE)
¶ “China Dominates Global Wind And Solar Output” • China is the world’s largest producer of renewable electricity, according to the International Energy Agency’s Key World Energy Statistics report. With an installed capacity of 184 GW, China has 28.7% of global wind production, and its 175 GW of solar capacity produce 31.9% of global solar production. [reNEWS]
Unsurvivable storm surge (CNN image)
¶ “Hurricane Laura Batters Louisiana’s Coast As A Category 3 Storm” • Laura is moving inland as a Category 3 hurricane after making landfall earlier near Cameron, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. Water levels along the coast rose rapidly and forecasters warned of devastating winds and an “unsurvivable” storm surge of up to 20 feet. [CNN]
Metro rail (iMahesh, Wikimedia Commons)
¶ “Indian Railways’ Carbon Emission Will Be Zero By 2030, Says Union Minister Piyush Goyal” • Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Indian Railways has set a target of reducing carbon emission to zero by the end of 2030. The plan is for Indian Railways to use surplus land along its tracks to install 20 GW of renewable capacity. [Zee News]
Friday, August 28
Faroe Islands seaweed culture (Adrienne Murray)
¶ “Seaweed: The food and fuel of the future?” • Seaweeds are fast-growing algae. They use energy from sunlight, and take up nutrients and carbon dioxide from the seawater. Scientists suggest seaweed could help fight climate change and offset carbon emissions. Increasing numbers of companies are investigating seaweed culture. [BBC]
Solar installation (iStock image)
¶ “The Renewable Energy Industry Weathers Covid” • Since the pandemic began, New Hampshire has lost nearly 1,461 clean energy jobs, according to BW Research Partnership. That is actually an 8.5% decline, the third smallest in the nation behind South Dakota and Utah. Nationally, the clean energy job loss was 14.8%. [New Hampshire Business Review]
Sunset at a Green Lantern Solar array in Southern VT
¶ “Green Lantern Solar – Repowering Vermont” • Green Lantern has completed nearly 90 projects in Vermont, adding nearly 40 MW of in-state solar power to the state’s grid. Green Lantern has built projects in 66 towns throughout Vermont. It has recently completed construction of a 150-kW solar array in Bristol, Vermont. [GlobeNewswire]
¶ “Byron, Dresden Nuclear Plants To Close In 2021” • Exelon Generation has announced that it intends to retire its Byron Generating Station and Dresden Generating Station in Illinois, in fall 2021. Dresden and Byron face revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars because of declining energy prices. [Beloit Daily News]
Saturday, August 29
US PV sales and prices (Energy Information Administration)
¶ “U.S. Shipments of Solar Photovoltaic Modules Increase as Prices Continue to Fall” • In 2019, US shipments of solar PV modules, or solar panels, reached a record-high 16.4 million kW, 2.9 million kW more than the previous record of 13.5 million kW set in 2016. Solar PV module shipments include imports, exports, and product for US consumption. [CleanTechnica]
Renewable energy (Pixabay image)
¶ “Distributed And Large-Scale Renewables Improve Reliability Outlook For Australia’s Main Grid” • The reliability of Australia’s power supply has actually improved with the addition of new solar and wind capacity, making summer blackouts less likely, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator in its latest report. [pv magazine Australia]
Heat pump water heaters (Image courtesy of Rheem)
¶ “California Takes A Big First Step Toward Climate Change Adaptation” • California’s Public Utilities Commission became the nation’s first regulator to require utilities to account better for the impact of climate change on energy infrastructure and services. The PUC ordered them to prioritize it in their planning and operations. [CleanTechnica]
Sunday, August 30
Hurricane Laura on August 26 (Chris Cassidy | NASA)
¶ “Climate Change Didn’t Cause Hurricane Laura But It Did Make The Storm Worse” • Laura broke multiple records. At the Mermentau River gauge at Grand Chenier, in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, the gauge topped out at 17.14 feet; the previous high was 13 feet in June 1957. As the planet has warmed significantly, the storms have been worse. [CNN]
BYD electric bus (BYD image)
¶ “Panama Cancels Order For Diesel Buses, Will Purchase 195 Electric Buses Instead” • For the past year, MiBus, operator of Panama’s Metrobús system, has tested two electric buses that BYD supplied to it for free. Having done that, MiBus has decided to cancel an order for 160 new diesel buses and purchase electric buses from BYD instead. [CleanTechnica]
Solar project
¶ “First Solar Offers First-Of-Its-Kind Grid Balancing Services With A 141-MW Solar Project” • First Solar, a US-based solar panel manufacturer, announced that its 141-MW Luz del Norte solar PV project in Chile secured a license to supply ancillary grid services on a commercial basis. The company said it is the first solar project to provide such services. [Mercom India]
Monday, August 31
¶ “World’s First Foiling Electric Boat” • Electric boats are starting to bloom. Boat maker Candela says it offers the “first electric boats with real range,” by adding hydrofoils. Their speedboat can go quite far – 50 nautical miles at 22 knots, which is 57.54 land miles at 25.3 mph. And it has a maximum speed of 30 knots (35 mph). [CleanTechnica]
Wind farm (Getty Images)
¶ “Where Will Renewable Energy Be in Five Years?” • Leading renewable energy producer NextEra Energy expects that near-firm wind and solar (ie, with a four-hour battery storage adder) will be cheaper to build than all but the most efficient natural gas power plants within the next five years. This could produce an investment surge. [Motley Fool]
Perovo solar farm
¶ “New Record-Low Solar Price Bid – 1.3¢/kWh” • Portugal held a solar power auction, in which one of the bids broke the world record for the lowest solar power price. The lowest winning bid was to supply solar electricity to the grid at a new record price of €0.01114/kWh (1.327¢/kWh). The array will save Portugal €37.2 million per year for fifteen years. [CleanTechnica]
Tuesday, September 1
Hornsdale wind farm and batteries
¶ “Cheaper, Cleaner, More Reliable: How Renewables Are Winning Energy Trifecta” • The three business lobby groups cheered loudly when Australia repealed the carbon price in 2013. Now they have joined up with unions, super funds, and research groups to urge the same Coalition government to aim for a zero emissions target by 2050. [RenewEconomy]
Hybrit steel plant (Vattenfall image)
¶ “Vattenfall Fires Up Fossil-Fuel Free Steel Plant” • Vattenfall, SSAB, and LKAB have inaugurated the Hybrit pilot plant in Sweden, which aims to be step towards fossil-free steelmaking. Tests will now be carried out at the Hybrit plant in several stages for the use of hydrogen in the direct reduction of iron ore, with water emitted instead of carbon dioxide. [reNEWS]
Wednesday, September 2
National Forest in Montana that could be open for drilling (US Forest Service)
¶ “Trump Admin Pushes Oil Drilling In National Forests” • The Trump administration took the wraps off a new rule that will make it easier to drill for oil and gas in national forests. This is happening just as communities are suffering from dirty air and the dangers of a warming planet, from wildfires and heat waves to hurricanes and derechos. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “BHP Signs Wind And Solar Deal To Help Power Queensland Coal Mines” • Global mining giant BHP has signed a five year contract to use wind and solar to deliver up to half of the power needs for its coal mining operations in Queensland. It’s the first big renewable energy off-take agreement signed by BHP in Australia. [RenewEconomy]
The writer by a tree in her neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
¶ “What It’s Like To Live In A City That’s Had Three ‘Once In A Lifetime’ Climate Disasters In Twelve Years” • In 2008, Cedar Rapids was completely underwater in a flood considered to be one of the country’s worst natural disasters. But a similar flood came in September, 2016. Last month brought 140 mph winds of a Category 4 derecho. [HuffPost]
Energy Week #387: 9/3/2020
Energy, renewable energy, wind power, Solar, batteries, Nuclear, coal, oil, gas, Climate Change
Energy Week with George Harvey and Tom Finnell 