World:
¶ China’s new leaders are taking steps to tackle problems seen in the country’s clean energy development, namely major bottlenecks in connecting wind and solar farms to the grid. They are also pushing for a surge in small-scale renewable energy production, where ordinary people become suppliers to the grid. [chinadialogue]
¶ Bloomberg New Energy Finance has doubled its expectations for Japanese PV installation for 2013 to 6.0-9.4 GW. This would see Japan overtake the US as the second largest PV market in 2013, and it may move even ahead of China. [Business Spectator]
¶ Moody’s Investors Service is warning that the trend toward solar and wind power has been so strong that it’s threatening the credit quality of thermal generation companies. [CleanTechnica]
¶ A third tank storing radioactive waste water has been found to be leaking at Fukushima Daiichi. [Environment News Service]
¶ After decades of debate over where nuclear waste should be stored, the government of Germany has reached a “new milestone” in a decision to start over from scratch. [Deutsche Welle]
US:
¶ Renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydro, accounted for 82% of all new domestic electrical generating capacity installed in the first quarter of this year, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s latest Energy Infrastructure Update report. [North American Windpower]
¶ According to a peer-reviewed study by researchers at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, coal power is far more economically vulnerable than most analysts have realized. [Washington Post] (Thanks to Tad Montgomery for spotting this.)
¶ ResHydro, based in New York, has announced plans to establish operations in Glasgow, Scotland. Their plan is to work with the University of Strathclyde to advance its hydrokinetic energy generation device, which uses ocean currents to make power. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Fair Oaks Farm, one of the largest dairy farms in the country, is using a biodigester to make compressed natural gas, which it is using to power the tractor-trailers it uses to deliver milk. CEO Gary Corbett told the New York Times, “As long as we keep milking cows, we never run out of gas.” [Opposing Views]
geoharvey 