World:
¶ Record output from German wind and solar plants helped to reduce European power prices in April, according to Platts the energy data provider. [Energy and Environmental Management]
¶ According to new UK energy figures for 2012, 3.2% of energy was generated from PV, an increase of 70%, while renewables accounted for 11.3%. Overall, renewable electricity generated 41.1 TWh, a 20% increase on the previous year. [pv magazine]
¶ The president of the Scottish National Farmers’ Union is telling farmers that while they have been successfully focusing on wind power, opportunities from hydro, solar, biomass and anaerobic digestion also exist and remain largely untapped. [The Scottish Farmer]
¶ Kazakhstan will be getting its first ever wind power plant. The 45-megawatt wind facility will have the capacity to generate 172.2 kilowatt-hours of clean power annually. The project is also expected to spur renewable energy development across the country. [EcoSeed]
US:
¶ Some conservatives are championing renewable energy because businesses are employing people and making money on a slow shift to renewable power. It turns out that renewable energy, as popular as mom’s apple pie with American consumers, is also good for American business. [Yahoo! News]
¶ The Windmade Product label sets out the technical requirements that individual products will have to meet if they are to display the industry-backed label demonstrating that a product or service have been provided using renewable energy. [Business Green]
¶ Duke Energy is suspending its plans to build two new nuclear units at its Shearon Harris plant at New Hill, about 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, saying electricity demand is not likely to justify them in the next 15 years. [Triangle Business Journal]
¶ Duke Energy’s CEO Jim Rogers has put himself squarely on the side of the North Carolina’s law promoting the use of renewable energy sources, as the law remains under attack in the N.C. General Assembly. [Charlotte Business Journal]
¶ The Connecticut Siting Council authorized the Millstone nuclear plant to do significant expansion of the nuclear waste storage capacity over the next 30 years. [Newsday]
¶ The NRC is investigating a pair of goldfish found swimming in a lemonade pitcher of radioactive water in a supposedly secure area of the Perry nuclear plant. A facility representative said they later died, but it was because of bad care before they got to the plant, not radioactivity. [Plain Dealer]
¶ The private companies working to clean up nuclear waste at Hanford operate under contracts that do not reward them for reporting problems, creating a dangerous financial incentive that could delay responses to leaks of highly radioactive waste, according to nuclear expert Bob Alvarez. [KING5.com]
¶ Though the nuclear industry has nearly doubled the potency of nuclear fuel rods since 1970, the design of dry cask storage has not kept up. Now, the DOE and the industry researchers are starting a four-year, $16 million project to develop instrumented lids for monitoring contents. [Forbes]
¶ The Florida Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the constitutionality of a controversial Florida law giving the state Public Service Commission power to authorize energy companies to “recover” the costs of their nuclear power plant construction through utility bill tax hikes. [Sunshine State News]
¶ An inside source snapped a photo inside the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego showing plastic bags, masking tape and broom sticks used to stem a massive leaky pipe. [UPI.com]
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