Commentary:
¶ “Time to reconsider ‘baseload’ power.” Baseload plants are poorly adapted to compete in changing market conditions.
[Midwest Energy News]
World:
¶ On May 9, the daily mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, surpassed 400 ppm. Over the last 800,000 years, levels have been between about 180 ppm during ice ages and 280 ppm during warm periods. [NOAA]
¶ King Mohammed presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction on Morocco’s 160 MW concentrated solar power plant project in Ouarzazate. The German government has pledged €115 million in support for the project. [Eurasia Review]
¶ Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will adopt a policy platform promising to bring back nuclear reactors to service once their safety is confirmed. [Firstpost]
US:
¶ Xcel Energy has had the greatest wind capacity of any US company for nine years in a row. Now it is facing competition for that position from MidAmerican, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
¶ The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act has been re-introduced in Congress. It aims to give investors in renewable energy projects access to a corporate structure currently only available for fossil fuel-based energy projects. [Domestic Fuel]
¶ Last October, when the alarm sounded because a tank holding the worst waste at Hanford was leaking nuclear waste, the shift manager on duty could not find documentation giving the procedure on what to do. It seems none had been written. [KING5.com]
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