Science and Technology:
¶ Samsung Heavy Industries’ next-generation 7 MW offshore wind turbine is to take a major step toward commercialisation with performance trials of its drive-train at the new high-capacity test bench at the UK’s National Renewable Energy Centre. [Recharge]
World:
¶ According to the latest update from the US Energy Information Administration, many countries can meet 100% of their energy need through the use of renewable energy systems. Two countries that are doing so are Norway and Iceland. [Hydrogen Fuel News]
¶ In Australia, a much-hyped anti-wind rally held outside Parliament House in Canberra could only rally 150 people to its cause. By comparison the pro-wind rally hastily organised to provide a counter picture managed between 600 to 700 people. [Business Spectator]
¶ A £3 billion development to build an offshore wind farm in Scotland has won the backing of Highland Council. The 277-turbine development in the Outer Moray Firth could inject £125 million into the region’s economy and bring up to 950 jobs. [Ross-Shire Journal]
¶ GE is supplying UK developer Clarke Energy with two of its Jenbacher J420 biogas engines for a new 2.8 MW agricultural biogas power project at a large vegetable farm near Lake Naivasha in Kenya, the first biogas project in Sub-Saharan Africa. [PennEnergy]
¶ Warsaw may postpone the planned construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plants, the prime minister announced on June 18, claiming that the facilities may not be needed thanks to increased use of gas as an energy source. [Business New Europe]
¶ Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority finalized safety guidelines for nuclear power plants that reflect the lessons learned from the March 2011 Fukushima disaster. But the watchdog said that any restart of the country’s idled reactors will likely take months. [Wall Street Journal]
¶ Tokyo Electric Power Company said tests of ground water at Fukushima showed Strontium-90 was present at 30 times the legal rate. The radioactive isotope tritium has also been detected at elevated levels. [BBC News]
US:
¶ House Republicans have proposed legislation to push the Government to provide surge protectors and grid-saving devices that would offer protection in case of a massive electromagnetic pulse from either a flare or nuclear weapon. [Daily Mail]
¶ A report released by the EPA faults Washington state for lax oversight at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, saying the state employs too few inspectors and gives advance notice of inspections to the federal agency charged with managing the cleanup. [OregonLive.com]
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