Opinion:
¶ The old top-down utility infrastructure model will increasingly come under pressure as new technologies become a disruptive force in electricity infrastructure. Renewable energy, microgrids, and distributed generation will change the way we manage our electricity. [energybiz]
World:
¶ The UK government has confirmed the levels of support it intends to provide renewable technologies including onshore and offshore wind and wave and tidal. Publication of draft renewable energy strike prices is welcomed as a step in building industry confidence. [Insider Media]
… The promise, which is especially meaningful for the Scottish Islands, is described as “a major victory for Scotland”. [Herald Scotland]
… The government has released the strike price that large-scale solar will receive under the new Contracts for Difference mechanism. [Solar Power Portal]
¶ The UK government has announced a £10 billion infrastructure guarantee for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The government has offered the money to EDF to help finance the £14 billion construction. It is a commercial loan, not a subsidy. [ITV News]
¶ The New Komeito Party, which is generally allied to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, remains committed to its goal of reducing the country’s reliance on nuclear power to zero, in a set of policy pledges for the upcoming House of Councillors election. [The Japan News]
¶ Former Indian Army chief General V K Singh will lead the ParmanuVirodhiMorcha, a group of non-government organisations, against the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited for developing a nuclear project at Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district. [Times of India]
US:
¶ Los Angeles officials inaugurated the nation’s largest rooftop solar Feed-in Tariff program, enabling hundreds of building owners to create solar power plants on their rooftops and sell solar power to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for grid distribution. [Your Renewable News]
¶ A recent poll of small business owners across the United States says a majority oppose public subsidies for oil, coal, and gas companies; support renewable energy; are concerned about carbon dioxide impacts; and support disclosure of chemicals used in “fracking.” [Sacramento Bee]
¶ There is an abundance of smaller dams all over the country on quiet rivers or reservoirs that haven’t ravaged the landscape and don’t generate electricity. These “non-powered” dams are a huge untapped source of clean power and, possibly, profits. [Xconomy]
¶ An earthquake could collapse the building at Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., where plutonium cores of nuclear bombs are produced, releasing deadly doses of radiation, the Department of Energy’s inspector general reported. [Nextgov]
¶ A bipartisan Senate bill introduced today seeks to break gridlock over a permanent nuclear waste repository by establishing a new nuclear waste administration and creating a consent-based process for siting nuclear waste facilities. [POWER magazine]
¶ A test of Three Mile Island nuclear power plant did not go as expected. Officials at the plant say none the 96 sirens in its new emergency notification siren system sounded during a scheduled test Thursday afternoon. In earlier testing, the original siren system worked. [York Dispatch]
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