World:
¶ Recent achievements in Sweden show how cities could adopt low-carbon initiatives. Three Swedish cities offer insights into how local government can approach low-carbon policies: through energy and electricity, public transport, and urban planning. [Business Spectator]
¶ The government of Pakistan, aiming to supply part of the national energy requirement through renewable energy technologies, plans to get up to 2,500 MW from wind energy by the end of 2015. The country had a capacity of 50 MW in December 2012. [The Nation]
¶ Genesis Energy has received consents for their Castle Hill wind farm, an 860 megawatt wind power project in New Zealand from the country’s Environment Court. New Zealand has set a target to generate over 90 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2025. [EcoSeed]
¶ The Shanghai Securities News reported that China is proposing restrictions to the solar panels exports to European Union to 10 gigawatts per year in order to avoid anti-dumping tariffs. [PR Carbon]
¶ The 42-year-old Santa Maria de Garoña nuclear power plant in the province of Burgos, one of the eight nuclear reactors operating in Spain, has been shut down. It has been a target of criticism from the opposition and NGOs, such as Greenpeace. [Latin American Herald Tribune]
¶ China’s thinking has shifted increasingly towards renewable energy, which is reaching the market faster than nuclear power, a German environment official says. He says the country understood it could deliver power without air pollution, and create jobs in remote areas. [South China Morning Post]
¶ Energy expert Alan Simpson has rubbished claims that Britain will get a good deal on a new nuclear energy plant as a “complete dishonesty”. The government is desperate for French state energy firm EDF to deliver Somerset’s Hinkley Point plant. [Morning Star Online]
¶ Japanese nuclear operators have applied to restart reactors under new rules drawn up following the Fukushima Disaster, but early approval is unlikely as a more independent regulator strives to show a sceptical public it is serious about safety. [Reuters]
US:
¶ Georgia’s utility regulators are getting ready to vote on Georgia Power’s long-range plans, including whether to require the company to incorporate more solar power. Georgia Power wants to shut down 16 coal- and oil-fired power plants. [GPB]
¶ For more than two years, the largest nuclear plant in Alabama operated without a fully functioning failsafe system. A whistleblower is talking about the plant and a lack of safety culture that earned it a red finding from the NRC. [The Birmingham News – al.com]
geoharvey 
July 8, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Reblogged this on The Energy Navigator.