Science and Technology:
¶ Researchers from Monash University in Australia have developed a compact graphene-based energy storage device capable of lasting as long as a conventional battery. The device could be used in renewable energy storage, portable electronics and electric vehicles. [Responding to Climate Change]
World:
¶ The largest solar energy project in the southern hemisphere, costing A$450 million, has been given the go-ahead by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the New South Wales government. Two solar farms will have a combined capacity of 155 MW. [Responding to Climate Change]
¶ AGL Energy, one of the big three power utilities in Australia, says that 9,000 MW of fossil-fuel baseload capacity needs to be taken out of the national electricity market to bring it back into balance. [RenewEconomy]
¶ The world installed 31,100 MW of solar PVs in 2012—an all-time annual high that pushed global PV capacity above 100,000 MW. There is now enough PV operating to meet the household electricity needs of nearly 70 million people at the European level of use. [InvestorIdeas.com]
¶ Germany increased spending on energy research 77% in the past seven years, benefiting mainly renewable-power and efficiency projects. The government spent €708 million on research and development of energy technologies last year, up from €399 million euros in 2006. [Businessweek]
¶ EDF recorded a £903 million UK profits haul in the first half of the year with greatest profits from power generation. The group also said negotiations over building new nuclear power station continue, and it will make a decision on the project by the end of the year. [Aol Money]
US:
¶ UK-based energy company BP has cancelled a sale of US wind farms, according to BP Wind Energy spokesperson Amanda Abbott. The projects have a gross generating capacity of about 2600 MW. [reNews]
¶ Deepwater Wind LLC of Providence, Rhode Island, has successfully bid $3.8 million for the rights to develop offshore wind farms in nearly 165,000 acres of specially designated federal waters off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Up to 200 turbines are planned. [Boston Globe]
¶ New York’s Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST) and Dutch company DNV Kema have announced a $23 million joint investment to build the Battery and Energy Storage Technology testing and commercialization center in Rochester, New York. [RenewEconomy]
¶ Exelon Corp, the biggest nuclear power operator in the United States, says that weak prices for power and for natural gas have pushed it to reduce operating and maintenance costs but the company is not yet giving up on any of its reactors. [Reuters]
geoharvey 
Leave a comment