Opinion:
¶ “Climate Change, Poverty and Energy – Is renewable energy the solution for Africa?” Approximately 1.4 billion people don’t have access to electricity, yet countries in the emerging economies have huge, untapped potential in solar, wind, hydro, geothermal or biomass energy. [Sierra Express Media]
World:
¶ The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change is setting sustainability standards for biomass and biogas. Starting in 2015, the biomass industry must show its fuel is sustainable to receive financial support. [Biomass Magazine]
¶ The changing global energy mix and the growth of renewables will drive a revival in the underground compressed air energy storage industry, according to a new report. The analysis predicts that the sector will install capacity of 11 GW between this year and 2013. [Power Engineering International]
¶ China is half way through a $100 billion ultra-high voltage grid investment, according to an official from the country’s grid operator. The network will open remote renewable installations to the country’s east coast by moving power thousands of kilometres with minimal losses. [PV-Tech]
¶ A Japanese daily has reported all water drainage valves of a concrete barrier nearby the leaking tank at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant were, in fact, opened when highly radioactive water leaked and drained into the ocean. [Arirang News]
¶ More tanks at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site may have leaks as TEPCO, the plant operator, said on Aug. 22 that high radiation levels were detected near a second section of storage tanks. [Asahi Shimbun]
¶ TEPCO failed to monitor storages tanks holding dangerously contaminated water properly, the country’s nuclear regulator has said. Now they have sprung leaks and are a source of international concern. TEPCO also failed to keep records of inspections of the tanks. [Reuters]
US:
¶ One of the largest thin-film PV power plants to date in southern California has been completed. The Catalina Solar Photovoltaic s located adjacent to the EDF’s 140 MW Pacific Wind power plant, making the combined facilities a globally significant hybrid project. [pv magazine]
¶ Vestas will be supplying wind-energy projects in the United States with 400 megawatts-worth of wind turbines, an order that is in line with a master supply agreement of 1,500 MW that they have with EDP Renovaveis. [EcoSeed]
¶ South Carolina’s electric cooperatives have stopped a solar energy forum that was supposed to let people explain how the state can improve its sun power rules, which are among the least customer friendly in the country. [Hilton Head Island Packet]
¶ The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US is working with Ecopetrol, the largest oil company in Colombia, to process the residue from sugar cane and palm oil harvesting into fuel ethanol for blending with gasoline. [Renewable Energy Magazine]
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