Science and Technology:
¶ Energy storage systems are expected to increasingly come online due to declining battery costs, as well as energy storage mandates. As a result of this, utilities are losing control of the electricity market. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ The installed capacity of solar PV in North and South America will increase more than tenfold over the coming years, jumping from 13.1 GW in 2013 to 138.8 GW by 2030 – according to a new report from consulting firm GlobalData. [CleanTechnica]
¶ An agreement between the Irish and British governments, which would allow power to be traded between both countries, is unlikely to go ahead, meaning at least 40 wind farms planned across five counties will be mothballed. [Irish Independent]
¶ At least 100,000 people from eight cities and counties of Taiwan took to the streets to demand that the government stop using nuclear power immediately, environmental protection organizations announced yesterday. [China Post]
¶ A majority of the Finish coalition government plans to approve a new permit for the construction of a nuclear plant. However one of the government’s junior partners – the Green League – says it’s not backing down from its opposition to more nuclear power. [YLE News]
US:
¶ Solar PV heavyweight SunEdison is expecting a huge surge in the number of large PV power plant projects completed this year, according to recent reports. The company is predicting a 90% increase in project completions in 2014, as compared to 2013. [CleanTechnica]
¶ RGS Energy, a solar energy provider, and Mosaic, which offers solar investments online, announced that they have partnered to provide a simple and affordable way for American homeowners to finance ownership of their residential solar system. [Energy Collective]
¶ Vertimass LLC, a California-based start-up company, has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels. [Science Daily]
¶ Louisiana possesses the most renewable diesel production capacity in the country and possibly the world. Nearly a decade into the green fuels push, the state’s biofuels industry appears quite different than many imagined it would. [The Advocate]
¶ America’s energy infrastructure is dangerously vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to a new report released by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. [De Smog Blog]
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