World:
¶ Access Power MEA has teamed up with EREN to form Access Infra Africa, an investment vehicle for early stage development of power projects in Africa. The partners say AIA will be the largest privately funded vehicle of its kind and plan for a portfolio of power assets in Africa worth over $500 million. [Ventures Africa]
¶ In India, SunEdison and Omnigrid Micropower Company Pvt Ltd announced that they have signed a framework agreement to develop 5,000 rural projects, representing 250 MW of electricity, throughout India over the next three to five years. They hope the deal will bring electric power to 10 million people. [Power Online]
¶ Market research firm IHS projects growth in the global market for grid-connected residential PV solar installations with energy storage from the current 90 MW to over 900 MW in 2018. Cost reductions for storage, such as lithium-ion batteries, are starting to help drive the installation of solar systems. [SmartMeters]
¶ Samsung Renewable Energy Inc and Pattern Energy Group Inc today announced that the Grand Renewable Wind project has completed construction and reached commercial operation. The 149 MW facility has the capacity to produce clean power for approximately 50,000 Ontario homes each year. [AZoCleantech]
¶ US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US had hopes for talks next month between President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Modi in four areas, one of which is nuclear reactors. The others are agreements on renewable energy and climate change, defence partnership, and the economic partnership. [The Hindu]
¶ From turning the thermostat down one degree to harnessing waste heat from industry to power homes, energy efficiency measures are worth more than £37 billion to the British economy each year, according to analysis that will issue next week from the Combined Heat and Power Association. [Business Green]
¶ Only 96 people live in the Polish village of Zurawlow, but they stopped Chevron! For 400 days, farmers and families from Zurawlow and nearby villages blockaded a proposed Chevron shale drilling site with tractors and agricultural machinery. Eventually, the company abandoned its plans. [The Guardian]
US:
¶ MidAmerican Energy hopes to complete the final wind farm in its five-project, 1050-MW Wind 8 cluster in Iowa by year end. They estimate total investment in the project will be $1.9 billion. Siemens is supplying its 448 turbines. Google will buy up to 407 MW of the output for its Council Bluffs data center. [reNews]
¶ Three hundred professors at Stanford University, including latest Fields medal winner Maryam Mirzakhani and a number of Nobel Laureates, have urged the university’s president and board of trustees to divest away from all fossil fuel companies and fully recognize the urgency of climate change. [pv magazine]
¶ Three Illinois state agencies gave state legislators a list of options for keeping Exelon’s nuclear plants running, including a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade program, all of which will likely result in higher consumer power prices. The Illinois House had requested the agencies to report on the issue. [RTO Insider]
¶ The US could get nearly 50% of its generation from renewable sources by 2030 with existing technologies and the right policies and investments, according to a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency. The report is one of the first in IRENA’s Remap 2030 series. [POWER magazine]
¶ The owner of the Vermont Yankee, nuclear power plant says the fuel has been removed from the reactor and placed in the spent fuel pool. The information was contained in a letter dated Friday from Entergy Nuclear Operations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [Greenfield Daily Reporter]
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