Opinion:
¶ “Renewable Energy Boosted By Shift From Green Idealism To ‘Hard Economics'” Investment bank HSBC says renewable energy is becoming mainstream with a shift away from the badly managed schemes of “green idealism” to “hard economics”, where renewable’s costs will win out over fossil fuels. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ Last week, representatives from China’s national Energy Research Institute, the State Grid Energy Research Institute, and others released a new study envisioning a nation powered by 57% renewables in 2030, growing to 86% renewables by 2050, all at the same time as China’s economy grows sevenfold. [CleanTechnica]
View from the Great Wall: Smog coming out off Beijing to the mountains. Photo by Daag. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Orix Corp will start construction of a 54.6-MW solar park in Niigata City in June, the Japanese energy company said. The park in Yotsugoya will have over 205,900 PV modules, making it the largest mega-solar power plant in Niigata Prefecture, according to the company. Completion is planned for June 2018. [SeeNews Renewables]
¶ The UK installed utility-scale solar totalling more than 1.6 GW in the first quarter following the Cameron Government’s decision last year to prematurely end the renewable subsidy scheme, market analysts IHS has found. The country added 110 projects, bringing its cumulative utility-scale solar capacity to 3.8 GW. [The Daily Telegraph]
¶ WWF-Australia has launched a program to engage corporate giants such as Westpac, Nestle Oceania and IKEA in contributing to a zero carbon economy by mid-century, powered by 100% renewable energy. The Australian launch of the “Road to Paris and Science Based Targets” will be in Sydney on Friday. [The Fifth Estate]
¶ A project has been launched in Ghana, to provide affordable, pay-as-you-go solar power to 100,000 off-grid homes in the next two years. The project forms part of the government’s effort to bring reliable and renewable power to, especially, rural areas. It would focus on the cocoa-growing regions. [Ghana Broadcasting Corporation]
¶ Hurt by fallen power prices, Vattenfall will cut 1,000 jobs and shut its two oldest nuclear reactors earlier than planned, the Swedish state-owned utility said on Tuesday. Vattenfall said it would shut the 881-MW Ringhals-1 and 865 MW Ringhals-2 nuclear. Previously the plan was to close them in around 2025.[Business Recorder]
Ringhals nuclear power plant. Photo by Tubaist on sv.wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons.
US:
¶ Analysis from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory finds that by making shared solar programs available to households and businesses that currently cannot host on-site PV systems shared solar could represent 32% to 49% of the distributed photovoltaic market in 2020. [CleanTechnica]
¶ California Governor Jerry Brown launched an ambitious new effort to limit climate change Wednesday, calling for the state to cut its planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, the toughest carbon goal adopted by any North American government for that time frame. [USA TODAY]
¶ Another large user of power is going to boycott the direct use of coal at the facilities it controls. But this time, it’s not a government or a do-good nonprofit institution. No, it is the largest manufacturer of vehicles, a profit-seeking behemoth that symbolizes the nation’s industrial strength: General Motors. [Slate Magazine]
¶ In refusing to write her own plan, Oklahoma Governor Fallin becomes the first governor to take Senator McConnell’s “just say no” pledge. Doing so, she has passed up the opportunity to tailor a plan to the state’s needs, and is the first governor to turn over implementation to the federal government. [Natural Resources Defense Council]
¶ The nation’s largest solar energy contractor for residential and commercial customers will be opening shop in New Hampshire. SolarCity has been looking for space in Manchester and is close to leasing a 15,000-square-foot location where it will employ 70 to 100 people in the business of rooftop solar. [RenewablesBiz]
¶ Austin-based Pioneer Green Energy signed a contract with the US General Services Administration to sell 75 MW of solar energy from the Great Bay Solar project under development in Somerset County, MD. The power purchase agreement was awarded as the result of a competitive process in 2014. [PennEnergy]
¶ Vestas has received a firm and unconditional order from Sempra US Gas & Power for 39 V110-2.0 MW turbines for the Black Oak Getty wind farm in Stearns County, Minnesota. The 78-MW wind farm will generate enough renewable energy to power about 30,000 Minnesota homes. [Renewable Energy Magazine]
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