Opinion:
¶ “Let’s Get Straight: Tesla Powerwall DOES = $3,000” – Something we’ve been assuming, and seen all over the interwebs, is apparently wrong. The assumption has been that the $3,000 price for a Powerwall is the wholesale price. It is the retail price. SolarCity’s higher prices we have seen include installation. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “It’s a critical month for climate change at the Interior Department.” Even as a loophole coal companies use to avoid making proper royalty payments is being studied, the Interior Department is expected to announce a plan making 10.8 billion tons of coal available, 11 times the US annual consumption. [Natural Resources Defense Council]
World:
¶ The UK’s renewable energy industry set a record for new investment in 2014, attracting £10.7 billion, according to a report from the Renewable Energy Association. Investment in solar was £4.5 billion. The UK still requires a further £50 billion over the next five years if it is to meet its green energy targets. [Business Green]
Offshore windpower in the UK
¶ The report from the UK’s Renewable Energy Association, authored in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Innovas, reveals that renewable energy increased by 20% in the last year. A total of 64,404 GWh was generated from renewable sources in 2014, compared to 53,667 GWh in 2013. [Solar Power Portal]
¶ An interdisciplinary MIT study, The Future of Solar Energy, says today’s solar panels are all that is needed to supply the world with many TW of clean solar power by 2050 (1 TW is 1,000,000 MW). The other main point the study makes is that it will take political will to finally wean the world off of fossil fuels.[CleanTechnica]
¶ The Australian state of Victoria wants to establish its own target to boost renewable energy, but it first needs Canberra to lift legal barriers preventing it from doing so. If that occurs the state has committed to reintroducing a renewables target for Victoria, which it says would top up the national scheme. [Sydney Morning Herald]
¶ Japan’s nuclear watchdog concluded that fault lines running underneath the Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture may well be active, throwing the prospect of restarting the facility’s reactors into doubt. But a spokesman of Hokuriku Electric Power Co, the plant operator, took issue with the conclusion. [Asahi Shimbun]
US:
¶ SolarCity says it is on track to install more than 1 gigawatt of rooftop solar in 2015. The company reported installations of 153 MW during the first quarter 2015, beating its own forecast of 145 MW. The company has set a target of 1,000,000 customers by the middle of 2018. It now has more than 218,000. [CleanTechnica]
Wind turbines in the Thumb of Michigan. Photo by No Trams To Lime Street from METRO DETROIT. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ A utility energized about 140 miles of transmission lines today that should put more energy from wind turbines in the Thumb of Michigan to be available on the grid. The Novi company, ITC Transmission, said the project cost about $510 million, and will enhance power line capacity and reliability, while creating jobs. [Detroit Free Press]
¶ While wind power is the dominant source of renewable energy in North Dakota, the North Dakota Alliance for Renewable Energy maintains there is a future for solar energy in the state as well. Consumer interest in solar power is growing, and three cooperatives already have solar projects in North Dakota. [RenewablesBiz]
¶ Toyota has combined solar panels with some old Camry Hybrid battery packs to power a ranger station and education center at Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park. The 40-kW solar power system charges 208 repackaged battery packs recovered from Toyota dealers across the US. [Energy Matters]
¶ Canadian developer Alterra Power has completed road construction and turbine foundation excavation for the 204-MW Shannon wind project, located near Windthorst in Texas. The wind farm will employ 119 GE turbines. The Shannon project is on track to begin commercial operations by year’s end. [reNews]
¶ Federal regulators have directed nuclear power plants, Diablo Canyon, in California, and Columbia generating station, in Washington state, to conduct additional, in-depth research into earthquake risks by June 2017, part of a broad review of seismic threats following Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster. [Fresno Bee]
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