Opinion:
¶ “Europe needs new energy policy as nuclear giants stumble” – The European nuclear industry seems to be in terminal decline. The French government owns 85% of Areva, which designs reactors, and 85% of Électricité de France, which runs them. Now it is amalgamating the two giants in a bid to rescue the industry. [RTCC]
Science and Technology:
¶ The highest temperature recorded on Wednesday reached 116.6° Fahrenheit (47° Celsius) in the eastern Indian states of Jharkhand and Odisha. More than 1,400 people have died in the heat wave. Climate change is likely is a factor, according to a research scientist with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. [CNN]
Elephants beat the heat in an Indian zoo. Photo by Elroy Serrao. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ NEC Energy Solutions has introduced its next-generation SLD energy storage technology, which uses lithium-ion cells based on lithium manganese oxide chemistry. SLD will be priced at up to 30% lower than the company’s existing storage solution. It will be available for installation in the first quarter of 2016. [Windpower Engineering]
World:
¶ Though Tesla has stolen the headlines by announcing its household batteries, Daimler already has a lithium-ion battery working in Germany and will go fully commercial in September. Daimler plans to offer battery storage set-ups for heavy industry, mid-sized facilities like supermarkets and, soon, households. [Motoring]
¶ Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa has won an order to supply and install 96 machines with a combined capacity of 239 MW at ScottishPower Renewables’ Kilgallioch wind park in southern Scotland. Financial details were not disclosed, but Gamesa noted that this is the largest order for the 2.5-MW turbine to date. [SeeNews Renewables]
Wind farm using Gamesa turbines. Author: germanborrillo. License: Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.
¶ Japanese financial services group Orix Corporation and two other companies to develop a 100-MW offshore wind farm off Kashima Port in Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The proposed offshore wind farm will comprise 20 turbines, each of 5 MW. It will be the largest commercial offshore wind farm in Asia. [Greentech Lead]
¶ The world’s largest container ship operator, Maersk Line, has announced an ambitious target to reduce its greenhouse gas emission. The company plans to cut emissions per container moved by 60% by 2020, from 2007 levels. This is equivalent to eliminating emissions from all passenger cars in France. [CleanTechnica]
US:
¶ Renewable energy development company SunEdison has signed deals with five municipal groups on Long Island, New York, to build seven solar installations for a total of 14 MW. Power generated by these plants will be sold to utility Long Island Power Authority through separate 20-year power purchase agreements. [PV-Tech]
¶ The biggest solar power project in Minnesota has won approval from state regulators. The $250 million Aurora Solar Project by Edina-based Geronimo Energy calls for installation of ground-mounted solar panels at 21 sites. Geronimo plans to finish the project in 2016 and sell the power to Xcel Energy. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
¶ Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has signed a compromise between the wind energy industry and critics of the state’s green energy mandate. The deal will remove a requirement that renewable resources account for 20% of utilities’ electric capacity by 2020, but it will provide some tax breaks for windpower. [WIBW]
¶ TDI-New England wants to build a 1,000-MW power line under Lake Champlain. The developer has offered Vermont millions of dollars to lower electricity bills and to clean up Lake Champlain. State officials like the potential windfall, but they say it won’t get in the way of a vigorous review of the project.[Vermont Public Radio]
Lake Champlain. Photo by Travisleehardin. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Data from the Energy Information Administration reveals highest levels of renewable energy use in the US since the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the country was in the depression and wood was a major source of heat. Renewable energy supplied 9.8% of total domestic energy consumption in 2014. [pv magazine]
¶ Three of the world’s largest tech companies, Apple, Facebook, and Google, have called on the North Carolina General Assembly to avoid making changes to the state’s renewable energy policies. They said the policies were important parts of the reasons they had to choose to invest in the state. [Triangle Business Journal]
geoharvey 
May 29, 2015 at 11:03 pm
Reblogged this on nuclear-news.