Science and Technology:
¶ A new conversion efficiency world-record for a full-size, thin-film solar module of 18.6% (aperture area efficiency) has been set by First Solar, according to a press release. The new cadmium-telluride PV module is the first the company has shown that outperforms “the best multi-crystalline module recorded.” [CleanTechnica]
¶ The International Energy Agency has revealed that global energy-related CO2 emissions stopped growing in 2014, halting at 32.2 Gt, unchanged from 2013. The IEA notes that, despite the global economy growing by about 3% across 2014, global energy-related CO2 emissions were able to remain unchanged. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ A solar farm that could power for 6,700 homes annually has been proposed for 102 acres of land outside Cirencester, a town not far from Bristol. Energy company Big60Million wants to build a 23.4MW Cirencester Solar near Witpit Lane, Preston and said the site would benefit Gloucestershire people. [Gloucestershire Echo]
English solar farm. Photo provided by Big60Million.
¶ Solar Frontier, a noted thin-film solar module producer, will partner with the Germany-based developer New Energy for the World to build 100 MW of new solar energy projects in the UK, according to recent reports. The projects will use Solar Frontier’s CIS solar cells, as well as various other components. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Thailand’s Gunkul Engineering Pcl has plans to invest about 10 billion baht ($296.9 million) this year, mostly to expand capacity of renewable energy at home and abroad. About 4 billion baht will be spent for solar power plants and 5 billion baht for wind power, the assistant managing director for business said. [Reuters]
¶ Gerard Mestrallet, the chairman CEO of Engie (formerly GDF Suez), a French company, signalled a big push against coal-fired generation, issuing a “call to arms against coal.” Engie happens to own the Hazelwood brown coal generator in the Australian state of Victoria, the dirtiest power station in the country. [RenewEconomy]
Hazelwood brown coal generator. Photo by Mriya. GNU Free Documentation License. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Sunny India is set to add more solar power than wind capacity for the first time this financial year. Solar installations are set to exceed 2500 MW this financial year (ending March 2016), topping the 2400 MW target for wind, according to officials from India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. [Business Spectator]
¶ The extent solar power has captured the imagination of Australians is evident in the latest Lowy Institute Poll. 43% of the adult population surveyed said solar ‘will be our primary source of electricity 10 years from now,” even though it currently only represents 2% of the nation’s generation capacity. [Energy Matters]
¶ Canada has celebrated Global Wind Day by announcing it has become the 7th nation in the world to surpass 10,000 MW of installed wind power, enough for over three million homes. More wind energy has been installed in Canada over the past five years than any other source of generation, including coal and gas. [Energy Matters]
US:
¶ A dam that once powered a pulp and paper mill on the upper Mississippi River is now producing electricity for Dairyland Power Cooperative. Dairyland is providing the 10 MW of power produced by the facility to its 25 member distribution co-operatives and the 17 municipal utilities it serves in the Midwest. [Electric Co-op Today]
Sartell Dam. Photo by Daveswagon. Put into the public domain by the author.
¶ New Hampshire House and Senate negotiators deadlocked on proposals to change how the state uses money collected by taxing power plant carbon emissions. The current system will continue; 20% of money collected goes into renewable energy projects, and the other 80% used to reduce electric rates. [The Union Leader]
¶ A Spanish steel company is planning to build a new plant to manufacture wind towers in the Texas Panhandle. GRI Renewable Industries, the industrial wind division of Gonvarri Steel Industries, intends to build a wind tower manufacturing plant in Amarillo that would build 400 towers a year. [mySanAntonio.com]
¶ General Motors showed signs Tuesday that it may take on Tesla Motors in the stationary battery business with a different approach. GM is proposing to power homes, businesses and utilities with recycled used electric car batteries from cars like its Chevrolet Volt, which has both batteries as a gas engine. [USA TODAY]
¶ SunCommon, a Vermont Benefit Corporation, will divest its 401k portfolio from fossil fuels. The announcement was followed by a presentations by Maeve McBride of 350VT and Dan Quinlan of Divestor.org. SunCommon’s legal charter directs the company to attend to the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. [vtdigger.org]
¶ Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis was among a throng of activists Tuesday who called for the closure of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant along Cape Cod Bay. In front of a crowd clad in bright yellow “Shut Down Pilgrim” t-shirts, Dukakis spoke of difficulties with evacuating Cape Cod. [WGBH NEWS]
geoharvey 
June 18, 2015 at 5:20 pm
Reblogged this on nuclear-news.