Science and Technology:
¶ A team of scientists led by George Washington University chemistry professor Stuart Licht developed a new and potentially less expensive method to make carbon fibers. They capture carbon dioxide directly from the air and use an electrochemical process that converts it into carbon nanofibers and oxygen. Best yet, the desirable attributes of carbon fibers are enhanced. [TechSpot]
Carbon fibers.
¶ A new study shows how pollution making its way across the Pacific Ocean from China is impacting the United States’ atmosphere, and undoing much of the work done to eradicate unhealthy ozone pollution. Specifically, it answers long-held concerns that ozone levels on the west coast of the US remained constant despite significant reduction in ozone-forming chemicals. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ El Salvador’s National Energy Council announced plans to auction 150 MW of renewable energy projects, with targets for operation by 2018. The country conducted its last renewable energy auction in 2014, when it offered 100 MW capacity, of which 94 MW capacity was allocated to solar power projects. The largest of those built was 60 MW, providing power at 10¢/kWh. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The government of the Australian state of Victoria has set itself against the country’s federal government over renewable energy by fast-tracking plans for 50 new wind turbines worth $200 million. The premier revealed the plan at Keppel Prince Engineering, where 100 staff were made redundant in 2014 because of uncertainty over the federal government’s renewable energy target. [The Guardian]
¶ The initial substation has been successfully lifted into place at the 600-MW Gemini offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. The milestone was achieved on August 19 at the Northland Power project some 85 km from shore. The heavy-lift crane vessel Rambiz tackled the work. It completed installation of jacket foundations earlier this month. Gemini is due to be operational in 2017. [reNews]
Image: Gemini
¶ France will double the size of its solar power tender for installations of over 250 kWp to 800 MW, French energy ministry announced yesterday. The initial 400 MW tender was announced in September 2014 with three batches: 200 MW for ground-mounted systems, 150 MW for rooftop or building-integrated power plants, and 50 MW for solar canopies on parking lots. [SeeNews Renewables]
¶ An exciting project by the German energy and IT company LichtBlick is currently underway in Hamburg. It is an apartment building being transformed into a power plant. A photovoltaics system is on the roof, a combined heat and power unit and a storage battery in the cellar, and two electric cars in front of the building. The project has an IT platform to optimize it all. [Asian Correspondent]
¶ The UK is considering using a loophole to escape fines for missing the 2020 EU renewable energy targets. It is getting 5% of its energy from renewables, but needs to raise that to 15% by 2020. Now it is cutting subsidies for green power, slowing things down. However, under the EU rules Britain could pay other EU countries that are overshooting their targets for credit. [E&T magazine]
US:
¶ The US DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office has released the Wind Technologies Market Report. It shows that concerns over increasing penetration of windpower may be misplaced. in Texas, curtailment has been cut from 17% in 2009 to 0.5% in 2014. This was despite increased wind generation, in large part due to added transmission capacity. [CleanTechnica]
¶ GDF Suez (now Engie), a multinational energy company that owns and operates a variety of liquified natural gas import facilities in New England, commissioned a report by Energyzt Advisors LLC. The report says that a proposed natural gas pipeline is unnecessary and lays out a series of alternatives to meet the region’s recent winter-time natural gas shortfalls. [The Recorder]
A liquefied natural gas storage facility in Massachusetts. Photo by Fletcher6. CC BY-SA 3.0.
¶ A new report published by Trillium Asset Management has found that California’s two public pension funds lost over $5 billion over the last year due to investments in the top 200 fossil fuel companies. Interestingly, this report comes at the same time that SB 185 is awaiting vote in the California State Assembly, a bill that would divest the same pension funds from coal. [CleanTechnica]
¶ GE announced it will provide Coachella Energy Storage Partners with a 30-MW battery to be used at the Imperial Irrigation District in California’s Imperial Valley, approximately 100 miles east of San Diego. The facility will provide solar ramping, frequency regulation, power balancing and black start capability for a gas turbine. The battery is GE’s largest to date. [InvestorIdeas.com]
¶ The information and communication technology sector’s power demand just keeps growing. But as the sector’s power demand grows, the amount supplied by renewable energy grows faster, and according to research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, renewables could supply a whopping 48% of the ICT industry’s electricity mix by 2020. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The recent failure of modular construction to deliver lower prices and shorter timelines will likely keep a cap on US nuclear development into the mid term, according to Fitch Ratings. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, along with the rise in federally funded nuclear power research, could yield growth factors for the longer term. [Indiainfoline]
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