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World:

¶ What would a car-free Paris look like? We will soon find out, as this French city hosts its “Day Without Car,” or “Une Journée Sans Voiture” event. On September 27th, five major areas of Paris will be closed to nearly all motorized traffic from 11 am to 6 pm, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to go about freely without air pollution. [CleanTechnica]

Une Journée Sans Voiture

¶ The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has proposed to make calamitous cuts to the country’s renewable energy Feed-in Tariff scheme. The plan’s details have emerged, with proposals that domestic solar support could be cut by 87%, commercial rooftops by 82%, in addition to devastating cuts to onshore wind. [CleanTechnica]

¶ One of Britain’s most controversial energy projects for decades, the £24.5 billion nuclear power development at Hinkley Point in Somerset, is poised to get the green light. The Government and EDF have agreed a deal that would guarantee EDF a price of £92.50 per MWh, up to 2061. That’s nearly three times the current price. [The Independent]

¶ Danish company Vestas Wind Systems A/S says it received a firm order to supply 22 turbines for Wpd AG’s 72.6-MW Tohkoja wind farm in Finland. The contract for Vestas includes the supply, installation and commission­ing of 22 units of the V117-3.3 MW turbine model, a 15-year service agreement, and the Vestas De-icing System. [SeeNews Renewables]

Vestas nacelle. Author: free photos. License: CC BY 2.0

¶ According to Railway Technology, all Netherlands Railways trains will be powered 100 percent by wind by 2018. A deal struck between the railway and power suppliers will result in carbon-free transportation. Electricity will come from wind farms not only in The Netherlands and Belgium, but also from the Scandinavian countries. [Discovery News]

¶ Windpark Kirchberg GmbH & Co KG has placed an order of eight V126-3.3 MW for a 26.4-MW wind park in Baden Wurttemberg. With over 90% share, local citizens will own a larger share of this wind park than any other in southern Germany. The turbines will be installed in the Hohenlohe region in northeast Baden Wurttemberg. [7thSpace Interactive]

¶ Already Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory Government are poised to be running on 90% renewable electricity by 2020. Now, they want to go the extra mile and achieve 100% renewable energy by 2025. And one French company has stepped up to help. Neoen has joined with the ACT Government in a $250 million wind farm venture. [Energy and Capital]

¶ Beginning their work in April 2014, a team at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University came up with a small heliostat system made of six triangular mirrors. They also devised wireless, smart positioning technology. The compact construction makes a “plonkable” concentrating solar system. It can be plonked down by two people. [Newser]

US:

¶ Americans support the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan by a margin of nearly two to one, a new poll from the League of Conservation Voters found. Despite the rhetoric from some Republican governors, 70% of Americans want their states to develop plans to meet the EPA’s guidelines under the Clean Power Plan. [ThinkProgress]

Credit: Shutterstock

¶ Chicago is now home to the Renewable Energy Training Field, a facility to train electricians and support electrical contractors in smart grid renewable energy applications. The facility was created by the National Electrical Contractors Association of Chicago and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134. [Plant Services]

¶ Critics of President Barack Obama’s landmark regulation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions almost always highlight a series of flawed studies (which are often paid for by utility or fossil fuel interests) to attack the Clean Power Plan. Many of these reports did not even look at the EPA’s final (and official) regulations, instead working on drafts. [Huffington Post]

¶ Since wind turbines have been found to kill golden eagles in some locations, a solution for the two coexisting needed to be found, setting researchers at University of Waterloo in Canada to work. Their study of potential wind-power sites and eagles’ nesting patterns suggests that there are numerous safe places with abundant wind power. [Nature World News]

¶ Blue Lake Rancheria, a Native American reservation in northern Californian, will have a microgrid powered by a 0.5-MW PVs array, a 950-kWh battery system, a biomass fuel cell system, and diesel generators. It is projected to be the largest solar array in Humboldt County, California and estimated to reduce 150 tons of carbon per year. [Fierce Energy]

This entry was posted on August 28, 2015 at 7:53 am and is filed under nuclear power, renewable power, solar, wind.

Tags: nuclear, nuclear power, photovoltaic, renewable power, solar power, wind power