Video:
¶ At the Highland Wind Farm in Iowa, 214 wind turbines silently generate enough electricity for hundreds upon hundreds of homes each year. “At 2.3 MW, you could imagine the average homes, produces 5,000 to 7,000 watts, is what an average home uses,” said Bill Nosbisch, Manager of Engineering at MidAmerican Energy. [Siouxland News]
World:
¶ Renewable energy plants in Scotland have helped displace 12.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2014, which is 119% more than in 2010. Scotland’s wind, solar and hydropower plants saved more CO2 from entering the atmosphere than what is released by every single car, bus and train journey in the country. [SeeNews Renewables]
Wind farm in Scotland. Author: Paisley Scotland. CC BY SA 2.0
¶ Tidal Lagoon Power has pushed back the start-date for its 320-MW Swansea Bay project by a year until 2017. The company is reported to have taken the “pragmatic” decision against a background of ongoing discussions with DECC over supports for the £1 billion project. The discussions were originally due to wrap up last month. [reNews]
¶ Twenty of the world’s leading economies have affirmed their committment to renewable energy at a meeting of G20 energy ministers. Participants endorsed an 11-point program that included a “toolkit” produced by the International Renewable Energy Agency, providing a long-term sustainable approach to development. [reNews]
¶ Global oil investments this year are on track to drop by 20%, marking their biggest decline in history, Fatih Birol head of the International Energy Agency said. A 50% drop in oil prices in the past year has hit energy companies’ revenues and is discouraging them from spending on both exploration and production. [MENAFN.COM]
¶ Kyushu Electric Power Co will restart a nuclear reactor, the No 2 reactor at its Sendai complex in southwestern Japan, on October 15. It will be the second to return to operation since the government introduced stricter safety regulations following the 2011 triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. [Japan Today]
US:
¶ The Friends School of Portland in Maine is the first Passive House school building in the state, and the third in the country. The neighboring OceanView Retirement Community is donating solar panels for the school to use, making the facility net zero energy. This was achieved in part through a special intergenerational partnership. [CleanTechnica]
Photo credit: The Forecaster, Friends School of Portland, ncob photo
¶ Based on new research, the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association estimates that roughly 90% of existing US single family homes are under-insulated. This wastes energy, costs more, and decreases comfort. The study focuses on how increased insulation across the US housing sector can decrease energy use. [CleanTechnica]
¶ New Hampshire has just been given a front row seat in the battle for our energy future. Policymakers are facing a decision that could make or break the future of rooftop solar in the Granite State. Some state legislators want to expand net metering, but others are being influenced by lobbyists to increase importation of energy. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Xcel Energy says it will accelerate cuts in its Minnesota-region greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable investment in this decade and replacing two big coal-burning generators, with a natural gas-fired unit in the mid-2020s. This could mean a 60% cut in the utility’s Upper Midwest carbon-dioxide emissions by 2030. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
Stockpiled coal at Xcel Energy’s Sherco plant in Becker, Minn.
¶ SolarCity unveiled a new solar panel product that the company says will be the “world’s most efficient.” The new panel will be manufactured in the US, and will produce 30% to 40% more power than standard panels while costing less than the average panel now when manufactured at scale, according to the company. [TIME]
¶ Under a five-year power purchase agreement with SunEdison, Equinix will buy electricity for all its California facilities from a 150-MW solar project in Imperial Valley. The project will generate approximately 300,000 kWh of electricity per year. This will increase the company’s global renewable energy use from 30% to 43%. [EIN News]
¶ The Hawaiian Electric Companies proposed a community-based program and tariff to the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission that would allow customers who cannot or chose not to take advantage of rooftop solar to receive the benefits of renewable energy to help offset their monthly electric bills and support clean energy for Hawai‘i. [Maui TV News]
HEI is seeking approval to provide “rooftop energy” to customers with no rooftops, in projects like this solar farm on Kauai. Photo Courtesy Recsolar.com
¶ Residents of the Northeast Kingdom Town of Irasburg voted overwhelmingly against a developer’s plan to put two 500-foot wind turbines atop one of its ridges. The vote, taken at the packed meeting, was 274 to 9. It was spurred a plan of David Blittersdorf to erect two wind turbines atop Kidder Hill, where he owns a cabin. [Vermont Public Radio]
¶ For the first time in Three Mile Island’s 41 years of commercial operation, the nuclear power plant failed to secure a contract in August to sell a year’s worth of electricity on the regional power grid, meaning that it will lose a major revenue source. The failed bid, along with other factors, raises questions about TMI’s future. [Lebanon Daily News]
geoharvey 
October 4, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Reblogged this on nuclear-news.