Opinion:
¶ Kochi Airport’s Major Milestone Could Be The Answer To India’s Depleting Coal Capacity • India is heavily reliant on coal for its electricity needs. A report indicates that India’s contribution amounted to 28%, or almost a third of global emissions growth in 2014 alone. A move by Kochi Airport comes as a much-needed breather. [Youth Ki Awaaz]
Kochi Airport. Image source: WordPress
¶ A Low Carbon World – Are We Finally Getting It? • As we move closer to the Paris climate talks, ever more stakeholders seem to be ready to be part of the solution. Negotiations bogged down in zero-sum confrontations suddenly have a ring of can-do optimism about them. Why? … Actually, the new question seems to be: “Why not?” [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ Inox Wind has commissioned a wind farm of 116 MW capacity in Gujarat. The wind farm will prevent the burning of 0.17 million tonnes of coal and the creation of 0.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Inox Wind also commissioned a sub-station capacity capable of carrying 400 MW for further expansion. [CleanTechnica]
¶ SBJ Cleantech, a joint venture of SoftBank, Foxconn, and Bharti Enterprises, has stuck its first deal in the solar power market. It signed an agreement with the state government of Andhra Pradesh to set up 2 GW of solar capacity, which will be further expanded. The company will also set up 1 GW wind capacity in the state. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Irish power utility Electricity Supply Board inaugurated a 20-MW wind farm in County Waterford. The Woodhouse wind farm is expected to produce enough power for 10,000 homes. It consists of eight 2.5-MW Nordex turbines. Including this €33 million power plant, ESB’s 15 Irish wind farms have total capacity of 300 MW. [SeeNews Renewables]
Wind farm in Ireland. Author: Harry Pears. License: Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
¶ Cuba says it is working to increase by six times the use of renewable energy in the national energy matrix by 2030. Among things it will do is to build 13 large wind energy farms capable of producing 633 MW. Cuba’s program is aimed at raising renewable energy sources to 24% of the country’s power generation. [postzambia.com]
¶ Vestas wind turbines have reached a global capacity landmark figure of 70 GW, enough to cover the annual electricity needs of 75 million Europeans. Vestas have installed 55,000 turbines, and Vestas believes its success provides evidence that wind energy provides the best combination of low-cost, availability and carbon-free energy. [reNews]
¶ Oil and gas industry leaders have launched a final charm offensive to highlight the sector’s relevance in the global fight against climate change before a key summit in Paris later this year. The leaders of 10 gas and oil companies issued a statement calling for an “effective” agreement at the United Nations climate change summit. [The Guardian]
US:
¶ Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems announced it has received a firm order for 144 MW to be supplied for a project in Michigan. The supply-only contract calls for Vestas to deliver 72 pieces of its V110-2.0 MW turbine model. A 10-year Active Output Management 5000 service deal has also been agreed. [SeeNews Renewables]
Vestas wind turbine. Source: RenewableUK. License: All Rights Reserved.
¶ At a conference of American energy firms meeting about national security concerns, US law enforcement officials revealed ISIS is trying to hack American electrical power companies. They said the attacks by the Islamic State have been unsuccessful. Terrorists are not currently using the most sophisticated hacking tools as yet. [CNN Money]
¶ The US clean tech industry employed more than 1.47 million people during second quarter of 2015, marking an increase of 16% on the same period last year. The Institute said July 2015 saw the number of new jobs being created in the industry more than double year-on-year. August 2015 saw an increase of 57%. [Business Green]
¶ The James FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego County, New York, may close. The Ginna plant is on life support. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he wants to close Indian Point. Vermont Yankee is down. Pilgrim is going down. Some nuclear experts say this may be a denouement to the story of nuclear power in the United States. [Capital New York]
Indian Point. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
¶ Aviation researchers and industry leaders came together to push for renewable fuels to replace fossil fuels in jets. Without them regulatory pressures could hamper the growth of commercial aviation. Aviation uses less than 6% of the world’s fossil fuel, the industry is highly vulnerable to regulations. [Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)]
¶ A national network of utility interest groups and fossil-fuel industry-funded think tanks is providing funding, model legislation, and political cover for anti-solar campaigns across the country, and would-be solar power owners could pay the price, said a new report by Environment New York Research & Policy Center. [Long Island Exchange]
¶ Oklahoma is on track for more than 900 earthquakes this year, many presumed to be linked to oil and gas production. Cushing, the key pipeline and tank crossroads for the oil industry, just experienced a 4.5 quake Saturday. It came right after a government report found nearby geologic faults had awakened and reactivated. [KERA News]
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