Opinion:
¶ David and Goliath struggle over solar power • Duke Energy is threatening a small nonprofit and African-American church, as it fights to restrict solar access in North Carolina. Duke Energy asked state regulators to fine Durham nonprofit NC WARN $1,000 a day for selling solar power to Faith Community Church in Greensboro. [News & Observer]
Wilson Ring AP
¶ Why does the IEA keep underestimating solar and wind? • The press release for the latest World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency emphasized that they “see clear signs that the energy transition is underway.” The problem is, the numbers they use in the report don’t really match up with this stated optimism. [Business Spectator]
World:
¶ Germany’s transport ministry has said Volkswagen is likely to need to make more than just software changes to nearly a quarter of its 2.4 million diesel cars being recalled in the country as a result of the emissions scandal. The Federal Motor Transport Authority says about 540,000 will also need hardware changes. [The Guardian]
¶ Around four coal-powered plants are poised to come up every week in China. However, chances are they will remain under-utilised given the existing glut. Around 155 projects with a total capacity of 123 GW got the green signal in 2015 alone, despite the fact that China has nearly no need for the energy they will produce. [Yahoo News UK]
Chinese air pollution.
¶ German utilities giant E·ON recorded record losses of €5.7 billion ($6.1 billion) for the first nine months of 2015 as its older fossil fuel power plants declined in value amid a switch to renewable energy. There was a write-down of €8.3 billion due to the recent decline in fuel prices, with energy plants barely turning a profit. [Europe Online Magazine]
¶ In its latest planning for the transmission network, Australian Energy Market Operator, which runs the grid, looks at one scenario where 33.3 GW of rooftop solar is installed on homes and businesses by 2034-35, 40% of all homes have residential battery storage totalling 19.1 GWh, and 20% of homes have an electric vehicle. [RenewEconomy]
¶ Tasmania’s King Island was powered by 100% renewable energy for a period of 33 hours non-stop this month, another huge milestone for the renewable energy system established on the island as part of a project by Hydro Tasmania. The project is a prototype combining solar panels, wind turbines and energy storage. [One Step Off The Grid]
¶ South Australia stands at the forefront of the renewable energy transition. Soon, 28% of all households will have residential solar power and 1,473 MW of onshore capacity, representing 25% of the state’s total generation capacity, is online. Balancing the load can be done with transmission and energy storage. [Triple Pundit]
South Australian wind project Mount Bryan. Image credit: Flickr/Ian Sutton
¶ The government of the UK gives the fossil-fuel industry nearly £6 billion a year in subsidies, almost twice the financial support it provides to renewable-energy providers, according to a study by the Overseas Development Institute. The study challenges the popular idea that green energy requires extra taxpayer support. [The Independent]
¶ Mexico will start soliciting bids later this month in its first auction of renewable energy certificates, part of an electricity sector overhaul that ends the state-owned power company’s monopoly. Up to 6 million of the certificates will be awarded in the first auction via 20-year contracts seeking up to 2,500 MW of renewable power. [Reuters]
¶ Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd, a unit of machinery giant Hitachi Ltd, will start a business to decommission boiling water reactors at Japanese nuclear power plants. In Japan, fourteen reactors at seven nuclear plants, including all six of the reactors at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi, are currently set to be scrapped. [The Japan News]
US:
¶ Hawaii’s largest solar power project was dedicated November 7 by the Lihue-based Kauai Island Electric Cooperative. The array is 12 MW, and is sited on a gently sloping 60-acre site. The goal for the island of Kauai is to get 50% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2023, it will be at 37% by the end of this year. [Electric Co-op Today]
Kauai Island Electric Cooperative’s new 12-MW solar array. (Photo By: Shelley Paik/KIUC)
¶ Low-income and mid-income New York residents will find it a bit financially easier to get a home solar power system, thanks to the launch of a new program from NY-Sun called Affordable Solar. This program will effectively double the incentives for solar installations on homes they own, in a bid to expand renewable energy. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The Mississippi Public Service Commission unanimously approved three solar projects. Collectively, the three facilities will produce 105 MW of electricity for Mississippi Power Co’s 190,000 ratepayers, most of whom are in South Mississippi. Ratepayers will not bear any project costs, the PSC said in a news release. [Hattiesburg American]
¶ In the fourth Republican presidential debate, which was hosted by the Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday night, viewers finally got to hear some discussion of energy policy and the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s major effort to curb carbon emissions. Too bad it was totally misleading. [Grist]
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