Opinion:
¶ EDF shows that wind makes better sense than nuclear • EDF in the UK may be propelled by its disastrous nuclear ambitions, but in the US it is selling its power, profitably, for under 40% of the price it has been promised for Hinkley C, including federal tax credits. [The Ecologist]
Turbine at EDF Renewable Energy’s Bobcat Bluff Wind Project, Texas. Photo: EDF Renewable Energy.
¶ What a SunEdison Bankruptcy Could Mean for Renewable
Energy • SunEdison’s apparently looming downfall may become a black eye for the renewable energy industry, but longer term, it may be good for the solar developers left standing – and for investors. [Motley Fool]
Science and Technology:
¶ Demand for the lower-priced electric Tesla Model 3 surprised even the company’s CEO Friday as 198,000 people plunked down $1,000 deposits. Tesla had secured about 135,000 reservations on Thursday, the first day of ordering. The car won’t go on sale for at least another year. [Denver Post]
Tesla Motors unveils the Model 3 at the Tesla Motors design studio in Hawthorne, Calif. (Justin Prichard, The Associated Press)
World:
¶ The State Grid, the company running China’s power grid, is proposing a $50 trillion global electricity network to tackle pollution and climate change. If it goes ahead the network would use advanced renewable solar and wind technology and be operating by 2050. [RT]
¶ Analysis from Green Alliance shows the north of England performing better on onshore wind with the south doing better on solar. A senior policy adviser said: “The distribution of onshore wind and solar revealed by the league tables show that counties are playing to their strengths.” [reNews]
Sheep graze at solar plant in Devon. Credit: Lightsource
¶ India’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the ban on the registration of vehicles powered by large diesel engines in the National Capital Region will continue until further notice. Last year, the Supreme Court banned registration of diesel vehicles over 2000 cc in Delhi. [Environment News Service]
¶ One of Russia’s largest solar PV facilities has been connected to the grid in Abakan, in the Republic of Khakassia. The Khakass capital in central Russia just north of Mongolia, historically a place of political exile, has a continental climate with hot summers and frigid winters. [POWER magazine]
EuroSibEnergo’s newly opened solar photovoltaic facility in Abakan. Courtesy: EuroSibEnergo
US:
¶ In an unusually direct move, Bernie Sanders called on Hillary Clinton to apologize for saying his campaign is lying about her relationship with fossil fuel money. Sanders referred to Clinton’s angry response to an activist who asked Clinton if she will “reject fossil fuel money.” [CNN]
¶ The fate of a bill regulating renewable energy projects is up in the air after passing the Vermont Senate Thursday. After spending months drafting the bills, senators rewrote large portions of the measure on the floor Thursday. Now, representatives may scrap it for parts and start over. [WCAX]
Vermont Senate
¶ Governor Scott Walker signed a bill lifting Wisconsin’s ban on new nuclear plants, brushing aside fears of meltdowns in hopes of creating what he called a safe energy option for the state. No major utilities have approached the state looking to build any new plants, according to state officials. [Daily Reporter]
¶ Technology companies Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon filed a joint amicus brief in a federal Court of Appeals to support the Environmental Protection Agency as it defends its signature Clean Power Plan against a challenge by industry groups and more than half of US states. [eNCA]
Technology giants have given the Clean Power Plan their backing.
¶ A special inspection of the Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor found that more than a quarter of the stainless steel bolts needed to channel cooling water through active nuclear fuel rods were broken, distorted or “missing”, a finding that may have more far-reaching effects for nuclear plants. [Huffington Post]
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