Opinion:
¶ “Tesla Model 3 Is Changing Auto History” • In its first week alone, the Tesla had amassed, “about $14 billion in implied future sales, making this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever.” And it’s growing. Last week, Tesla had almost 400,000 orders for the Model 3. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model 3
¶ “Stuck in Time – Ruined Chernobyl nuclear plant to remain a threat for 3,000 years” • It is 30 years since Chernobyl came to mean more than just a little village in rural Ukraine. Now, 25 years after the country that built it ceased to exist, the full damage of that day is still argued. [The Keene Sentinel]
World:
¶ The price per barrel of global benchmark Brent Crude ended April just above $47. Since dipping briefly below $30 in January, it has risen by nearly two-thirds. That sounds a lot. And it is. But it’s worth remembering that the price is still down by 30% on this time last year, and 60% on June 2014. [BBC News]
Offshore oil. Nexen image.
¶ Palestinians will take a step toward greater power independence by announcing terms of a solar-energy auction intended to boost installed capacity by as much as 100 MW. The Palestinian Energy Authority said it plans to auction permits to build 10 solar plants generating 10 MW each. [gulfnews.com]
¶ The leading off-grid home solar energy system provider in Uganda, Fenix International, has now signed 60,000 leases for its ReadyPay Power offering (since January 2014), according to a new press release. An estimated 300,000 Ugandans now have reliable electricity for the first time. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Danish marine energy developer Floating Power Plant teamed up with engineering outfit Ocean Power & Energy Services with a development agreement. FPP has been grid testing its combined wind and wave power solution off Denmark for a number of years and has three possibilities for sites. [reNews]
FPP wind and wave concept (FPP image)
¶ Canadian company CMX Renewable Energy Inc has sought a license to build a 150-MW solar plant in the central Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan at an estimated cost of $150 million, news website Dau Tu reported. Around 1% of the plant’s output would be provided free to locals. [Thanh Nien Daily]
¶ Spain’s power sector, which has been shaken financially in recent years owing to plunging power demand, posted its first electricity tariff surplus in 14 years at the end of 2015. The National Markets and Competition Commission said there was a 7% decrease from a year earlier. [POWER magazine]
Solar array in Spain. Photo by Certo Xornal. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Dubai’s tender for the right to build the 800-MW phase III of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar complex has attracted a bid of just $29.90 (€26) per MWh. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is now evaluating a total of five bids. The winner is to be announced in June. [SeeNews Renewables]
US:
¶ Growth in wind-power production slowed in 2015 to slightly over 5%, according to a DOE report. This was because of lower wind speeds in key regions, particularly in western states. Some states such as Colorado that put more turbines onto the grid held steady outputs. [Public News Service]
Wind farm in Colorado. (Makunin/Pixabay)
¶ After almost 12 years of political gridlock and stiff opposition from competitors, San Francisco’s green energy program, CleanPowerSF, began operating on Sunday. CleanPowerSF is now able to deliver electricity to more than 7,800 residences and businesses. [San Francisco Chronicle]
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