Science and Technology:
¶ Warm water flowing through a deep channel under East Antarctica’s largest glacier is driving rapid melting, a study published in the journal Science Advances says. It says that if the thinning continues and the massive shelf gives way, enough ice would slide into the sea to raise global levels by over 11 feet. [Wunderground.com]
The Totten ice shelf (Esmee van Wijke/ACE CRC)
¶ 2016 will be the hottest year in more than 120 years of record keeping by US agencies. It will be the third record-setting year in a row. Of of the 17 hottest years, 16 have been this century. The world is already more than halfway down the road to 2°C (3.6°F). The Paris climate goal was to limit temperatures to that amount by 2100. [AlterNet]
World:
¶ Ethiopia inaugurated one of Africa’s largest wind farms in 2013, the $290 million, 120-MW Ashedoga plant. This was followed by the even larger 153-MW Adama II facility in 2015. Now, the government has plans for at least five more wind farms, and possibly many more, aiming to deliver up to 5,200 MW within four years. [CNN]
Ashegoda wind farm in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
¶ Renewable energy is expected to account for 32% of Germany’s electricity consumption in 2016 on track for the government’s target of 35% by 2020, according to new research. The analysts expect that there will have been 191 billion kWh of green power produced by the end of the year. This is up from 187 billion kWh in 2015. [reNews]
¶ Provisional figures show that the share of renewable energy sources in mainland Spain’s power mix in 2016 grew to 41.1% from 36.9% a year earlier. The number-one source with a share of 22%, was nuclear power. But this was followed by wind with 19.2% and hydro with 14.1%, grid operator Red Electrica de Espana said. [SeeNews Renewables]
Solar PVs in Spain (Author: Jordi Domènech i Arnau, CC BY-SA)
¶ Siemens confirmed that it has been awarded a contract to provide 42 turbines for the Rentel offshore windfarm in Belgium. The customer is Rentel NV, which is part of the Otary partnership, a conglomerate of leading specialists from the Belgian renewable energy industry including investment and development. [Offshore Wind Journal]
¶ The first of over 1100 wind farms in Britain started generating electricity in Cornwall exactly 25 years ago, marking the start of the industry. The 10 turbines of the 4-MW Delabole wind farm, which is now owned by Good Energy, were switched on 21 December 1991. Wind power now generates about 12% of the UK’s electricity. [reNews]
Delabole wind farm (Good Energy image)
US:
¶ In Nevada, all Las Vegas city facilities are now running entirely on renewable energy, city officials announced. “We can brag that the city, this city of Las Vegas, is one of the few cities in the entire world that can boast using all of its power from a green source,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a news conference. [Long Beach City College Viking]
¶ President Barack Obama designated the bulk of US waters in the Arctic Ocean, and also certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean, as indefinitely off-limits to future oil and gas leasing. The White House said the wording of the statute allowing the ban provides no authority for subsequent presidents to undo permanent withdrawals. [STLtoday.com]
Polar Pioneer drilling rig being towed
¶ Colorado-based Carbon Cycle Energy broke ground last week on a $100 million, swine waste-to-renewable natural gas project near the town of Warsaw in southeastern North Carolina. Duke Energy indicated that it will be using the renewable natural gas produced at four of its generating facilities under a 15-year contract. [Biomass Magazine]
¶ Meriden, Connecticut has made history as the first city in the US to install an Archimedes screw turbine to generate power at a dam. The 20-ton, 35-foot-long steel screw lifted by crane into the Hanover Pond dam will generate about 900,000 kWh of electricity annually and is expected to save the city $20,000 a year. [Meriden Record-Journal]
Archimedes screw being installed (Dave Zajac, Record-Journal)
¶ A solar power project officials say is the largest for the military in the Northeast is moving forward. The project will be put on a capped landfill on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, about 18 miles southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. It will have more than 50,000 solar panels that will produce 16.5 MW, enough to power 2,500 homes. [Stars and Stripes]
¶ Michigan lawmakers worked through the night to produce a new renewable portfolio standard. It took over 20 hours for them to agree on energy law changes. Notably, the bill raises the state’s renewable energy standard from 10% to 15% by 2022. The bill now goes to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law. [Into the Wind – The AWEA Blog]
More renewable energy is coming to Michiganders.
¶ Exelon Corporation, which owns and operates 23 nuclear reactors, including the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants in Illinois, said the Future Energy Jobs Bill signed into law by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in early December is already delivering new jobs and other economic benefits to the region. [Nuclear Street]
¶ EDF Renewable Energy has struck a deal to sell electricity from its 150-MW Desert Harvest solar project to Marin Clean Energy. The San Diego-based developer can now start construction on the long-awaited project, which will be built on 1,200 acres of federal land just south of Joshua Tree National Park, near an existing solar farm. [The Desert Sun]
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