Opinion:
¶ “Should The War In Ukraine Spur A Nuclear Security Rethink?” • With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nuclear facilities have been caught up in the midst of conventional warfare for the first time in history. That scenario, a nightmare that has now turned into a reality, is one of the things that few of the industry’s players had ever anticipated. [France 24]
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Ralf1969, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Jeff Dahn And The 100-Year Battery” • Jeff Dahn is a world renowned scientist and researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has a contract with Tesla to do battery research. He and his researchers have published a paper in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society that suggests a battery that can last for 100 years is possible. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season Will Be Above Average (Again), NOAA Predicts” • Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center predict a 65% chance of an above-normal season, a 25% chance of a near-normal season and a 10% chance of a below-normal season. It could be the seventh consecutive above-average hurricane season. [CleanTechnica]
Panama City Beach, Florida (Craig Cameron, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Steel Giant Comes Out Swinging Against Fossil Fuel” • Steel giant ArcelorMittal is deploying green hydrogen to cut down on the amount of natural gas used to process iron, using its plant in Canada as a test site. Last fall it announced a $9 billion renewable energy program aimed at decarbonizing its operations in India. Now, it is going further. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “UK Electric Vehicle Sales Continue To Soar In Green Revolution” • EVs have more than doubled in the north of England, the latest figures show. More than a quarter of a million EVs now travel on UK roads and sales of plug-in vehicles have reached all-time highs, with 327,000 registered last year. That is a 77% rise compared to 2020. [CleanTechnica]
Vauxhall (Image courtesy of Vauxhall)
¶ “Ontario loses out on LG Chem plant. Business groups blame Ford’s cancellation of renewable energy contracts” • The Ontario government’s decision to scrap hundreds of renewable energy projects early in Premier Doug Ford’s tenure may have cost the City of Windsor a major chemical plant and over a thousand jobs, business groups say. [Toronto Star]
¶ “Victoria Urged To Go ‘Faster, Further’ In The Race To 100% Renewables” • A parliamentary inquiry into renewable energy recommended that Victoria explore feed-in tariffs options for renewable energy exports and speed up its Virtual Power Plant pilot program. This is to enable a rapid statewide transition to renewables. [pv magazine Australia]
Melbourne (Image from Visit Melbourne)
¶ “Cancer Patients In Japan’s Fukushima Seek Damages From Nuclear Plant” • A Tokyo court began hearings on 26 May in a lawsuit seeking nearly $5 million in damages for six people who were children in Fukushima at the time of its 2011 nuclear power plant disaster and later developed thyroid cancer. They are suing the operator of the nuclear plant. [Firstpost]
¶ “Tata Power Has Commissioned A 100-MW Solar Project In Maharashtra” • Tata Power announced its subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd commissioned a 100-MW solar project in Maharashtra. The installation has over 411,900 PV modules. It will supply power to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. [pv magazine India]
100-MW project in Andhra Pradesh (Tata Power Solar image)
US:
¶ “Supreme Court Allows Biden Administration To Continue Counting The Costs Of Planet-Warming Emissions, For Now” • The US Supreme Court will allow the Biden administration to continue to use a metric that estimates the real-world cost of the climate crisis while legal challenges play out. The states opposed to the metric say the estimates are speculative. [CNN]
¶ “Energy Secretary Blasts Russia For ‘Weaponizing’ Energy” • Speaking at a GE wind turbine testing facility, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Russia is “weaponizing energy, which is another reason why as a nation, we should move to energy sources that cannot be weaponized.” She pointed out that wind and solar power can’t be weaponized. [CNN]
Wind turbines (Karyatid, Unsplash)
¶ “Soaring Fertilizer Prices Force Farmers To Rethink” • Rachael Sharp, a third-generation farmer in South Carolina, saw fertilizer prices for her crops soar 320% last year. The costs are up in a time of extreme weather, transport disruptions, and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some farmers aren’t planting anything due to the excessive costs. [BBC]
¶ “Alaska Utilities Plan $200 Million Investment In Grid To Boost Renewable Power, Increase Reliability” • Five electric utilities in Alaska will invest more than $200 million to upgrade the ageing transmission system from Homer to Fairbanks, in a step they say could boost low-cost renewable power opportunities in the state, benefitting ratepayers. [Anchorage Daily News]
View at Homer, Alaska (Wonderlane, Unsplash)
¶ “Stellantis And Samsung SDI To Build New Battery Factory In Indiana” • Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler, has selected Kokomo, Indiana, as the site for its next electric vehicle battery factory. The plant will be built in a partnership with South Korea’s Samsung SDI and cost between $2.5 and $3 billion. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Mayflower Wind Files PPAs For Approval” • Mayflower Wind filed 20-year power purchase agreements with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to supply three of the state’s largest utilities for 1200 MW of electricity generated by offshore wind facilities. Mayflower Wind won bids for the electricity in 2019 and 2021. [reNews]
Have a perfectly placid day.
geoharvey 