World:
¶ “Climate-Conscious Travelers Are Jumpstarting Europe’s Sleeper Trains” • Climate-conscious Europeans, particularly younger travelers, are increasingly shunning carbon-spewing airplanes in favor of overnight trains. With that, they’ve spurred something of a night-train revival while discovering what many say is a richer way of traveling. [ABC News]
German train (Daniel Abadia, Unsplash)
¶ “EVs At 24.8% Share In UK – Tesla Back On Top” • February saw plugin EVs at 24.8% share of the UK auto market, up from 22.9% year on year. Full electric volume increased 21% YOY, with plugin hybrids up by 29%. Overall auto volume was 84,886 units, up 13% YOY and the highest February in 20 years. Tesla was the leading battery EV brand in the UK. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Volvo Reaches 44% Plugin Vehicles” • Just about 1% of Volvo’s car sales in the US were full electrics in 2023. However, globally, in February, that figure shot up to a record-high 21.7%, so 21.7% of Volvo Cars global sales were 100% electric last month. Looking more broadly, 44% of Volvo Cars global sales were for plugin vehicles last month. [CleanTechnica]
Volvo XC40 (Alexander Migl, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “UK Government Allocates Over £1 Billion For Renewable Energy Auction” • Britain’s flagship renewables scheme received a record funding boost from government, with more than £1 billion for its upcoming auction. The funding signals large-scale government backing to drive further investment into the UK’s thriving renewables sector. [Mirage News]
¶ “Azerbaijan Predicts Mutual Benefits Of Foreign Investment In Construction Of Solar Power Plant” • W Hass Future GmbH & Co, a German firm, said it is ready to invest more than €300 million to establish solar power stations in Kyrgyzstan, Azernews reports. The company is also considering wind energy, along with the solar power. [AzerNews]
Baku, Azerbaijan (Tural Taqiyev, Unsplash)
¶ “RBC Raises Renewable Funding Target But Reports Little Progress On Oil And Gas Emissions” • The Royal Bank of Canada plans to ramp up its renewable energy funding, while it reported little progress on reducing the emissions intensity of its oil and gas investments. The bank plans to triple financing for renewable energy to $15 billion by 2030. [Yahoo News Canada]
¶ “UK’s Green Power Industry Receives Surprise £10 Billion Pledge” • Britain’s stressed green power industry has received a surprise fillip after NatPower, a renewables startup that is part of a larger European group, pledged to plow £10 billion into what would become the largest portfolio of battery storage projects in the country. [The Guardian]
Solar panels (Mariana Proença, Unsplash, cropped)
¶ “Atlas Renewable Energy Signs A 375-GWh, 24/7 PPA With Codelco” • Atlas Renewable Energy has signed a power purchase agreement with Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco to deliver 375 GWh per year from a solar-plus-storage project in Chile. The PPA is for a 24/7 supply, using battery energy storage to deliver power over a 15-year period. [PV Tech]
¶ “Adani Green Powers Up 1,000 MW Solar Capacity At Khavda, World’s Largest Renewable Energy Park” • Adani Green Energy, the renewable energy arm of the Adani Group, ‘operationalised’ an additional 448.95 MW of solar power projects in Khavda, Gujarat. This adds to 551 MW of solar power in February, for a total of 1 GW. [Swarajya]
Khavda Renewable Energy Park (Adani Group, via X)
¶ “Thirteen Years After Meltdown, The Head Of Japan’s Nuclear Cleanup Is Probing Mysteries Inside Reactors” • Just as Japan prepares to mark the thirteenth anniversary of its worst-ever nuclear disaster, the man in charge of cleaning it up says his team is still fighting to bring a sample out of the heart of the site’s radioactive debris. [AP News]
¶ “Nuclear Slow And Expensive, Renewables Fast And Cheap: Bowen Slaps Down Coalition ‘Fantasy’” • Australian Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen has again slammed the federal Coalition’s “nuclear fantasy”, describing it as a deliberate distraction and the latest “desperate effort” to keep the culture war over energy and climate alive. [RenewEconomy]
Windmill and nuclear plant (Boudewijn Huysmans, Unsplash)
¶ “IAEA Head Grossi Meets Putin Over Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant” • Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the security situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, which is occupied by Russia. The two also discussed “other non-proliferation global challenges,” Grossi said. [Yahoo]
US:
¶ “Henry Hub Daily Natural Gas Spot Price Fell to Record Lows in February” • Because of high production and relatively low consumption, less natural gas has been withdrawn from storage this winter. US natural gas inventories have been above average. Relatively high storage levels indicate an oversupplied market, reducing natural gas prices. [CleanTechnica]
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
¶ “US Remained Largest Liquefied Natural Gas Supplier To Europe In 2023” • The US was again the largest LNG supplier for in 2023, accounting for nearly half of total LNG imports, data from CEDIGAZ show. Last year marks the third consecutive year in which the US supplied more LNG to Europe than any other country. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Wyoming To Hitch A Ride On ‘Record-Shattering’ US Solar Industry” • When new projects come up for approval, US solar developers are not out there on their own. The manufacturing base has given rise to a whole new layer of lobbying in support of the solar industry. Wyoming, deep in the heart of coal country, is a case in point. [CleanTechnica]
Have a persistently sufficient day.
geoharvey 