Opinion:
¶ “Dick Smith Says No Country Has Ever Been Able To Run Entirely On Renewables. Is That Correct?” • Businessman Dick Smith has thrown his support behind calls to introduce nuclear-generated power to Australia, claiming that no country has ever relied on renewables for its electricity. So, is he right about that? The simple answer is, “No.” [ABC]
Nuclear plant in Lithuania (Håkon Grimstad, Unsplash)
¶ “Filling Nuclear Power’s $5 Trillion Hole Is Beyond the Banks” • Nuclear-energy officials arrived in Brussels this week amid a growing wave of public support for atomic power. Then they were humbled by the tepid reaction of bankers. The bankers are unwilling to provide the $5 trillion the industry needs by mid-century. [Yahoo Finance Canada]
Science and Technology:
¶ “AI Has A Voracious Appetite For Electricity, And That’s A Problem” • Bloomberg reports that John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy, speaking at CERAWeek, said US power demand is poised to increase by 81% over the next five years. Another speaker predicted that AI will gobble up more power in the US than households by 2030. [CleanTechnica]
Robot (Alex Knight, Unsplash)
World:
¶ “Russia Launches Massive Air Attack On Ukraine’s Energy Infrastructure” • Russia unleashed a massive aerial attack in what Ukrainian officials said was the largest and most destructive assault on its energy infrastructure since the start of the war. One target was Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric power station, the Dnipro dam in Zaporizhzhia. [ABC News]
¶ “As Ukraine Eyes A Green Energy Plan, Russia Attacks…Coal?” • Ukraine and its leading utility DTEK have already pledged to discontinue burning coal in power plants, in accord with other European nations. Russia’s latest act of violence against civilians is all the more reason to shed fossil fuels, for the environment and as a national security threat. [CleanTechnica]
Dnipro dam (Валерія Константинова, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “US Shows Interest In Investing In Pakistan Renewable Energy With Eye To Counter Iran Pipeline” • The US expressed interest in investing in renewable energy projects in Pakistan, only two days after a senior official in Washington said his country wanted to prevent the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to the city of Gwadar, Pakistan. [Arab News PK]
¶ “Gorgeous Agrivoltaic System Gilds The Rural Solar Lily” • The agrivoltaic movement is important for the renewable energy field because it pulls the rug out from under critics, who argue against siting solar arrays on farmland. The only thing missing now is aesthetics, and the European research firm AgroSolar Europe has the solution. [CleanTechnica]
Agrivoltaics using bio-based components to raise solar
panels above crops (Courtesy of AgroSolar Europe)
¶ “NTPC Allocates 1,584 MW Of Renewables-Plus-Storage At $0.056/kWh” • NTPC has allocated 1,584 MW under its 3-GW renewables-plus-storage tender, at an average price of ₹4.70 ($0.056)/kWh. The winning developers will set up renewable energy projects backed with energy storage system to supply firm and dispatchable energy. [pv magazine India]
US:
¶ “Before You Install Wind Energy Technology, Check Out This Database” • The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Wind Resource Database can help determine which sites are best for wind turbines. The database hosts high-resolution temporal (time-based) and spatial (location-based) datasets developed using widely used models. [CleanTechnica]
Flowers and wind turbine (Bryan Bechtold, NREL)
¶ “Attacking Electric Vehicles Has Become An Aggressive Political Campaign Tactic” • Some people, particularly politicians, appeal strongly to emotions strongly, to persuade others to oppose EVs. Clearly, it’s time that we engage in some critical reflection on how politicians draw upon different dark linguistic tools to gain political goals and objectives. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “US DOE Reports Chart Path for East Coast Offshore Wind to Support a Reliable, Affordable Electricity System” • The US DOE released findings from the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study, a two-year study that evaluated transmission options to support offshore wind energy deployment along the Atlantic Coast of the US. [CleanTechnica]
Offshore wind farm (Pete Godfrey, Unsplash)
¶ “Transition To Clean Energy Future Will Be ‘Lumpy,’ Says Lincoln Davies, But We Can Get There” • When he talks about renewable energy, Lincoln Davies wants you to keep 173,000 in mind. That’s how much solar energy, in terawatts, bathes the Earth at any given moment. That’s also 10,000 times what the human inhabitants use. [The University of Utah]
¶ “A Debate About The Cost Is Dogging A Renewable Energy Bill” • It is not certain how much it will cost if utilities are required to sell only renewable electricity by 2035. That’s the goal of H.289, a bill that raises the state’s renewable energy requirements. Cost estimates have ranged from as little as $150 million to as high as $1 billion. [Seven Days]
Vermont State House (Bob P B, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Battery Storage Playing Increasingly Important Role On California Grid” • The rapid increase in battery storage capacity over the past few years is helping to balance supply and demand within the California Independent System Operator market. Storage capacity stood at 500 MW in 2020. By July 2023, it had reached 5,600 MW. [RBN Energy]
¶ “International Nuclear Energy Expert Questions Michigan’s Palisades Restart” • Is investing $1.8 billion in federal and state funds to restart the aged Palisades nuclear power plant on the Lake Michigan shore necessary for Michigan’s climate goals? It is one of the questions Paris-based international nuclear policy analyst Mycle Schneider raised. [Michigan Public]
Have a highly valued day.
geoharvey 