Opinion:
¶ “We All Pay A High Price For Refusing To Modernize” • Rocky Mountain Power shocked Utah officials by requesting a 30% rate hike over the next two years, blaming half of the increase on the rising cost of coal. The officials should not have been shocked. They had passed a law to force RMP to abandon plans to shift from coal to lower-cost renewables. [Deseret News]
Coal-burning power plant (Billy Joachim, Unsplash)
Science and Technology:
¶ “Can We Replace Over-Engineered Single-Use Plastics With Unplastic Solutions?” • The government of the US wants to reduce demand for disposable plastic items and help create a market for substitutes that are reusable, compostable, or more easily recyclable. But will the feds make the next move and embrace unplastics? [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ “Wildfire Spreads Near Athens In Searing Heat, Prompting Evacuations Orders” • Wildfires are burning near Athens amid scorching temperatures throughout Greece, emergency and weather officials said. Government officials warned of an high fire hazard in several areas, including the Athens peninsula and the Boeotia region northwest of it. [ABC News]
Boeotia (Jebulon, public domain)
¶ “SWREL Wins ₹550 Crore Solar Plant Order in Rajasthan” • Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy has secured an order worth over ₹550 crore ($65.5 million) to set up a solar plant in Rajasthan. The solar project will be set up in engineering, procurement and construction mode, the company said in a regulatory filing. [Rediff Money]
¶ “Enel Green Power Starts Operations At 194-MW Wind Farm In Brazil” • The Brazilian unit of Enel Green Power SpA has put into commercial operation the 194-MW Pedra Pintada Wind Complex in the Northeastern state of Bahia. Built at a total cost of R$1.8 billion ($324.92 million), Pedra Pintada has 43 turbines, the company announced. [Renewables Now]
Pedra Pintanda Wind Complex (Enel Green Power image)
¶ “Renewable Electricity To Outstrip Coal Next Year: IEA” • The amount of electricity produced by renewable sources worldwide is set to surpass output from coal-fired plants for the first time in 2025, the International Energy Agency said. The forecast comes as electricity demand is set to rise 4% this year and next, up from 2.5% in 2023. [Yahoo Finance Singapore]
¶ “July ‘Third Best For Irish Wind Generation'” • In Ireland, wind generation was the third best on record for a July month, Wind Energy Ireland’s monthly wind energy report says. The latest figures show that wind power generation in July 2024 totaled 656 GWh, with Cork wind farms knocking Kerry’s off the top spot for the second time this year. [reNews]
Wind turbine in Ireland (Peter Randall-Cook, CC-BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant Catches Fire. Zelensky Accuses Russia” • A Ukrainian nuclear power plant caught fire after Kyiv launched a cross-border assault into Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian occupiers of trying to ‘blackmail’ Ukraine after the fire broke out at a cooling tower in Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. [MSN]
¶ “Fire At Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Extinguished” • The Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration reported on the fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. “The fire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been extinguished. The radiation level in the Nikopol district is normal. We are keeping the situation under control.” [Ukrainska Pravda]
Zaporizhzhya NPP (Ralf1969, CC-BY-SA 3.0, cropped)
US:
¶ “Two People Found Dead, One Injured After Maryland House Explosion” • Two people were found dead and one was injured after an explosion leveled a home and damaged several nearby residences in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, authorities said. Firefighters were responding to a report of a gas leak when the explosion happened. [ABC News]
¶ “The Self-Driving Startup Everyone Forgot About” • Waymo, Cruise, Tesla, Baidu, Zoox – there are a handful of companies that get quite a big bulk of the attention when it comes to self-driving vehicle development. However, there’s another company that has been progressing nicely and often goes under the radar. That would be Nuro. [CleanTechnica]
Delivery vehicle on the road (Courtesy of Nuro)
¶ “Many EVs Aren’t Legal On Park Service 4WD Roads” • A recent story at Jalopnik tells us the story of a Subaru driver who got in trouble for going on the wrong trail. Why? Because the National Park Service only allows four-wheel-drive vehicles on some roads, and the Subaru in question was an all-wheel-drive car model. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Texas Blows A Sugary Sweet Renewable Energy Kiss To The USA” • Texas, with its deep roots in oil, is cranking out a leading role in wind and solar power generation, too. The production has stayed within state lines so far, but the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act enables in-state manufacturers to share the renewable energy love with the rest of the US. [CleanTechnica]
Factory (Courtesy of SEG Solar)
¶ “LS Power To Acquire 3-GW Wind, Solar Portfolio” • US-based LS Power made an agreement with Algonquin Power & Utilities to acquire its renewable energy business. The business is made up largely of wind and solar assets located throughout the US and Canada, including 44 operating assets with more than 3000 MW of generating capacity. [reNews]
¶ “Cutting-Edge Systems Harvest Solar Energy While Promoting Crop Growth” • New projects are underway, and if they prove successful, they could greatly expand the areas considered viable for solar power. Until recently, it wasn’t considered possible to have a solar array on farmland where crops are grown, but things are quickly changing. [The Cool Down]
Have a highly useful day.
geoharvey 