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Opinion:

¶ “Can Renewables Replace Nuclear Power?” • Utility PG&E’s announcement that it would shutter California’s last nuclear plant and replace the power with energy efficiency and renewable energy was the result of a confluence of progressive state policies making it more feasible. [Scientific American]

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station, on the coast of California. Credit: Doc Searls/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Science and Technology:

¶ Solar Impulse 2 has landed in Spain, completing the Atlantic leg of its historic bid to circumnavigate the globe. The landing in Seville marked the end of the 15th stage of Solar Impulse’s route. Mission managers will now plot a route to Abu Dhabi where the venture began in March, 2015. [BBC]

World:

¶ Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy approved six renewable energy plants, with a combined capacity of 165 MW, to join the national Incentive Regime for Infrastructure Development. REIDI grants tax incentives to companies investing in infrastructure projects. [SeeNews Renewables]

Brazilian wind farm. Author: Carla Wosniak.
License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic

¶ In its Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2016-2020, SolarPower Europe lauded the record 50.6 GW of new solar capacity which was added worldwide in 2015, while predicting that it would smash through that record, passing the 60 GW mark in 2016. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Zambia is having two solar power projects built that will provide the cheapest electricity in Africa. First Solar Inc and Neoen will partner to build a 45-MW plant that will sell electricity for just over 6¢/kWh, and Enel will build a 28-MW plant selling it for just under 8¢/kWh. [Africa Middle East]

Zambia is getting solar power.

¶ Siemens projects that from 2025 its offshore wind farms will deliver electricity at a levelized cost of energy below €0.08/kWh. The company said at that it is confident its current goal of generating offshore wind power below €0.10/kWh by 2020 will be reached. [reNews]

¶ Offshore wind turbine manufacturer Adwen and turbine rotor blade supplier LM Wind Power announced this week that manufacture of the first of the 88.4 metre-long blades has now been completed at a factory in Denmark. It was designed for a new 8-MW turbine. [Business Green]

New 88-meter turbine blade

¶ Ghana is giving a big boost to renewable power under a ”Capital Subsidy Scheme” for installing solar panels on rooftop of homes across the country. The country expects to add 20,000 rooftop solar systems under the scheme, according to the its Energy Commission. [domain-B]

US:

¶ The California High-Speed Rail Authority and the California Energy Commission have agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding that focuses attention on how the high-speed rail program can help California meets its climate goals and become a greener state. [RailwayAge Magazine]

California high-speed rail

¶ Vermont Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter laid out an energy plan focused on reducing emissions, supporting clean energy job growth, and cutting energy costs. Minter also called on all candidates to oppose moratoriums and bans on clean energy technologies. [Vermont Biz]

¶ A judge ruled that federal regulators lack the authority to set rules for hydraulic fracturing, dealing a setback to the Obama administration. The judge said the Bureau of Land Management can’t set the rules because Congress has not authorized it to do so. [PennEnergy]

Drilling for gas. AP image.

¶ Solar shade canopies installed at two North County San Diego schools have saved San Dieguito Union High School District more than $4.4 million in energy in five years. This exceeded the original projections. The developer had guaranteed a $10.5 million savings over 15 years. [PennEnergy]

¶ The US government has kicked off an offshore wind competitive lease sale in Hawaii. Secretary of the interior Sally Jewell issued a call for information and nominations on Wednesday to gauge developer interest in two areas offshore Oahu spanning about 485,000 acres. [reNews]

Windfloat system in action off Portugal (Principle Power image)

¶ The Governor of Montana announced a new blueprint for the state’s energy future. The American Wind Energy Association praised the plan, pointing out that the blueprint recognizes the value of a stronger electricity grid and the expansion of wind power in the state. [North American Windpower]

¶ The Rhode Island legislature has passed a bill to advance the state’s renewable energy target from 14.5% by 2019 to 40% by 2035. The bill would ensure that Rhode Island homeowners and businesses have greater access to renewable energy, including wind power. [North American Windpower]

Opinion:

¶ “The U.S. Nuclear Boom Has Turned Into a Dud” • Five years ago, we were supposed to be entering a nuclear renaissance. New nuclear plants were being planned and there were loan guarantee programs in place. Today, the nuclear industry in the US is dying. [Motley Fool]

Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. NRC photo. Public domain.

World:

¶ Warmer winters played an important role in the decline in EU greenhouse gas emissions. A report says CO2 emissions across the bloc dropped by almost 25% from 1990 to 2014. Renewable energy, a switch from coal to natural gas, and recession also contributed to the fall. [BBC]

¶ The University of Cambridge has blacklisted all investment in coal and tar sands companies following mounting pressure to divest from fossil fuels. The University currently has no coal or tar sands investments, and has “no expectation of having any such exposure.” [CleanTechnica]

Image Credit: University of Cambridge

¶ Dutch technology company Royal Philips has committed to a new sustainability program that it hopes will render its operations carbon neutral by 2020. The company announced a new 5-year sustainability program, “Healthy people, sustainable planet.” [CleanTechnica]

¶ Leading investment bank Morgan Stanley believes the Australian energy market is seriously underestimating the grow of solar and battery storage, and says the technology will be installed at rates four times quicker than the incumbent energy industry expects. [RenewEconomy]
¶ A new £20-million biogas plant is being built in Ireland to generate 3 MW of renewable energy from up to 40,000 tons of chicken litter each year. One important goal of the project is to avoid the unhealthy spreading of untreated litter on land. [Power Technology]

¶ Brazil’s wind power hit an average of 2,935 MW in the first two weeks of June, marking a 30.6% year-on-year increase, according to preliminary figures. Wind power’s share of the country’s electricity generation grew to 4.9% from 3.8% a year ago. [SeeNews Renewables]

Wind farm in Brazil. Author: Otávio Nogueira.
License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

¶ A wind farm in the Scottish borders will power Nestlé’s operations in the UK and Ireland. The deal will see a brand new nine-turbine wind farm open in Dumfries and Galloway in the first half of 2017. It will produce enough power annually for 30,000 homes. [Your Renewable News]

¶ The NorthConnect project cleared its first hurdle as Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, granted a licence to the developers, paving the way for the project to begin navigating a set of complex regulatory rules governing electricity transmission in Europe. [Telegraph.co.uk]

Credit Alamy / Alamy

¶ The utility that ran the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant admitted its delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactors was tantamount to a cover-up and apologized. TEPCO’s president in 2011 instructed officials to avoid using the word “meltdown.” [Japan Today]

¶ Solar Citizens says it has calculated the savings solar owners have made on their electricity bills since 2007-2008. It says solar households have saved $4.4 billion on their power bills since that time and almost a billion dollars every year for the past three years. [Energy Matters]

Rooftop Solar in Australia. Photo by Orderinchaos.
CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

US:

¶ The nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon, the last two in California, will close in 2024 and 2025 when their licenses expire, according to a proposal by PG&E, environmental groups, and unions. They are not economically viable, as costs for solar and wind power decline. [Bloomberg]

¶ Exelon, known mostly as the largest nuclear generator in the US, is to become a wind energy developer as well. It notified the Ohio Power Siting Board of its intent to install up to 87 turbines to generate as much as 200 MW in northern Ohio’s Seneca County. [Platts]

Wind farm in Ohio. Photo by Nyttend, released
into the public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ The Missouri Chamber of Commerce backs wind energy is endorsing the Grain Belt Express Clean Line, which would transmit wind-generated electricity from Dodge City, Kansas, across northern Missouri and Illinois, to a substation in Sullivan, Indiana. [CBS Local]

¶ As part of an effort to transform how it delivers energy, DTE Energy Co recently said it will retire eight coal-fired generators at three coal plants in Michigan in the next seven years. It will also build one of the largest solar arrays east of the Mississippi River. [Daily Energy Insider]

Science and Technology:

¶ An electric plane project is in the works at NASA, and the new aircraft is called the X-57. It’s an initiative to demonstrate that electric-powered aviation can be clean, quiet, and quick. With 14 small engines means the X-57 will need less energy to cruise at a speed of 175 mph. [Fox News]

Artist’s concept of the X-57. (NASA
Langley / Advanced Concepts Lab, AMA, Inc.)

¶ Planet OS, a provider of online geospatial environmental data, announced a data intelligence system to help wind farm operators and renewable energy service providers boost power output by up to 30%. RWE has joined forces with Planet OS as the launch partner. [GISuser.com]

¶ A study says temperatures are rising faster than the development of crop varieties that can cope with them. Researchers found that it can take 10-30 years before farmers can grow a new breed of maize, by which time the new crops face conditions different from what was intended. [BBC]

Maize in a drought in Texas. Photo by Billy Hathorn.
CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

World:

¶ ABB has commissioned an integrated solar-diesel microgrid installation at a 96,000 square meter facility in Johannesburg, South Africa. ABB’s solution is designed to maximize the use of renewable energy while providing an uninterrupted power supply during outages. [Renewable Energy Focus]

¶ Throughout the second half of 2015, and first six months of 2016, renewables have weathered the global price slump for oil handily. This is turning out to be the year when cheap renewable energy sources are beginning to dominate the global energy markets. [Global Risk Insights]

Kobenhavn Energy photo.

¶ Greenpeace NZ put together its renewable energy and legal experts to create a solar hot desk service to assist people stung by New Zealand’s first-ever charge for using solar. Lines company Unison had said it would increase fees for any households generating renewable power. [Scoop.co.nz]

¶ China is on track to generate more than a quarter of its electricity from wind power by 2030, and the figure could rise to nearly a third with power sector reforms, a new study found. More new generating capacity will come online in China than currently exists in the entire US. [The Guardian]

Beijing wants to increase the country’s wind capacity.
Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

US:

¶ The advocacy group Public Citizen released a report showing how top executives for three giant coal companies got large compensation boosts even as they laid off workers. Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural Resources are all operating under bankruptcy protection. [CleanTechnica]

¶ A proposal by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to build an 8.8-MW power plant in an industrial complex near one of its stations might have attracted little attention. Members of the climate-change campaign 350 Philadelphia, however, have sounded an alert. [Philly.com]

GE Jenbacher engines like those to be installed. GE Power photo.

¶ Recent trends demonstrate a rapid growth in corporations directly buying renewable energy from wind, solar and other renewable energy generators. Renewable energy capacity under corporate power purchase agreements doubled each year from 2012 to 2015. [Lexology]

¶ North Dakota regulators approved NextEra Energy Resources’ 150-MW Brady wind project. They also granted a certificate for a 19-mile transmission line and associated facilities to connect the project to the grid. NextEra hopes to complete the wind farm by the end of 2016. [reNews]

Summerhaven wind farm in Ontario NextEra image

¶ In a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers at MIT found that it currently makes economic sense to combine large-scale energy storage systems with renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar farms, in some locations. [The National Law Review]

¶ Entergy is pitching a new natural gas-fired plant as an affordable way for New Orleans to meet future electricity demand. Opponents argue the plant will pollute and contribute to subsidence the area, and it will allow Entergy to continue to dodge investment in renewable energy. [NOLA.com]

Entergy linemen at work. (Photo by Susan Poag,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)

¶ Entergy Nuclear got approval from state regulators to build another storage facility to hold the balance of its spent nuclear fuel that is currently in Vermont Yankee’s spent-fuel pool. The decision allows Entergy to create space for 22 dry casks to hold radioactive fuel. [Barre Montpelier Times Argus]

Science and Technology:

¶ This past May was the warmest May month in a 137-year period, breaking global temperature records, according to a report published Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Right now, 2016 is on pace to be the hottest year on record. [CNN]

The planet could see 20 more hurricanes and tropical
storms each year by the end of the century.

World:

¶ India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has come out with its most ambitious capacity addition target yet, for 16,600 MW of renewables added this fiscal year. During the current fiscal year, solar capacity is expected to reach its largest-ever capacity addition target of 12,000 MW. [CleanTechnica]

¶ India’s renewable energy targets will see massive amounts of capacity added quickly to the grid. The Indian government is looking at ways to minimize its impact on the existing grid. A possible energy storage policy would most likely be linked with the solar or wind energy policy. [CleanTechnica]

Aliyar Reservoir Dam. Solar and wind plants are developed faster. Photo by Siva301in. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ In the middle of southern Israel’s desert, engineers are hard at work building the world’s tallest solar tower, reflecting the country’s high hopes for renewable energy. Once completed in late 2017, the Ashalim Tower will rise to 240 metres and will resemble a giant lighthouse. [The Express Tribune]

¶ Researchers from the University of Sussex found that the ancient West African method of adding charcoal and kitchen waste to highly weathered, nutrient poor tropical soils can transform the land into enduringly fertile, carbon-rich black soils which they call “African Dark Earths.” [The Marshalltown]

Soil samples in Africa

¶ Plans to start cutting greenhouse gases by 80% from 1990 levels by the year 2050 will go before Manx legislature. A detailed strategy on reducing emissions will start a series of five-year action plans. Included on the list is encouraging people to reduce use of cars. [Isle of Man Today]

US:

¶ President Obama says climate change is the biggest threat to US national parks. He says meadows are already drying out at Yosemite National Park in California, where he spoke Saturday after spending the night in the park with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha. [Capital Public Radio News]

President Barack Obama speaks in front of the Yosemite Falls. Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo

¶ Residents of Davis, California, and rural Yolo County may soon get access to renewable energy at a cheaper price than PG&E. Supervisors started the ball rolling on a community choice energy program. The project could reduce the county’s greenhouse gas production by 45%. [Daily Democrat]

¶ The largest solar power rooftop in Central Texas was unveiled at the Strictly Pediatrics Surgery Center in Austin. Built by Freedom Solar Power, its nearly 2,500 solar panels should meet half of the building’s energy needs. It is expected to create more than 1.2 million kWh of electricity annually. [KXAN.com]

Aerial view of the solar rooftop at Strictly Pediatrics Surgical Center.

¶ While the oil boom in North Dakota may be over, the recent wind boom could be here to stay. In the past decade, there have been more than 400 wind turbines placed on the western side of the state with an additional 550 proposed to be constructed by 2018, with more to come. [The Dickinson Press]

¶ State legislation allowing South Carolina Electric & Gas Co to charge customers for two new reactors at its nuclear power plant years before they are completed has been compared to making payments on a new car before it leaves the assembly line, without knowing the final price. [Charleston Post Courier]

Science and Technology:

¶ The Dead Sea, the salty lake located at the lowest point on Earth, is gradually shrinking under the heat of the Middle Eastern sun. It surface level is dropping by more than a meter (3.4 feet) per year. For those who live on its shores it’s an ongoing slow-motion crisis. [BBC]

The ruins of the Naharayim hydro-electric power plant.

World:

¶ According to Solar Intelligence analyst Finlay Colville, the UK installed 1.553 GW of new solar PV capacity during the first quarter of 2016. The UK’s first quarter was the second highest quarter ever for the UK solar PV industry, as the first quarter of last year retains its record. [CleanTechnica]

¶ El Salvador will conduct an auction to deploy 170 MW of renewable electricity. This follows an award of 100 MW of PV projects in its previous auction, even though no project is operational yet. The solicitation is structured for a 100 MW block using solar PV and 70 MW using wind. [PlanetSave.com]

El Salvador. Image via Shutterstock

¶ German industrial megalith Siemens and Spanish wind energy giant Gamesa have announced they will merge their wind energy businesses. They have signed binding agreements to merge Siemens’ wind business with Gamesa, to create a leading global wind power player [CleanTechnica]

¶ The president of SaskWind says a report from Canada’s parliamentary budget office shows carbon capture technology will double the price of power from Boundary Dam Unit 3. The wholesale cost of power is about $60 per megawatt hour. Removing CO2 has about the same price. [CBC.ca]

Carbon capture and storage project at Boundary Dam is the first such commercial operation. (Michael Bell / Canadian Press)

¶ Construction has started on Scotland’s first community hydro scheme. When complete, the Donside Hydro scheme will produce electricity to be sold to the national grid, generating clean, renewable electricity and a sustainable income for the local community to invest in local priorities. [Third Force News]

¶ EDF EN Canada Inc has dedicated the 74-MW Mont Rothery Wind Project, which generates enough electricity for about 15,000 Quebec homes. The project consists of 37 wind turbines supplied by Senvion. Construction began in 2014 and was completed in December. [Windpower Engineering]

The 74-MW Mont Rothery Wind Farm. (Credit: Business Wire)

¶ The Japanese government has advised Nigeria to adopt renewable energy for the provision of electricity in the country. The leader of a Japanese delegation gave the advice in relation to the continuous militant activities which is disrupting gas supply for the generation of electricity. [TODAY.ng]

US:

¶ Renewable power production in the US is expected to overtake coal-fired generation by 2029, according to the Reference case of the US Energy Information Administration. This projection is based on the assumption that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) is implemented. [SeeNews Renewables]
NB The EIA is notorious for overstating the time it takes for renewable energy to grow.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2016. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

¶ The EPA proposed adding new hydropower and geothermal generation to the criteria of projects eligible to receive emissions reductions credits under a voluntary program that would reward states that choose to make early investments in preparation for the Clean Power Plan. [Bloomberg BNA]

¶ Iowa is a leader in wind energy due to bipartisan support. Amid the variability in crop prices, the turbines mean a steady annual income for the farmers who have long-term leases for turbines on their land. Such lease payments can net $5,000 to $10,000 a year per tower. [chinadialogue]

Wind turbines near Nevada, Iowa. (Image by Carl Wycoff)

¶ Ameresco Inc has completed an 18.6-MW solar project at the US Army Garrison Fort Detrick Army installation in Frederick, Maryland. The project consists of 59,994 solar panels on 67 acres, and is designed to serve about 12% of Fort Detrick’s annual electric load requirements. [Solar Industry]

¶ Exelon Corp’s recent threat to close the Nine Mile 1 and Ginna nuclear reactors if it doesn’t get a subsidy from utility ratepayers by September has drawn barbed complaints from business, municipal and green energy advocates, many of whom would rather the money go to wind or solar power. [Syracuse.com]

Exelon Corp is looking for state incentives. (Michael Greenlar)

¶ Florida Power & Light Co will install several different types of battery systems in southern Florida as part of a pilot project. The systems will be at locations in the counties of Miami-Dade and Monroe to research a range of potential future benefits of energy storage. [North American Windpower]

World:

¶ Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, has announced it will divest from investments in coal, oil, and gas, following a one-and-a-half year citizen-led campaign. The city declared that it would withdraw investments in coal, oil, and gas companies, amounting to about $3.5 million. [CleanTechnica]

Stockholm

¶ The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has floated a draft policy for large-scale development of geothermal power projects in the country. The policy calls for installed geothermal power capacity of 1 GW by 2022, which will then be increased to 10 GW by 2030. [Planetsave]

¶ The energy and climate change select committee has called on the UK government to split up National Grid to radically change the way power transmission and distribution is operated. Their inquiry report recommends transferring system operation from National Grid to a more distributed system. [reNews]

T pylon (National Grid)

¶ Lebanon plans to bulk up on renewable-energy assets beyond just rooftop solar in a move that could wean reliance on fossil fuels and avoid blackouts, according to a government agency. The country is currently dependent on imported fossil fuels for its power. [Bloomberg]

¶ Volkswagen plans to launch 30 all-electric models to reposition itself as a leader in “green” transport. VW’s chief executive said huge investments would be needed as the firm moves beyond the “dieselgate” scandal. He hopes that all-electric cars would account for about 20-25% of sales by 2025. [BBC]

VW e-Golf. Photo by Norsk Elbilforening (Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association). CC BY-SA 2.0 generic. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is pushing coal power, both at home and through exporting technology abroad. At the same time, some of Japan’s powerful trading houses are cutting or freezing coal investments over concerns about the environmental fallout. [Financial Express]

¶ Alberta and Saskatchewan are renewable energy laggards, while Ontario and Quebec are leaders, according to a new report from Clean Energy Canada. While $78 million was spent in Alberta and $60 million in Saskatchewan, investment in Ontario was $5.3 billion. [CBC.ca]

Magrath Wind Power Project in southern Alberta. Photo by Chuck Szmurlo. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ The outlook for Australia’s four remaining big brown coal generators looks bleak following the Victorian Labor government’s decision to set a 40% renewable energy target for 2025. The inherent inflexibility of the ageing brown coal power stations marginalizes their capacity. [RenewEconomy]

¶ Hive Energy is set to become the first British company to net a major PV project contract in Cuba. Hive Energy will develop a 50-MW installation. It will stand as the first utility-scale site to be developed in the country and is expected to generate up to 93 GWh of electricity annually. [PV-Tech]

The 50-MW project is expected to generate up to 93 GWh of electricity annually. Image: Hive Energy

¶ The Japanese nuclear industry has had another setback, as it tries to recover after the Fukushima Disaster. A Japanese court upheld an order to keep two reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant closed, leaving efforts to get the struggling industry up and running in limbo. [Asahi Shimbun]

US:

¶ Canadian renewable energy company Alterra Power Corp announced that it has acquired the Flat Top scheme, a 200-MW wind project under development in Texas. Alterra also said that it had placed a $1.6-million security deposit with the local transmission provider. [SeeNews Renewables]

An existing wind park in Texas. Author: Kool Cats Photography over 2 Million Views. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic

¶ The American Wind Energy Association celebrated the 10th annual Global Wind Day by highlighting the 66% drop in the costs of wind-generated electricity that has happened over the past six years. The AWEA also pointed to wind industry’s employment figures for the country. [CleanTechnica]

¶ The Omaha Public Power District voted Thursday to shutter the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station, which is the nation’s smallest nuclear power plant. The board decided it was in the best financial interest of the utility and its customers to close the plant by the end of this year. [York News-Times]

Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor during Missouri River flood. Photo by US Army Corps of Engineers. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ The Nikola Motor Company has revealed a plug-in gas/electric semi-truck. Following the opening of pre-orders for the Nikola One semi-truck , they apparently received more than 7,000 pre-orders. This means about $10.5 million in reservation funds for around $2.3 billion in sales. [EVObsession]

¶ The Obama Administration laid out an extensive list of federal, utility and private actions to scale up microgrids, energy storage and renewable energy throughout the US. The commitments made at the event represent about $1 billion in energy storage investments alone. [Microgrid Knowledge]

World:

¶ The global wind power industry now employs 1.1 million people, representing growth of 5%, according to International Renewable Energy Agency data. The increase in jobs is mainly due to strong installation rates in China, the US, and Germany, and it is being driven by declining costs. [reNews]

Onshore wind farm turbines pic credit MorgueFile.

¶ Australia is expected to be producing 25,000 GWh of annual power from rooftop PV systems by 2035-36, as compared to 5,600 GWh today, the Australian Energy Market Operator said. This would be equivalent to 11% of current electricity consumption from the grid. [SeeNews Renewables]

¶ An energy park in Scotland will be used for the construction of a £2.8 billion wind farm. Siemens will use Nigg Energy Park’s facilities in Moray Firth to build the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm. The engineering giant has signed a contract to use the site from spring 2018. [Energy Live News]

Artist’s impression of the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm. Image: SSE

¶ The Indian Ministry of Power says slowing demand growth means India doesn’t need any power plants over the next three years beyond those already under construction, or renewable projects which the government is committed to. It is a sign that the coal industry is weakening. [RenewEconomy]

¶ Siemens said it will deliver the steam plants and generators for the Noor II and Noor III concentrating solar power plants in Morocco at the end of 2016. Noor II and III are parts of a huge solar thermal power complex, which is to become the world’s largest of its type. [SeeNews Renewables]

Below the mirrors at the Noor I CSP park in Morocco.
Source: http://www.kfw.de. All Rights Reserved.

¶ A senior official of the German government stated that all new cars registered in Germany will need to be emissions-free by the year 2030. If the Germans hope to cut 80%-95% of their carbon dioxide output by 2050, they need to radically reduce pollution from transportation. [Carscoops]

US:

¶ Maryland could soon join 10 other US states with community solar programs, as the state’s Public Service Commission has just approved its final regulations for establishing a three-year pilot community solar program, which are expected to be published in the coming weeks. [CleanTechnica]

SunGen Sharon Solar Farm in Sharon, Vermont. Photo by SayCheeeeeese. CC0 public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ LG Chem delivered and installed batteries for a 7 MW/3 MWh system in Minster, Ohio, which is combined with a 4.2 MW solar PV array. The system benefits will be shaving of peak demand, improving power quality, and deferring $350,000 in transmission and distribution costs. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Embracing the sun or wind isn’t necessarily a scalable option for islands such as Hawaii that have limited soil-bound real estate. The state is also still heavily dependent on oil, which was responsible for about 68% of its electricity as recently as 2014. Ocean energy is an option. [GreenBiz]

WindFloat prototype in Portuguese waters. Courtesy of WindFloat.

¶ The New York Power Authority has completed the Marcy South Series Compensation Project, a $120 million transmission upgrade that will move up to 440 MW of additional capacity from upstate, where there are abundant wind and hydro resources, to downstate cities. [Greentech Media]

¶ Wyoming’s energy-based economy is faltering with increased fossil fuel regulations and dropping prices, but the University of Wyoming is taking steps to expand its renewable options. The university’s solar array, which was old and had fallen into disrepair, has been replaced. [Wyoming Business Report]

Science and Technology:

¶ A new study by Harvard University shows why criticisms of high costs to lower carbon emissions are nothing more than 100% baloney. It not only gives the lie to such absurd notions, it demonstrates in stark terms just how much economic value lowering emissions can create. [CleanTechnica]

Smokestacks.

World:

¶ As grids get smarter and consumers get savvier about energy consumption, letting customers have more control over their own energy needs is one way to get to a more efficient, less costly, and lower carbon system. The EDF Group is transforming its residential PV solutions accordingly. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Scotrenewables Tidal Power has launched its SR2000 turbine at the marine engineering company Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 2-MW machine is the company’s first commercial-scale turbine and also the largest in the world. [Power Technology]

SR2000 tidal turbine. Photo courtesy of Scotrenewables Tidal Power.

¶ The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reportedly has signed an agreement to purchase electricity generated from a planned 750-MW solar power park in Madhya Pradesh. Power generated from the Rewa-based solar park will be transmitted to Delhi, around 800 km away. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Zambia set a new benchmark for low-cost solar power in Africa with a competitive auction under the ‘Scaling Solar’ program. The winners of the auction are France’s Neoen SAS and American PV manufacturer First Solar, who jointly bid at just 6.02¢/kWh, and Enel SA, which bid 7.84¢/kWh. [PV-Tech]

Northern Cape scenergy. Source: Flickr – Zoe Shuttleworth

¶ Saudi Arabia’s first wind turbine will be operational later this year. It will be installed by GE and Saudi Aramco at Turaif bulk plant and will replace diesel as the primary source of power generation for the site. It has been specially designed to cope with the harsh climate. [Energy Live News]

¶ The average cost of electricity from renewable sources is set to decline more, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. The cost from PVs could fall as much as 59% by 2025. Offshore wind may see cost reductions of 35%, followed by onshore wind at 26%. [Bloomberg]

Source: International Renewable Energy Agency.
Please click on image to enlarge.

¶ Struggling French nuclear giant Areva said Wednesday it will create a new nuclear fuel subsidiary as it withdraws from the business of building reactors. Areva, 87% owned by the French state, is restructuring after being hit by a slump in demand for nuclear power. [The News International]

¶ Vienna will soon be home to the world’s tallest wooden building, the so-called HoHo project. It will be 276 feet tall and cost about $65 million to construct. The project developer told The Guardian that her firm chose wood because of its environmental benefits. [CleanTechnica]

HoHo wooden high-rise. Credit: Rüdiger Lainer and Partner

US:

¶ Con Edison and SunPower Corp will partner on a pilot program to offer solar power systems with battery storage to more than 300 New York homeowners. In aggregate, they can be a cost-effective and innovative “virtual power plant” to improve grid resiliency, reliability, and sustainability. [PennEnergy]

¶ The Boardman Hill Solar Farm is a great example of neighbors coming together to get affordable power through community-scale solar. The 150-kW project in West Rutland, Vermont arose when two people invited the town to a meeting to talk about a community project. [GreenBiz]

Aerial view of Boardman Hill Solar Farm in Rutland, Vermont.

¶ Senator Chuck Grassley accused those who oppose wind energy tax credits of employing a double standard, pointing to “market-distorting” benefits to other electricity sources such as nuclear power. The Iowa Republican has championed the production tax credit for wind power since 1992. [Morning Consult]

¶ Exelon Generation told the New York State Public Service Commission the company needs to know by September whether the regulator will approve a compensation plan for nuclear generators, otherwise Exelon will shut the Nine Mile Point-1 and Ginna reactors, according to a letter. [Platts]

Science and Technology:

¶ A big spike in atmospheric CO2 levels means the greenhouse gas is about to pass a symbolic threshold. This year will very likely mark the first time the concentration of CO2, as measured atop Hawaii’s famous Mauna Loa volcano, has been above 400 parts per million for the entire year. [BBC]

Night falls at the Mauna Loa Observatory. Photo by LCDR Eric Johnson, NOAA Corps. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

World:

¶ India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy announced that it has received a major funding boost for its ambitious rooftop solar power program. The program is expected to receive low-cost debt funding worth $2.5 billion from several international development banks. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Siemens and Van Oord have installed 75 of the 150 4-MW turbines at the 600-MW Gemini wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. The units are being transported from Esbjerg, in Denmark, to the project. It should be completed in 2017; it delivered first power in February. [reNews]

Turbines being installed at Gemini (Van Oord image)

¶ According to a recently issued document by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, as many as 52 departments and ministries of the central government have pledged to add almost 6 GW of rooftops solar power capacity on land and rooftop area available with them. [PlanetSave.com]

¶ The Indian Energy Ministry cancelled plans for four coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon emission and focus on renewable energy. The four plants have a total capacity of 16 GW and were initially planned to be built in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh. [Power Technology]

India cancels plan to build four coal-fired power plants.
Photo courtesy of meepoohfoto / Freedigitalphotos.

¶ Last week, the much-awaited monsoon rains arrived in India, to the relief of authorities and citizens. But this isn’t going to fix India’s long-term water issues. A Greenpeace report highlights how India’s coal industry is depleting water resources, though Renewables can mitigate this. [Quartz]

US:

¶ Last year 35% of all the electricity provided by San Diego Gas & Electric came from renewable sources, a record for the company and for California investor-owned utilities. That puts the company well ahead of schedule for California climate change requirements of 33% by 2020. [inewsource]

NRG Borrego Springs plant. Jim Sulley / newscast

¶ The Supreme Court on Monday left intact a key Obama administration environmental regulation, refusing to hear an appeal from 20 states seeking to block rules that limit the emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from the nation’s power plants. [Washington Post]

¶ Toyota is about to move into its new 2.1 million square foot North American headquarters in Plano, Texas. It engaged Priority Power Management, an independent energy management and consulting services firm, to help it plan how to use almost entirely renewable power. [CleanTechnica]

Toyota image

¶ Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed S. 260. He said the bill addresses criticism of weak local control over wind and solar-energy projects in an earlier bill he had vetoed, while at the same time supporting the growth of green-energy infrastructure. [Barre Montpelier Times Argus]

¶ Utah is one of several states with budget shortfalls this year, as oil and gas production hit all-time lows. Coal production was at a 30-year low in 2015 and total energy revenues were half of what they were in 2014. Consumers are considering rooftop solar to take control of their own power. [KSL.com]

Photo Courtesy of Legend Solar

¶ New York policymakers are considering the most cost-effective way to reach the state’s 50% renewable energy target by 2030 within a competitive market. The Public Service Commission held a conference on a plan to transition the state away from fossil fuel, and eventually nuclear. [RTO Insider]

¶ The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved a plan by Minnesota Power Co to idle two units totaling 150 MW at the company’s Taconite Harbor Energy Center this fall and ceasing coal operations at the site in 2020. The plan also move up the date for closing two other facilities. [POWER magazine]

Opinion:

¶ “The World Nears Peak Fossil Fuels for Electricity” • The way we get electricity is about to change dramatically, as the era of ever-expanding demand for fossil fuels comes to an end, in less than a decade. That’s according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. [Bloomberg] (More articles about this below.)

Bloomberg New Energy Finance image

World:

¶ The French Ecology Minister announced the 33 winners at a 52-MW solar power plus storage tender for France’s overseas departments and territories. The projects will have a feed-in tariff of €204/MWh, which is competitive for islands not connected to the mainland grid. [SeeNews Renewables]

¶ Taiwan Power Co is planning to invest NT$400 billion ($12.37 billion) developing renewable energy over the next 15 years, spending more than 80% of that on wind power. Green energy is one of the five key industries in President Tsai Ing-wen’s economic policy. [Focus Taiwan News Channel]

Wind turbines in Penghu County. (CNA file photo)

¶ Victoria says it will “lead the nation” on climate change, with a goal to become net zero by 2050. It is good news for the built environment, and in accord with Paris climate goals. The move puts the state into direct competition with South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. [eco-business.com]

¶ BluEarth Renewables Inc announced the official inauguration of its 29.2-MW Bull Creek wind park in Alberta. The facility consists of 17 General Electric wind turbines near Provost. They will be able to generate enough power annually for 10,000 average Alberta homes. [SeeNews Renewables]

The Bull Creek Wind Facility. Source: BluEarth
Renewables Inc. License: All Rights Reserved

¶ Twelve months ago, Indonesia was the world’s biggest exporter of fossil fuels, but now, the rest of the world is moving away from the products. The country is reacting to the drop in coal exports by ramping up local production, putting health, environment and economy in danger. [Southeast Asia Globe]

¶ Bloomberg New Energy Finance says low prices for coal and gas are likely to persist, but will fail to prevent a fundamental transformation of the world electricity system towards renewable sources such as wind and solar, and towards balancing options such as batteries. [Offshore Wind Journal]

BNEF’s latest NEO suggests that investment in renewables
is going to grow rapidly and their cost will fall steeply

¶ Norway’s oil and energy ministry gave permission for Oslo-based Fred.Olsen Renewables to build a 135-MW onshore wind power plant. The newly approved plant in Norway’s southeastern region of Rogaland would be able to produce 400 GWh per year, enough to supply 20,000 homes. [Reuters Africa]

¶ The way we get electricity is about to change dramatically, as the era of ever-expanding demand for fossil fuels comes to an end—in less than a decade. That’s according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which plots out global power markets for the next 25 years. [Livemint]

Wind and solar will be the cheapest forms of producing
electricity in most of the world by the 2030s. Photo: Bloomberg

¶ A dress rehearsal is under way to install a huge “hat” over a crippled nuclear reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi. The dome-shaped cover is meant to stop the spread of radioactive material and protect equipment necessary to retrieve 566 bundles of fuel rods from a spent fuel pool. [Asahi Shimbun]

US:

¶ While state officials are struggling to define New Hampshire’s energy future through a variety of legislative and regulatory proceedings, cities and towns in the state are not standing by waiting for the next signal from Concord. Many of them are moving forward aggressively, on their own. [The Union Leader]

Dan Reed of Siemens installs a LED street light on Carroll
Street in Manchester last year. (Union Leader File)

¶ Renewables will overtake natural gas as the dominant source of electricity generation in the US in 2031, even without subsidies, as wind and solar costs plunge, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis showed. This shift will be driven by $745 billion in investments through 2040. [Bloomberg]

¶ WPPI Energy, based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, has issued a request for proposals for approximately 100 MW of generating capacity from wind, or an equivalent amount of energy from other renewable resources. WPPI Energy is owned by 51 local not-for-profit electric utilities. [hngnews.com]

Opinion:

¶ “US Carbon Tax ‘Close To Inevitable,’ Conservative Leader Proclaims – Moral Disgrace Of Ignoring Global Warming Too Strong” • Some Republican congresspeople have taken the time to learn about global warming. They don’t want their party’s legacy to be denial supporting corruption. [CleanTechnica]

George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, has long been an outspoken supporter of a carbon tax.

World:

¶ TenneT Holding BV presented a plan for building an island in the North Sea to connect over 30 GW of offshore wind farms and deliver power to countries in the region. The transmission system operator says the most suitable location for that island will be the Dogger Bank. [SeeNews Renewables]

The island. Image by Tennet (www.tennet.eu).

¶ Costa Rica is finishing up the largest hydroelectric power project in Central America, as the last generators come on line. The Reventazon dam is expected to produce 305.5 MW, enough for 525,000 homes. Costa Rica already gets 98% of its power from renewables. [PennEnergy]

¶ When Prince Edward Island’s government crafted a plan to wean their grid off costly and carbon-intensive diesel, they turned to wind power, one renewable resource that the island has plenty of. Now, 34% of PEI’s electricity is wind powered, with 204 MW of wind capacity installed. [Huffington Post Canada]

A wind farm at North Cape, PEI, had a capacity factor of 69% for the entire month of January. Photo Wind Energy Institute of Canada

¶ The UK solar power industry has lost more than half its 35,000 jobs due to recent changes in government energy policy, just at a time when solar power has eclipsed coal as a major generator of Britain’s electricity. Experts believe ministers had cut subsidies too far and too fast. [The Guardian]

¶ The Swedish government coalition, with some opposition parties, presented a new agreement for Sweden’s energy consumption. Sweden’s energy production will be 100% renewable by 2040, but nuclear power gets lower taxation, new facilities, and no expiration date. [Business Insider Nordic]

Forsmark nuclear power plant. Source: Tomas Oneborg – TT

US:

¶ Coal production during in the first quarter of 2016 was the lowest its been since 1981. Demand for coal is down because of low natural gas prices, competition from renewables, and environmental regulations. An unusually warm winter also reduced demand. [Wyoming Public Media]

¶ Los Angeles’ City Council will consider a motion to direct the municipal utility to determine how to move the city to 100% renewable energy. The motion has broad support on the council, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is already working on the report. [ThinkProgress]

It takes a lot of energy to run all those lights.
But could it all be green? Credit: Shutterstock.

¶ Consumers Energy celebrated its first solar power plant located at Grand Valley State University yesterday that will produce electricity for many Michigan homes and businesses. Called the Solar Gardens, the 17-acre facility generates 3MW, enough to power around 600 homes. [WHTC]

¶ The Kodiak Electric Association has two flywheels, each of which can store up to 1 MW. That’s enough power to lift a heavy cargo container from the dock and move it to the ship. Renewables are supplying power at a much reduced cost, and diesel is 99.8% out. [Environment & Energy Publishing]

Matson Inc’s massive electric crane and the Pillar
Mountain wind farm. Photo by Margaret Kriz Hobson.

¶ The Charlevoix, Michigan, City Council diversified one city portfolio Monday to give it less exposure to a particular sector of the market. The council approved an electrical purchasing agreement that will boost the city’s renewable energy portfolio to 22.4% for 20 years. [Petoskey News-Review]

¶ A solar energy generating facility to be built in Alabama will help the world’s largest retailer move a step closer to meeting its renewable energy goals. Under a long-term contract with Alabama Power, Walmart will subscribe to a majority of the solar plant’s renewable energy credits. [Yellowhammer News]

Opinion:

¶ “Illinois power plant closings reveal worldwide nuclear issues” • Exelon and Illinois are dancing around the issues, with the industry taking the position that government (read: the people) should subsidize the waning years of nuclear installations, or else. It is a global issue, however. [CleanTechnica]

Clinton power station, near Clinton, Illinois. Photo by Dual Freq.
CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

Science and Technology:

¶ Researchers reported on an experiment in Iceland where they have pumped CO2 and water underground into volcanic rock. Reactions with the minerals in the deep basalts converted the carbon dioxide to a stable, immobile chalky solid. It took only months to covert 220 tonnes of CO2. [BBC]

World:

¶ Australian wind energy saw its biggest ever month in May, producing nearly a quarter more electricity than any previous month, and overtaking hydro to provide 8.5% of the country’s grid electricity. And new analysis shows wind generation keeps a lid on wholesale electricity prices. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in Australia.

¶ Siemens has received its first order from J-Wind Setana to supply, install and commission 16 direct-drive wind turbines of 3.2 MW capacity each. The Setana Osato wind farm, which will have a total capacity of 50 MW, will be installed off the Japanese coast. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

¶ The Paris Agreement may provide a major to boost wind turbine sales over the next decade. In a report, Moody’s said it expects to see renewable energies such as wind and solar get a significant increased investment needed to meet carbon reductions implied by the Agreement. [Business Green]

Offshore wind farm.

¶ Portugal’s Economy Ministry and Morocco’s Energy Ministry have agreed to research the possibility of laying an undersea electricity interconnector between the two countries, according to an announcement published by the Portuguese government on Wednesday evening. [Platts]

¶ The European Investment Bank has signed a €125-million loan agreement with Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company of Iceland, to finance a new geothermal power station and its geothermal wells at Þeistareykir, near Húsavik in north-eastern Iceland. [Iceland Monitor]

Construction at the Þeistareykjavirkjun power plant. Photo: Mbl.is

US:

¶ Apple became the world’s most valuable company by selling a lot of stuff. But one thing it’s never sold is power. That looks like it’s about to change, as Apple has created Apple Energy, a Cupertino-owned subsidiary that has the ability to sell power to end users at market rates. [Yahoo News]

¶ New US solar PV installations in the first quarter accounted for 64% of all new electric generating capacity installed across the country, according to new figures from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association. They predict 14.5 GW of new solar PV installed in the US in 2016. [CleanTechnica]

Share of New US Electric Generating Capacity Additions.
Please click on the image to see a larger view of it.

¶ A new report from the Brookings Institution points to numerous examples of solar actually lowering rates for utility customers, whether they have solar panels or not. Net-metered solar power reduced needs for more expensive power sources and helped stabilize the grid. [Grist]

¶ In Vermont, newly installed turbines at Ball Mountain Dam in Jamaica and Townshend Dam are now operational. Crews remain on site for final details, but the projects have been successfully tested and have met state commissioning deadlines, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy said. [vtdigger.org]

Ball Mountain Lake and Dam. US Army Corps of
Engineers photo. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ After 11 hours in the Vermont Statehouse, there has been a policy resolution. A renewable energy bill vetoed by Governor Peter Shumlin earlier this week has been replaced by lawmakers with a substantially similar stand-in that addresses the governor’s concerns. [Vermont Public Radio]

¶ Some rural electric co-ops in Nebraska are exploring renewable energy to help them reduce costs in months when power demand peaks. Just 10% of power in Nebraska comes from renewable sources like wind and hydroelectricity, but declining costs are changing that. [Nebraska Radio Network]

Wind turbine in Nebraska. Photo by Urban.
CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ An agreement administered through the Michigan Public Power Agency Energy Services Project Agreement would allow the Zeeland Board of Public Works to buy up to 11.796 MW of wind energy from Huron Wind for 20 years, eliminating the need to buy energy credits. [HollandSentinel.com]

Science and Technology:

¶ Carbon emissions stopped growing in 2015 for the first time in 10 years as the world turned its back on coal and embraced energy efficiency and renewable power more vigorously, according to a new set of statistics from BP. China led the way, but the progress may not last. [The Guardian]

China passed Germany and the US as the biggest generator of solar power in 2015. Photograph: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images.

World:

¶ Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has taken bold steps in his role as chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs. The latest of these is an ambitious plan to move the country away from an oil-based economy to one that is investment-based. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Norway has become the first country to stop clear-cutting of trees, a huge step toward curbing global deforestation. In their pledge last week, Norwegian lawmakers also committed to find a way to source essential products like palm oil, soy, beef, and timber sustainably. [CNN]

Deforestation for palm oil in Liberia.

¶ The German firm, Energtrag, is adding a power-to-gas facility to its existing hybrid power plant. Deutsche Bahn is the first customer. The process uses electrolysis to make hydrogen, then adds carbon to that to create synthetic methane, which can be stored indefinitely. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Enel Green Power grid-connected a 66-MW solar farm in South Africa, one of three projects in the country the utility announced in March. Enel’s South African portfolio is now nearly 160 MW and a further gigawatt of projects has been awarded or is already under construction. [PV-Tech]

A South African PV project by Enel. Image: Enel Green Power.

¶ The new Cốc San power plant in Vietnam’s Lào Cai Province, a run-of-river hydropower facility supplying almost 30 MW of power to regional off taker Northern Power Corporation, opened yesterday. It represents the first foreign direct investment in hydropower in the region. [Viet Nam News]

¶ A gold and copper mine in Western Australia has switched to solar power, with 34,000 PV panels supplying electricity alongside 1.8 MWh of battery storage. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is supporting the project with $20.9 million recoupable grant funding. [EcoGeneration]

DeGrussa Solar Project.

¶ Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen stressed that the goal of her administration to phase out nuclear power by 2025 “has never changed and will never change.” Tsai, made the statement amid controversy over restarting a reactor at the country’s No. 1 nuclear power plant. [Focus Taiwan News Channel]

¶ Renewables’ portion of the global power generation mix has increased substantially in the last half decade. Particularly in European countries, renewable energy sources contributed more than 26% of overall electricity generation in 2015. This was a rise from nearly 20% in 2011. [Market Realist]

US:

¶ Analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis highlights the recent numbers, which showed the amount of electricity generated by hydro, wind, biomass, and geothermal sources together reached 19.2% of all power generation in the United States during March. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Legislation that could make hydro and wind power a bigger part of the state’s overall energy mix passed the Massachusetts House. The bill would require utilities to solicit long-term contracts for importing an additional 1,200 MW each of Canadian hydro-power and offshore wind. [Woonsocket Call]

Windmill Point, Hull, Massachusetts. Photo by Doc Searls from Santa Barbara. CC BY-SA 2.0 generic. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Dairyland Power Cooperative announced an agreement to build the 98-MW Quilt Block Wind Farm in southwestern Wisconsin. They are working with EDP Renewables on the 49-tower wind farm 20 miles southeast of Platteville. It could be operational by the end of next year. [WXOW.com]

¶ DTE Energy Co plans to shut down eight more coal-fired units at three power plants in Michigan within the next seven years. DTE said the plants together generated about 25% of all the electricity produced by the utility in 2015, which is enough to power 900,000 homes. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

Opinion:

¶ “Can wind and solar make us rich?” • With low-cost electricity storage, Jamaica could cut electric costs by 60%, while cutting of costs for imported fossil fuels by $100 million each month. Finally, free at last! Economic independence attained after 50 years of political independence. [Jamaica Observer]

Jamaican wind farm.

¶ “Renewables versus climate change – the battle heats up!” • The renewable energy revolution is in full swing, but global warming is also accelerating, with global temperature records broken every month for a year. Will the energy transition happen in time to avert catastrophe? [The Ecologist]

World:

¶ Japanese renewables firm SB Energy Corp will start on June 10 commercial operations at the 48.43-MW Hamada Wind Farm, in Shimane prefecture, Japan. The company expects the new wind power plant to generate some 85 million kWh per year, sufficient for 23,600 local homes. [SeeNews Renewables]

Wind turbine in Japan. Author: Seiichi Ariga.
License: Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

¶ The leaders of India and the United States on Tuesday vowed to ratify the Paris climate accord this year. They also set a one-year deadline for concluding a deal for six commercial nuclear power plants. But the two sides provided few specifics about how they would achieve those goals. [NDTV]

¶ A Lagos-based renewable energy company, Arnergy, announced a pay-as-you-go service for users in communities without a stable power supply, which is pretty much all those in Nigeria. The service lets consumers install affordable solar panels and pay for power as they consume it. [TechCabal]

Solar technology for people who never had power.

¶ Shell has changed its mind about renewables and how it will make money in future, in a world after the Paris COP 21 climate change deal. The company’s chief executive concedes that the previous team may have got it wrong when it stopped investing in renewables, especially wind power. [ITV News]

¶ So far this year, 98% of Uruguay’s electricity has come from sources of renewable energy, according to the president of the state-run electric company UTE. The announcement came at a meeting of business owners, executives and investors in the energy sector. [Latin American Herald Tribune]

El murallon del dique compensador. Photo by Starbock1948.
CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ UK solar developer Hive Energy has won a contract to install a 50-MW PV park for Union Electrica de Cuba in the Caribbean island republic. Under its terms, Hive Energy will build the solar park in the Mariel Free zone. The facility is expected to produce up to 93 GWh per year. [SeeNews Renewables]

¶ Solar power in the UK produced more electricity than coal across the whole of May, the first ever month to pass the milestone, according to research by analysts at Carbon Brief. Solar generated an estimated 1,336 GWh of electricity in May, compared to 893 GWh output from coal. [The Guardian]

The new floating solar farm on Godley reservoir in Hyde, Manchester, UK. Photo: Ashley Cooper/Alamy

¶ As plans emerge for a new “baseload” solar thermal and storage plant to replace coal in South Australia, a new report from WWF Australia questions the very concept of “baseload,” arguing that this model of power generation is made redundant by a 100% renewable energy grid. [RenewEconomy]

¶ Another 30 children in Fukushima have been hit by thyroid cancer, up from 16 in February following the threat of radiation exposure after its nuclear plant exploded in 2011. This brings the total number of Fukushima children diagnosed with thyroid cancer to 131. [AsiaOne]

Checking a child for radiation.

¶ Scottish homes fitted with solar panels would have seen enough sunshine last month to meet their entire electricity consumption, according to the WWF Scotland. A report they issued said wind turbines also produced enough electricity to meet the needs of around 76% of homes in May. [The National]

US:

¶ Hawaiian Electric Company is preparing to issue a Request for Proposals for renewable energy projects on Oahu island that can start power generation by the end of 2020. The utility operates under a state requirement to achieve sourcing from 100% renewables by 2045. [SeeNews Renewables]

Hawaii wind farm. Author: David J Laporte.
License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

¶ Two New York State agencies are working with the Electric Power Research Institute and Central Hudson Gas and Electric to install a hybrid solar PV generation and battery storage system at the State University of New York at New Paltz, about 85 miles north of midtown Manhattan. [Solar Industry]

¶ Energy forecaster GTM Research predicted that the price of building big solar-power farms will drop below $1 a watt by 2020. That is a big deal, as it is both a competitive goal for the solar industry and is the target set in 2011 by the US DOE’s SunShot Initiative. [Next Big Future]

Opinion:

¶ “French nuclear under pressure – from German renewables” • In late May, strikes reduced nuclear power production in France. Yet even more plants were offline a few weeks earlier without any strikes at all. This was partly because of renewable electricity from Germany. [RenewEconomy]

Nuclear plant Paluel 2 “just barely escaped catastrophe,” Le Parisien said, on March 31. (Photo by Bodoklecksel, modified, CC BY-SA 3.0)

World:

¶ A 20% increase in wind and solar energy generation in 2015 has combined to deliver another annual increase in the amount of Australia’s electricity sourced from renewables, more than compensating for a drop in hydro production, a new report has found. [CleanTechnica]

¶ More detail has come on Solastor’s proposal for a “baseload” solar thermal and storage power plant in Port Augusta, South Australia. The ambitious 170-MW, $1.2 billion project could produce the lowest-price 24/7 solar power in the world, according to the company’s chairman. [RenewEconomy]

Solastor system for 24/7 solar power.

¶ Last year was a huge 12 months for renewable energy, with a new global status report on clean energy highlighting how 2015 was a record year for the industry – including the revelation that renewable energy can now satisfy nearly a quarter of the world’s power demands. [ScienceAlert]

¶ Disappointed by hydroelectric power reduced by drought, Zambia is turning to the sun. The landlocked country plans to build two solar projects that will charge the lowest tariffs in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Zambian Industrial Development Corporation. [Quartz]

Lake Kariba is drying up, and so is Zambia’s electricity supply. (Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo)

¶ Norway’s four major political parties agreed last week to ban the sale of cars powered by gas or diesel by 2025, according to Electrek, citing a story in Norwegian paper Dagens Næringsliv. There is, however, some question about how much all parties actually support the proposal. [Huffington Post]

¶ A group of Norwegian companies has sent the government proposals for an offshore wind demonstration project off the coast of Norway to help boost the country’s export potential in the sector. The Offshore 2025 proposals have been put together by Norwea, which has 130 members. [reNews]

Offshore wind farm. Credit: reNews.

¶ Origin Energy’s managing director says it is unlikely any more coal-fired power stations will be built in Australia, as the renewable energy target helps force coal power out of the market. But there still may be the need for more gas-fired power stations if coal-fired power comes off quickly. [The Australian]

US:

¶ The governor of Vermont vetoed a bill supporters hoped would give communities more say over siting renewable energy projects and bring new sound limits on wind turbines. He said last-minute amendments to the bill would unacceptably slow or halt renewable energy development. [vtdigger.org]

Wind energy in Vermont. File photo by Roger Crowley / VTDigger

¶ A microgrid at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in California helps show the potential of net-zero green projects to aid military installations reduce reliance on fossil fuels and expand the use of green energy. Net-zero systems generate as much energy as is used. [SEAPOWER Magazine Online]

¶ In the next 15 years, Texas expects to add somewhere between 14 GW and 27 GW of solar capacity, according to a new long-term system assessment from the state’s grid operator, ERCOT. Meanwhile, over 5 GW of coal are expected to go offline in the next five years. [Breaking Energy]

¶ Minnesota Power’s first community solar garden got the go-ahead from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. It will be constructed in two locations in Duluth, one being a 40-kW array and the other a 1-MW array. Both locations will be available for subscribers. [Mesabi Daily News]

Science and Technology:

¶ Using data from satellites, scientists at NASA, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and two universities have found 39 unreported and significant human-made sources of emission of toxic sulfur dioxide. Sulfur Dioxide is a known health hazard and acid rain contributor. [Maine News Online]

Scientists located 39 unreported sources of sulfur dioxide emissions.

World:

¶ RedT Energy plc will install a power storage system at a 1-MW wind farm on the Scottish Isle of Gigha. The 1.68-MW vanadium flow system was chosen for this remote location, which has limited grid connection, for their ability to balance variable renewable generation. [reNews]

¶ Global electric vehicle sales figures for the first quarter of 2016 were recently released by EV-Volumes, revealing that plug-in sales in 2016 to date totaled 180,500 units, including cars and light commercial vehicles. That is an increase year-on-year increase of roughly 42%. [CleanTechnica]

EV sales by region.

¶ The Pact of Amsterdam has been released, seeking collaboration from EU cities concerning pressing challenges such as air pollution, climate adaptation, transportation, and energy transition. European cities are set to benefit from greater involvement in EU legislation. [CleanTechnica]

¶ A new 4.75-MW solar energy installation was recently brought online by Nissan outside of the company’s Sunderland production plant in the UK. The new PV plant adds to 6.6 MW of wind capacity at the manufacturing plant, helping power manufacture of the Nissan LEAF EVs. [evObsession]

Nissan solar and wind farm in the UK.

¶ Leading players in the offshore wind industry pledged to reduce costs to €80 per megawatt-hour by the middle of the next decade. Eleven companies signed a declaration ahead of today’s meeting of the Energy Council outlining the “crucial role” that offshore can play and its competitiveness. [reNews]

¶ Wärtsilä announced that it is to enter the solar energy business and begin to offer utility-scale solar PV solutions. Wärtsilä’s new solutions include solar PV power plants of 10 MW and above, as well as hybrid power plants combining PV plants and internal combustion engines. [Industrial PRIME]

Solar panels on trackers. iStock image.

US:

¶ Last month, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled the state needed to act on greenhouse gas limits. Lawmakers are considering a carbon tax, which would start at $10 per ton of CO2 and rise $5 per year. Collections would be used for rebates on utility bills. [The Daily News of Newburyport]

¶ SunPower is planning to start construction on a 10-MW solar PV power plant in Alabama this month. The plant is expected to generate up to 18,000 MWh per year for the Redstone Arsenal US Army post. SunPower is delivering the energy from the plant under a power purchase agreement. [Greentech Lead]

SunPower Solar Project South Africa.

¶ A federal appeals court ruled that the US NRC’s generic environmental impact statement on the continued storage of utility spent nuclear fuel meets federal National Environmental Policy Act requirements. It said the petitioners in the case could take their concerns to Congress. [Platts]

Science and Technology:

¶ While Alaska’s boreal forest region is expected to see bigger wildfires that send up large amounts of carbon, and while permafrost will certainly degrade to some extent, other parts of Alaska are simultaneously expected to green up. This could make Alaska into a net carbon sink. [NDTV]

Alaska has 18% of the area of the US and 53% of the carbon.

World:

¶ Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, a former UK Minister and United Nations ambassador, urged companies of all sizes to take account of green issues. Speaking ahead of the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, he said businesses that fail to do so will face going out of business. [The Independent]

¶ A pioneering new green power device is set to be launched in the Firth of Forth this week. The tidal stream turbine is the brainchild of two Scottish engineers who believe it can offer an affordable and efficient way of harnessing the marine power to provide reliable energy. [Scotsman]

Capricorn Turbine prototype. Renewable Devices photo.

¶ India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced plans to set up 10 GW of renewable energy capacity through micro-grids of less than 10 kw, and mini-grids of larger size. The proposed plan will call for setting up small-scale solar, wind, hydro and biomass projects. [PlanetSave.com]

¶ Over the last two years, considerable impetus has been given to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the Indian Navy. The focus has not only been on correcting its impact on the environmental footprint, but also to address the fundamental problems of efficiency and resilience. [New Kerala]

Indian Navy aircraft carrier INS Viraat.
US Navy photo. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ About 293 hectares within the 625-hectare site of Ayala’s wind farm in the Philippines will once more grow lush. This is expected as AC Energy Holdings’ wind unit, North Luzon Renewables, enters the third year of its reforestation program in Barangay Caparispisan this year. [The Standard]

¶ Ireland is one of the few countries in the EU with no commercial solar industry, but this looks set to change in the very near future. ESB Networks, which connects power generators to the national grid, received two solar applications in 2014. Last year there were 329. [thejournal.ie]

Ireland has no commercial solar farms yet. Source: Flickr.

¶ Environmentalists blasted the first reactor of Taiwan’s Number 1 nuclear power plant Sunday as a very dangerous facility, and said they will sue the premier for an offense against public safety after he revealed that he might allow the reactivation of the reactor. [Focus Taiwan News Channel]

US:

¶ Vast amounts of trash have been washing ashore on Hawaii’s once-pristine beaches. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been trying to keep critical parts of the ocean clear of marine debris, but more keeps coming, much of it plastic, most carelessly tossed away. [CNN]

Hawaii’s shorelines are littered with marine debris.

¶ Falling commodity prices and slowing developing world economies have been hitting equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, resulting in three years of dropping sales, to $47.01 billion last year. For Caterpillar, microgrids now represent a needed avenue for growth. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

¶ The TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear Unit 2 generated electricity onto its power grid for the first time. Watts Bar Unit 2 is officially synced to the grid on June 3, and operators have begun an initial test run of generation equipment. Continuous full-power operation will come summer. [WATE 6 On Your Side]

World:

¶ The first large-scale ground based solar electricity generation park on the island of Ireland has opened in County Antrim. The 30-acre solar farm at Crookedstone Road, which cost £5 million ($7.21 million) to build, produces up to 5 MW from 20,000 photo-voltaic panels. [RTE.ie]

The 30-acre solar farm cost £5 million to build.

¶ Chile’s solar industry has expanded so quickly that it’s giving electricity away for free. Spot prices reached zero in parts of the country on 113 days up until April this year, a number that is already on track to beat last year’s total of 192 days, according to Chile’s central grid operator. [The Independent]

¶ Principle Power’s 2-MW WindFloat prototype floating turbine, installed 5 km off Portugal, completed five years of testing. The company said the prototype has met or exceeded all design expectations. Despite high waves and winds, WindFloat delivered 17 GWh of electricity. [reNews]

Windfloat turbine. Principle Power image.

¶ A raft of new companies have pledged to source 100% renewable energy as part of a RE100 initiative that will be galvanised by a government-led push to promote the renewables revolution to 1,000 businesses. The new campaign is led by Denmark and Germany. [edie.net]

¶ Northland Power and Giiwedin Noodin FN Energy Corp have brought online the 100-MW Grand Bend wind farm near Lake Huron in Ontario. It was created to hold the equity interest of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Bkejwanong Territory (Walpole Island First Nation) in the project. [reNews]

Northland Power wind farm in Quebec (Northland Power image)

¶ According to analysis published this week by Australia’s Clean Energy Council, momentum is building for the country’s renewable energy sector. To meet the 2020 target, approximately 6000 MW of new capacity must be installed; 10,600 MW of projects have been approved, and more is coming. [CleanTechnica]

US:

¶ The US plans to auction a 33,000-hectare offshore wind lease area off New York State with a sale possible by the end of the year. The proposed lease area starts about 11 miles south of Long Island and is based on a 700-MW proposal by the New York Power Authority in 2011. [reNews]

Offshore wind. Credit Sif.

¶ The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority announced today it will participate in the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s auction for a commercial offshore wind energy lease off the coast of Long Island. [Long Island Exchange]

¶ Appalachian Power announced an agreement to buy of 120 MW of new wind generation. The 20-year purchased power agreement will bring its total wind generation to 495 MW. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will provide the power from a planned Indiana wind farm. [WCYB]

Wind turbines in Indiana. Photo by Mattchobbs, released to the public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Maryland’s Republican Governor, Larry Hogan, stunned the state’s solar industry with his recent unexpected veto of a bill that would increase the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 25% by 2020. The veto may bring about the loss of numerous solar jobs in Maryland. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Exelon Corp announced that it will shut two Illinois nuclear power plants after the Legislature failed to approve a financial-support plan. An email obtained by The Associated Press, however, indicates the company is enlisting employees in an ongoing, full-steam lobbying effort. [SaukValley.com]

Science and Technology:

¶ One potential power source covers 71% of the Earth. Startup Columbia Power is the latest company to dream of harnessing the ocean for electricity. It’s building a wave generator called StingRAY that will float on the ocean’s surface, turning each passing wave to usable power. [CNN]

Columbia wave power.

World:

¶ The latest news from VW is that the company is now considering investing $11 billion into the development of a dedicated battery factory in Salzgitter – which would presumably support the production of the company’s previously hinted at future electric vehicle offerings. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Rongke Power, an affiliate of UniEnergy Technologies, will deploy the world’s largest battery, rated at 800 MWh. The vanadium flow battery will provide peak-shaving and enhance grid stabilization in northern China. More large batteries will no doubt be installed to support renewables. [PennEnergy]

UniEnergy Technologies vanadium flow battery.

¶ Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board reported that 35 solar PV power projects are currently at various stages of development. These projects will have a total installed capacity of 1,111 MW. The Quaid-e-Azam solar power park is expected to grow 300 MW this year. [CleanTechnica]

¶ In South Africa, renewable energy production has stabilized electricity supply in the Eastern Cape and will, for the first time, keep the lights on throughout winter. The province was one of the worst-hit by power outages nationally because of load shedding schedules. [News24]

Wind turbine, Coega Industrial Development Zone, Eastern Cape.
Photo by NJR ZA. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Queensland’s Government has announced it will provide long-term financial support for up to 120 MW of installed large-scale solar generation. Last year, the Government upped its election commitment from 40 MW to 60 MW and yesterday it announced it would double that. [Energy Matters]

¶ Developing nations invested $156 billion in renewables in 2015, a 19% increase on the year before, and more than all richer nations combined. China was top, investing more in the sector than any other country, and building more wind, hydropower, and solar than anywhere else. [Quartz]

Wind turbines in Changling, China. Photo by 大漠1208.
CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Ontario Power Generation has applied for a 69% increase in what it is paid for nuclear power over the next five years. OPG says it needs the increase to help pay for the $12.8-billion refit of the Darlington nuclear station to extend the life of the reactors 30 years. [BlackburnNews.com]

US:

¶ Georgia Power, the US Army, the Army Office of Energy Initiatives, the General Services Administration and the Georgia Public Service Commission have marked the start of operations of a new 30-MW solar project at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia. [Proud Green Building]

The Fort Benning solar site uses nearly 134,000 PV panels.
Photo courtesy of Georgia Power

¶ The New York State Assembly approved the nation’s most ambitious climate change bill. Under the bill, New York would have to generate 27% from renewable sources next year. While that might sound high, New York got about 28% of its electricity from renewables in February. [InsideClimate News]

¶ The easing of California’s drought has boosted the state’s early spring hydropower generation to its highest level since 2011, helping it to recover from a 15-year low reached last year. But hydroelectricity production is not expected to improve much overall this year. [Bonner County Daily Bee]

San Gabriel Dam in Los Angeles County, 2013.
Photo by Shannon1. CC BY SA. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Minnesota Power will triple the size of rebates available to its customers who install solar panels at home by adding an extra $1 million annually to the program for the next three years. A typical residential customer installing a 5-kW solar system could receive roughly $6,000. [Duluth News Tribune]

¶ After failing to sell its power at auction, the possibility looms that the Three Mile Island nuclear plant could close. If its owner is unable to operate the plant profitably, it may face closure in 2018. There are other ways to sell power, but the auction is a guaranteed source of revenue. [LancasterOnline]

Three mile island nuclear plant. LNP file photo.

¶ The unprecedented degradation of critical baffle bolts in the Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor has triggered an extensive investigation by federal officials seeking to learn why the problem was so severe and why systems designed to detect loose metal objects failed. [Huffington Post]

Science and Technology:

¶ If you thought the upper limit of solar cell efficiency was 32%, think again. MIT News reported on a research team that showed how a silicon solar cell could top the theoretical limit of 32%. See you later, Shockley-Queisser Limit, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. [CleanTechnica]

Photo via MIT News, courtesy of the researchers.

World:

¶ Solar, wind and hydropower sources were added in 2015 at the fastest rate the world has yet seen, according to the Renewables Global Status Report. Investments in renewables during the year were more than double the amount spent on new coal and gas-fired power plants. [BBC]

¶ Australia installed almost 1 GW of new solar capacity last year but that was easily eclipsed by rather cloudy nations such as the United Kingdom, which installed about four times as much, according to the REN21 Global Status report on renewable energy. [The Sydney Morning Herald]

Solar PV capacity in Australia lags that of less
sunny nations such as the UK and South Korea.

¶ The German Chancellor hammered out a deal with state premiers on the latest reform to Germany’s renewable energy law, with a view to lower costs and controlling renewable additions. They agreed to cap the expansion of onshore wind power at 2.8 GW in capacity per year. [The Guardian]

¶ Some Fort McMurray residents are to return home for the first time since a huge wildfire displaced 90,000 people. Alberta’s Premier Rachel Notley said the conditions needed for the return of the residents had been met. Three neighbourhoods, however, are to remain off-limits. [BBC]

Residents from the neighbourhood of Abasand
are not able to return yet. Reuters photo.

¶ A poll indicates 71% of Australian voters would consider voting for a party that supported distributed small-scale solar and storage. The Australia Institute’s report into battery storage also states 1 in 4 Australians want to generate their own power and store it, to go off-grid. [Energy Matters]

¶ In coming years, Canada can expect a switch from oil and gas to renewables, according to a draft policy report from Policy Horizons Canada, a government group. Even more importantly, the report notes, Canada should expect some of its oil to likely “remain in the ground.” [Grist]

Canadian tar sands. Flickr / howlcollective.

¶ In Canada, some Nunavut communities could cut their fossil fuel use by up to half with renewable energy that wouldn’t cost any more than the aging diesel generators they now use, a new study has concluded. Most of the territory’s generators are over 35 years old. [TheChronicleHerald.ca]

¶ According to a GlobalData report, China installed 30.5 GW of wind power in 2015 – which accounts for nearly half of all new global wind energy installations. The US installed 8.6 GW, while third place Germany installed 6.1 GW. Brazil and India each installed 2.6 GW. [Inhabitat]

Windpower in China. Image from Wikipedia.

¶ Japan is missing its own deadline to find a new operator for the Monju fast-breeder reactor, a prototype nuclear power program that’s failed to succeed in the two decades since it was built, threatening the resource-poor country’s support of a technology other nations have abandoned. [Bloomberg]

US:

¶ What state officials say will be Nebraska’s largest solar energy project is expected to begin tracking the sun and delivering some of its power by June 20. The 46-acre Enerparc project will be able to output about 3.6 megawatts, enough to power around 900 Lincoln homes. [Sioux City Journal]

Lincoln Electric System’s community solar project.
Eric Gregory, The Journal Star via AP

¶ In Michigan, Indiana Michigan Power is breaking ground Wednesday on its Berrien County solar power installation. The project will include about 50,000 solar panels on 35 acres near Watervliet and will generate enough electricity for annual needs of 700 homes. [South Bend Tribune]

¶ In New Jersey, the Atlantic County Utilities Authority is considering using its landfill to create fuel. According to the report from the Press of Atlantic City, the landfill will hit its capacity in around 2026. Another option is to pay to truck the trash to other states. [Renewable Energy from Waste]

¶ Clean energy activists in New York say the state should not subsidize the nuclear energy industry. The activists spoke at a Public Service Commission hearing last week on the governor’s proposed energy plan, which would half the state’s energy from renewable sources by 2030. [WSHU]

Science and Technology:

¶ The currents of the Bay of Fundy would easily generate enough power for all of Atlantic Canada’s needs, but have been too monstrously strong to be tamed. Now, Cape Sharp Tidal is betting on two turbines it will start installing in June. Each 2-MW turbine weighs 1,000 tonnes. [Globalnews.ca]

A turbine being built for the Cape Sharp Tidal project. Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian Press.

¶ UK-based company Renovare Fuels Limited has co-invented technology which can convert landfill gas into high-quality clean energy in the form of liquid diesel and gasoline fuel suitable for all motor vehicles. This would allow landfill operators to sell the fuel for vehicles. [Renewable Energy Focus]

World:

¶ Battery storage technology has the potential to reshape not just the energy sector but also Australian elections. An Australia Institute report includes polling indicating that 71% of Australians would be more likely to vote for a party that supported distributed small-scale solar and storage. [The Guardian]

¶ Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd will set up a 20-MW solar project in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed to install about 50-MW of solar PVs on Attam Pahar, South Andaman and at Kishorie Nagar, North Andaman. [Business Standard]

Solar trackers, ready to turn to a daytime position at sunrise.

¶ An ambitious plan to ramp up Tasmanian renewable energy production is the centerpiece of the State Opposition’s budget reply delivered in State Parliament. In the wake of the energy crisis, Labor promised 500 MW more new wind and solar generating capacity over 10 years. [ABC Online]

¶ Falck has kicked off commercial operations at its 22.5-MW Kingsburn wind farm near Stirling in Scotland. The Italian developer said all nine Nordex N90/2500 turbines are now producing power, ahead of the original schedule. Kingsburn is an extension of the Earlsburn wind farm. [reNews]

¶ The electric bus market has been singled out as a potential game changer for battery development, due to growing e-bus demand and the need for sizeable batteries to power them. A report highlights the prospects of this industry and the significant role being played by China. [Power Technology]

Electric buses in China.

¶ The EU parliament makes a series of recommendations in a report on how to move towards an energy market that benefits citizens, empowers them to take ownership of the energy transition, produce their own renewable energy and become energy-efficient. [Sun & Wind Energy]

¶ UK authorities are underestimating the risks of devastating terrorist attacks on nuclear plants and shipments of radioactive material, according to an expert report. Nuclear facilities are vulnerable to mass drone strikes, sophisticated cyber attacks, and terrorist infiltrators. [The Ferret]

US:

¶ Minnesota Power is planning community solar gardens, but critics say it is bending state guidelines to benefit its own bottom line and not necessarily to benefit community groups as the state legislature intended when it passed a community solar law in 2013. [Duluth News Tribune]

Minnesota Power plans to build two new “community solar garden” projects in Duluth. Minnesota Power photo.

¶ Wind energy is growing faster than any other type of energy generation in the USA. The American Wind Energy Association is clearly proud of the results achieved over the last five years: The installed capacity more than doubled over five years, to almost 74 GW at the end of 2015. [Sun & Wind Energy]

Opinion:

¶ “State Senate energy bills threaten many, starting with solar workers” • If you like clean energy, you won’t like the two energy bills the Michigan Senate Energy & Technology Committee sent to the floor last Wednesday, especially if you want your own solar energy. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

Power plant at Michigan State University. Photo by Michael P
Kube-McDowell. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

World:

¶ Saudi Arabia’s planned privatizations represent the biggest investment banking opportunity in emerging markets, according to Citigroup. The shakeup of the biggest Arab economy has been unprecedented, as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on oil after prices went low in 2014. [Bloomberg]

¶ The Dlouhe Strane pumped storage plant in the Czech Republic was built to balance electricity demands between day and night, but as renewable sources of energy have taken an increasing share of electricity generation, it now contributes to the stabilization of the power grid. [The Columbian]

Pumped storage plant at Dlouhe Strane. AP Photo / Adam Pemble

¶ Canada’s status as an “energy superpower” is under threat because the global dominance of fossil fuels could wane faster than previously believed, according to a draft report from a Canadian federal government think-tank. It sees fossil fuels becoming relegated to “minority status.” [CBC.ca]

¶ After several years of research, Power CSL has launched a high voltage cable jointing system that it says will reduce the cost of repairing subsea wires in the offshore wind sector. The UK company said the product takes between 48 and 60 hours to install on cables up to 170-kV. [reNews]

Power CSL photo.

¶ The Oxford Business Group, a publishing, research and consultancy firm, released an economic update on the state of South Africa’s renewable energy sector, saying that the country is already the continent’s largest producer of renewable energy. Even so, the sector is still growing. [ESI Africa]

¶ After a start to the year it would no doubt rather forget, Hydro Tasmania has revealed that technologies the utility developed for the King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project will be used to help transform the remote, off-grid South Australian township of Coober Pedy. [RenewEconomy]

Coober Pedy is renowned for its below-ground residences. Photo
by Nachoman-au. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Beset by crippling power shortages for decades, North Koreans are turning to solar power in a major way. Though North Korea has not published any figures, the panels can be seen on the balconies of nearly every apartment building in the country’s capital, Pyongyang. [South China Morning Post]

US:

¶ New Hampshire’s utility siting regulators have extended their deadline for action on the Northern Pass transmission project to September 30, 2017, delaying plans for the $1.6 billion, 192-mile power line by months. Eversource Energy had hoped to get its permits this year. [MassLive.com]

Eversource has proposed to bury 60 miles of the infrastructure
in the White Mountain National Forest. Photo placed in the public domain by its author, Ken Gallager. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Solar power took off in Montana in 2015, when dropping prices for solar equipment finally made it profitable to build small installations and sell the power to utilities. Now, solar has shown it can grow, and NorthWestern Energy is petitioning to lower the price it pays for solar power. [The Missoulian] See also [The Missoulian].

¶ Many of the strongest statements about the US nuclear industry are no longer found in the hyperbole of anti-nuclear groups but in dire predictions from industry figures such as the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Marvin Fertel, who spoke of a “sense of urgency” over its economics. [Toledo Blade]

A Tribute to Pioneers:

Carol Levin and her husband, the late Richard Gottlieb. Courtesy photo.

¶ Carol Levin and her late husband Richard Gottlieb, who co-founded Sunnyside Solar in the 1980s, are among the 25 renewable-energy innovators honored in an exhibit at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. They have been an inspiration to a generation of solar enthusiasts. [Commons]
(Richard Gottlieb installed PVs on the first space satellites powered by the sun.)

Science and Technology:

¶ A glitzy new process, under development at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, uses gold nanoparticles to convert CO2 into usable chemicals efficiently. The breakthrough is “carbon negative” and might lead to an effective industrial-scale way to reduce CO2 emissions. [Energy.gov]

¶ Aiming to help make electricity more available in rural parts of India, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a wind turbine that could be mounted on existing cellular phone towers. It is an elegant vertical axis wind turbine with helical blades. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

UW-Madison students work on a wind turbine.
Credit: James Runde / Wisconsin Energy Institute

World:

¶ Saudi Arabia can meet its growing power needs solely through solar projects with energy storage, according to a deputy minister of the Ministry of Economy and Planning. He said at the MENASol 2016 conference, “We should actually put a hiatus on power plants using fossil fuels.” [Utilities-ME.com]

¶ The three 51-meter wind turbines and two sets of solar panels of a project on the Galapagos have supplied 30% of the electricity consumed on San Cristóbal, the second-largest island in size and population, since October 2007. Now, based on its success, the project may be expanded. [EurekAlert]

Frigate bird of the Galapagos. US Fish and Wildlife Photo.
Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ A statement from the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership on expansion of windpower on the Galapagos said the existing three turbines had only minimal negative effects on wildlife, while there has been increased reproductive and hatching success for the petrel population. [Examiner.com]

¶ Kuwait Oil Company said it was in discussions with solar companies to use the sun’s energy to extract oil, as the country looks for alternative methods to maximize production at a low cost. Tight oil can be loosened by injecting steam, and solar is seen as a cheap source of heat. [The National]

¶ Venice, Stonehenge, and the Statue of Liberty are among more than two dozen World Heritage sites threatened by climate change, according to a UNESCO report. Emissions from burning fossil fuels are causing the greatest environmental threat facing the sites. [Mashable]

Statues on a beach on Easter Island are threatened by rising seas. Photo by Aupaelfary. CC BY-SA 3.0 unported. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Wärtsilä will supply two smart power generation plants to Bangladesh, each producing 30 MW from three Wärtsilä 34SG engines running on natural gas. The equipment will be delivered in late 2016, and the plants are scheduled to be fully operational in early 2017. [Renewable Energy Focus]

¶ According to HIS Technology, a US-based economic and energy market research company, Africa’s total solar power capacity, estimated at 312 MW in 2013, grew to 1,315 MW in 2015, and is projected to reach 3,380 MW by 2017, a tenfold increase over a period of four years. [Sierra Express Media]

The world’s largest solar power plant in Morocco.
Photo credit: World Bank/ Dana Smillie.

¶ Japan will cut reliance on nuclear power in an updated energy plan as early as next year, reflecting public opposition and a recognition that current policy is unrealistic. The move is expected to boost the country’s use of renewable energy, but may also cement its dependence on coal. [Japan Today]

¶ Renewable energy will account for 40% of electricity output capacity by 2030, almost double today’s market share, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The agency’s director general said in an interview that the expansion will be due to lower technology costs. [Bloomberg]

US:

¶ The US solar market is expected by year’s end to have grown 119% over 2015 numbers, with the number of panels installed providing a whopping 16 GW of power, more than doubling last year’s previous record-breaking 7.3 GW, according to Boston-based GTM Research. [Toledo Blade]

Solar panels in New Hampshire at Exeter High School.
Photo by SayCheeeeeese. CC0. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Dominion Virginia Power is assessing options for its proposed offshore wind demonstration project after the DOE said it is withdrawing $40 million in funding. The DOE’s decision came after Dominion could not guarantee the project would be in service before 2020. [Augusta Free Press]

¶ AARP South Carolina is raising concerns about the cost overruns that have resulted during the current SCE&G capital improvement projects. The VC Summer nuclear project has cost $1.5 billion more than originally estimated, and this will be charged to consumers. [Charleston Post Courier]

Opinion:

¶ “All-in for Offshore Wind in Massachusetts” • These two words should guide Beacon Hill on offshore wind: Go big. On the surface, the new House energy bill is a miracle for offshore wind. But the case for renewables in Massachusetts is more urgent than ever. [The Equation]

Offshore windpower in the Netherlands.

Science and Technology:

¶ A recent decade-long study following the lives of over 6,000 US residents has shed some new light on the connection between air pollution and heart disease. It showed that people living in areas with more outdoor air pollution accumulate deposits in the arteries that supply the heart. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶ The innovative Eco Wave Power wave energy station has been installed on the ammunition jetty in Gibraltar. It is a big moment for both Gibraltar and a company with big plans for a promising green energy tech, as it is Europe’s first grid-connected wave energy plant. [Gizmag]

The buoys are fixed to Gibraltar’s World War II ammunition platform. Credit: Chris Wood / Gizmag.

¶ New research highlights growing over-capacity for coal in Asian energy markets with rising competition from lower-cost renewable power. Together with massive write-downs for coal in Europe and US plans close more coal-fired plants, the findings warn: Coal power expansion is dicey. [ValueWalk]

¶ Senegal got a $40 million loan to build the largest solar plant in West Africa. Proparco, a French development agency, provided the loan, which is to be repaid over 18 years. A quarter of a million residents will benefit from the 30-MW plant. It is expected to be on line by early 2017. [Energy Digital]

A quarter of a million residents will benefit from the 30-MW plant.

¶ The main European electricity companies will invest nearly €85 billion over the next four years to speed up their strategic transformation to enable them to deal with the foreseeable drop in coal and gas prices. They plan to focus more on renewable energy and networks. [The Corner Economic]

US:

¶ According to SUN DAY Campaign analysis of data on the first quarter of 2016, electric generation by wind rose 32.8% from first quarter 2015 and set a new record of 6.23% of total generation. Similarly, electrical generation from utility-scale solar thermal and PVs grew by 31.4%. [North American Windpower]

Sun and wind.

¶ Dartmouth College has released a historic report recommending fossil fuel divestment. It provides a full assessment of the pros and cons of fossil fuel divestment, but goes further still by providing a more comprehensive decision analytic approach to divestment. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Solar panels are sprouting amongst the corn fields and on the rooftops of Minnesota, and more can be expected soon. At the end of 2015, the state calculated that its solar electric capacity had reached 35 MW. By the end of this year, it projects the total will be 400 MW. [West Central Tribune]

Kandiyohi Power Cooperative solar garden in Minnesota.
Photo by Rand Middleton / Tribune.

¶ Many local environmentalists spoke against New York’s inclusion of nuclear power in the Department of Public Service’s new Clean Energy Standard policy. The comments came at a public hearing held at Kingston City Hall. Long-term policy goals on the issue will be set in June. [Mid-Hudson News]

¶ Constellation Energy joined the Baltimore Ravens to flip the switch on a new 400-kW solar generation project at the team’s headquarters and training facility in Owings Mills, Maryland. The project expands Constellation’s already extensive relationship with the team. [PennEnergy]

Baltimore Ravens solar system.

¶ The DOE is awarding $40 million to the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp to build a six-turbine pilot wind farm in Lake Erie by the end of 2018. The money will be delivered in three $13.3 million grants that depend on meeting engineering, permitting, and construction goals. [cleveland.com]

Science and Technology:

¶ Cutting edge progress in flow battery technology is taking place in such areas as nanotechnology, membrane improvements and membrane-less systems. A more mundane energy storage breakthrough, from a research team at MIT, focuses on a way to eliminate the pumps. [CleanTechnica]

MIT gravity flow battery. Image courtesy of the research team.

World:

¶ More than 10 diving sites in Thailand’s national marine parks have closed due to widespread coral bleaching, amid the country’s continued efforts to protect the environment. At its worst in over six years, coral bleach has spread widely between 40% to 80% of the Thai reefs. [CNN]

¶ All references to the impact of climate change on Australian World Heritage sites have been removed from a UN report. The country’s Department of the Environment requested they be removed because of an expected impact on tourism. They included a chapter on the Great Barrier Reef. [BBC]

Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory was
also mentioned in the draft report. Getty Images.

¶ India energy group Adani has identified 650 MW of large-scale Australian solar projects it wants to develop as it seeks to become one of the biggest renewable energy developers in the country. Even so, it insists it still wants to push ahead with the controversial Carmichael mega coal mine. [RenewEconomy]

¶ A Danish joint venture opened the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, a 40-MW straw-fired biomass project in North Lincolnshire. The plant was delivered ahead of time and within budget. It has sufficient capacity to power about 70,000 households, and is fuel comes from local farmers. [SeeNews Renewables]

Straw storage. Source: PensionDanmark A/S. All Rights Reserved.

¶ According to the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, poor Asian and African households saved $3.4 billion because of solar lighting. This means off-grid lighting products impact approximately 71.6 million people, who previously depended on lamps fueled by kerosene or batteries. [PanetSave]

¶ Ikea plans to be a net exporter of renewable energy within four years. It already produces 53% of its energy from renewable sources. It is 100% renewable in some countries. It operates 314 wind turbines and has installed 700,000 solar panels on its stores and distribution centers. [The Guardian]

Ikea operates 314 wind turbines and produces 53% of its
energy from renewable sources. Photograph: Keith Arkins/PR

¶ Opposition from French unions has cast fresh doubt over the future of the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Key French workers’ unions continue to oppose the £18-billion project despite repeated attempts by EDF, which would build the reactors, to win their backing. [The Guardian]

US:

¶ A 40-acre cargo terminal at the Port of Los Angeles will begin moving to renewable energy sources this summer. It will be the first in the world to generate all of its own energy needs from renewables, and it will be able operate completely off the grid if necessary. [Long Beach Press Telegram]

Cargo ships wait off the coast of the Port of Los Angeles
and Long Beach. Chuck Bennett / Staff Photographer

¶ Donald Trump pledged to make the US energy independent by reducing dependence on foreign oil and rolling back environmental regulations restricting oil and natural gas exploration. He vowed to cancel the Paris climate agreement and cut off all US funding for UN climate change initiatives. [CNN]

¶ Wyoming is the only state with a generation tax. A proposal to raise the tax for wind-generation could disrupt plans to build the massive 3-GW Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project. The proposal would put the wind tax at $3.91/MWh, while coal and gas plants pay $1.77 to $3.49/MWh. [reNews]

In Wyoming, the wind would be taxed more than coal. Credit: sxc.

¶ Exxon Mobil stockholders passed a proposal to nominate outside candidates to the board with 62% support. The move could affect the company’s decisions on climate change. The New York City Comptroller, fiduciary for five pension funds, filed the proxy access resolution. [Scientific American]

¶ Offshore Wind: Massachusetts, a broad coalition dedicated to the establishment of an offshore wind industry, says the recent House energy bill “marks the beginning of a new era for offshore wind.” Members range from manufacturers to environmental organizations. [Offshore Wind Journal]

Offshore Wind: Massachusetts hopes the state will become preeminent as a developed of offshore wind energy

¶ Solar Power now has more employees than either the Oil & Gas or Coal Extraction industries in the United States. The solar industry employed approximately 208,000 individuals at the end of 2015 versus more than 185,000 in oil and gas, or 190,000 in coal extraction. [Electrek]

¶ A dozen New York lawmakers have introduced a bill aimed at codifying Governor Cuomo’s climate change goals. Under the bill, the state would have to cut GHG emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 80% by 2045, on the way to a complete phase-out by 2050. [Utility Dive]

World:

¶ Queensland is likely to get its first large scale wind farm. Ergon Energy offered a 12.5 year power purchase agreement for the 170-MW Mt Emerald wind farm. The wind farm, to be located about 50 km south of Cairns, is one of seven renewable projects Ergon Energy is considering. [RenewEconomy]

Australian wind energy.

¶ The price of oil has gone above $50 a barrel for the first time in 2016 as supply disruptions and increased global demand continue to fuel a recovery. The rise followed US data on Thursday showing that oil inventories had fallen, largely due to supply disruptions following fires in Canada. [BBC]

¶ Respondents among energy executives surveyed for KPMG’s 2016 Energy Business Outlook were much more bearish than last year on energy commodity prices. More than four out of ten expect distributed systems to cause big changes in utility business models. [Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide]

Offshore oil rig.

¶ Japan is pushing forward with plans for 47 new coal power plants, setting itself at odds with its economic brethren in the G7. A report from Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment found that Japan’s future expanded-coal fleet could end up stranding $56 billion. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Workers at French nuclear power stations are due to down tools amid growing industrial action over controversial labor reforms. The CGT union said staff at 16 of France’s 19 nuclear plants had voted for a one-day strike. Petrol is already in short supply after days of strikes. [BBC]

¶ Sweden has been gradually increasing its dependency on renewable energy since 2013. Now it has set a goal of going fossil fuel-free by the year 2020. The country is allocating an extra $546 million in the budget 2016 for renewable energy and climate change action. [Indiatimes.com]

Swedish solar tracker. sciencenordic photo.

¶ Solar energy could overtake nuc­lear ambitions in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom looks to shake up its power sector. At a conference in Dubai, the deputy economic minister said solar is significantly cheaper and also lacked the security risks that come with nuc­lear power. [The National]

¶ More than 8.1 million people worldwide are now employed by the renewable energy industry, a 5% increase from last year, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The report said that, while renewables jobs grew, thermal energy sector jobs fell. [reNews]

The wind industry employed 1.1 million workers globally. (sxc)

¶ Taiwan is definitely going to abandon nuclear power in 2025, when the three currently operational nuclear power plants will reach then end of their service lives. ‘The Economics Minister said, “There is no room for discussion. When 2025 comes, nuclear power will be abandoned.” [China Post]

US:

¶ Despite still being under construction, the first community solar garden in the Commonwealth of Virginia is already fully subscribed and a waiting list has formed for future phases. BARC Electric Cooperative’s 550-kW facility will serve 203 homes and nine small businesses. [Legacy Newspaper]

BARC Electric Cooperative project.

¶ Echoing the Energy Department’s SunShot initiative goal of achieving grid parity for solar power, a new program from the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is aiming at making desalination as inexpensive as water from natural sources. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Northern Power Systems, based in Barre, Vermont, said following a strategic review that it would focus on distributed energy including the design, manufacture and sale of distributed wind turbines and integrated microgrid and distributed energy storage solutions. [reNews]

Norther Power Systems Photo

¶ A watchdog group filed an emergency petition with federal regulators calling for one of the reactors at the Indian Point nuclear plant in New York to remain closed and to shut the other reactor because of concerns about degraded bolts that are key to the facility’s safe operation. [NorthJersey.com]

¶ The United States is 70% on the way to achieving the country’s SunShot Initiative 2020 goals, according to analysts and researchers at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Eight reports provide a perspective on how far we have come and what more can be done. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Exelon Corp said two of its nuclear power plants failed to secure contracts after a recent round of bidding. The company reiterated its stance that it would shutter its Quad Cities nuclear power plant unless it gets what it wants from the Illinois legislative session, which ends May 31. [Nasdaq]

Science and Technology:

¶ Dosing farm animals with antibiotics increases greenhouse gas emissions from cow dung, new research suggests. Scientists say the drugs boost methane production in cowpats, apparently by favoring antibiotic-resistant, methane-producing organisms found in the gut. [BBC]

Methane from cattle burps is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Science Photo Library.

¶ A PricewaterhouseCoopers report, Electricity beyond the grid: accelerating access to sustainable power for all, says rural electrification is best done by renewable off-grid technologies. It said current trends will leave two-thirds of the world’s population without electricity in 2030. [CPI Financial]

¶ The gulf between laboratory tests and real world air pollution from cars is hampering efforts to cut the toxic air that kills millions of people a year worldwide, an expert at the UN warned. The World Health Organisation said harmful airborne particulates had risen by 8% in cities. [The Guardian]

World:

¶ Home Energy Africa, which specializes in the development and sales of renewable energy products, got a $705,000 grant from the US Trade and Development Agency for a solar PV project in Ghana. The project is projected to generate 100 MW, powering about 80,000 homes. [Planetsave]

Ghanaian landscape. Image via Shutterstock.

¶ Growth of the Chinese electrochemical energy storage market over the past 5 years has eclipsed the global average, a report says, with a CAGR (2010–2015) of 110%. That’s about 6 times the global figure. The lithium-ion battery market accounted for about 66% of that market. [CleanTechnica]

¶ According to new figures published by MAKE Consulting, the Asia Pacific excluding-China region is expected to install more than 63 GW of new wind power capacity in the next decade, with India, Australia, and Japan constituting approximately 72% of all new installations for the region. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in South India. Photo by Thangaraj Kumaravel from Chennai, India. CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ Renewable energy could provide as much as four times the UK’s current energy consumption, according to a report from The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The 2008 Climate Change Act has set the target of slashing emissions by 80 percent by 2050, compared to a 1990 baseline. [CNBC]

¶ Total and SunPower announced a power purchase agreement for the supply of 300 GWh per year of solar energy to Metro of Santiago. With this agreement, Metro of Santiago will become the first public transportation system in the world to run mostly on solar energy. [Sun & Wind Energy]

Santiago Metro train. Image placed in the public domain by its author, Fevarasv. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ After provoking fuel shortages, French trade unions now want to turn their attention to the country’s electricity supplies as they up the ante against the government and its labour reforms. The union is calling on workers at the country’s nuclear power stations to join the strikes. [The Local.fr]

¶ The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant revealed that 600 tonnes of fuel melted during the disaster, and that the exact location of the highly radioactive blobs remains a mystery. He also admitted the technology needed to remove the fuel, once it is found, has to be invented. [ABC Online]

Fukushima Daiichi five years after the meltdown. ABC: Yumi Asada

US:

¶ DTE Energy has installed the first of nearly 200,000 solar panels at its 45-MW Lapeer solar project in Michigan. The project will consist of two solar farms with capacity of 30 MW, on 150 acres, and 15 MW, on 100 acres. Both projects are expected to be complete by the end of the year. [reNews]

¶ By continuing to advance technology and lower costs, windpower will stay on pace to grow to supply 10% of U.S. electricity by 2020. The ongoing cost cuts have led zero-emission wind energy to become one of the biggest, fastest, cheapest ways to cut carbon pollution. [Windpower Engineering]

The wind could supply 10% of US electricity by 2020.

¶ US commercial PV inverter manufacturer Yaskawa – Solectria Solar has announced that Bombard Renewable Energy chose its US-made utility-scale inverters and monitoring systems for a 17.5-MW community solar project in the Mojave Desert town of Pahrump, Nevada. [PV-Tech]

¶ Duke Energy Corp is taking a second step into pig poop. The company announced a deal, similar to one in March, to collect methane from animal waste and convert it into fuel for two of its existing electricity plants. The plants will provide annual power needs for about 880 homes. [PennEnergy]

World:

¶ The private sector is leapfrogging inefficient state-owned utilities in Africa to deliver electricity to rural people, according to a report by consulting firm PwC. An estimated 80% of those without electricity live in rural areas, where transmission are excessively expensive. [BDlive]

Renewable energy programs aim to bring power
to remote locations. File picture: CIRCA

¶ A strike over new labor laws has spread to all of France’s eight oil refineries, the CGT union says, in an escalating dispute with the government. An estimated 20% of gas stations have either run dry or are low on supplies. Clashes broke out at the refinery at Fos-sur-Mer in Marseille. [BBC]

¶ The owner of London Taxi Company, the manufacturer of London’s iconic black cabs, has reportedly raised $400 million in new funding through a green bonds sale. These new funds will reportedly be used to electrify the company’s fleet offerings, such as the recently revealed hybrid TX5. [CleanTechnica]

London electric taxi.

¶ Ecotricity announced it has gained planning permission to build two new solar farms at existing wind farm sites in Devon and Leicestershire. This follows approval of 5 MW of solar capacity at a wind farm in Lincolnshire, which is expected to be the first ‘hybrid energy park’ in Britain. [Business Green]

¶ Offshore contractor Subsea 7 SA said it has been awarded a contract worth over $1 billion for the 588-MW Beatrice wind project off Scotland. The company has been selected by Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd to supply the turbine foundations and array cables for the project. [SeeNews Renewables]

Offshore wind turbines. Eugene Suslo / Shutterstock.com

US:

¶ MGM Resorts International said it plans to leave NV Energy in the fall and pay an $87 million exit fee to do so, while Wynn Resorts is planning a similar move. The casino giants filed paperwork with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, after months talks on costs. [PennEnergy]

¶ An energy bill released by key lawmakers in the Massachusetts House would require the state’s utilities to enter into long-term contracts to buy more offshore wind and hydro-power. The bill would require solicitation of contracts of 15 to 20 years for 1,200 MW of offshore wind power by 2027. [MassLive.com]

Associated Press photo.

¶ A solar array approximately 60 to 80 times more powerful than any currently in the state may be coming to hundreds of acres in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Ranger Solar of Yarmouth, Maine, is proposing to install a solar array of 60 to 80 MW on privately held property. [The Keene Sentinel]

¶ A trio of non-profits has come out with a report that makes a strong case for deploying energy storage plus on-site solar for low-income rental housing in California. The analysis says that under today’s market conditions, the combo would cut electricity bills practically nothing. [CleanTechnica]

Image (screenshot): via The Clean Energy Group.

¶ Online solar energy marketplace Geostellar has partnered with Etsy on a pilot program so members of the Etsy community can install solar PV systems at a discount, the companies say. Apparently they plan to use emissions reductions in aggregate to offset shipping emissions. [CleanTechnica]

¶ TVA’s Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor achieved initial criticality Monday, beginning its first sustained nuclear fission reaction. Meanwhile, the NRC is holding a public meeting today to discuss TVA’s response to a letter the NRC wrote over working conditions a the plant. [Knoxville News Sentinel]

Opinion:

¶ “Solar panels and battery systems power off-grid living as a lifestyle choice” • For some people, off-grid living is not a lifestyle choice, but a necessity due to his home’s isolated location. Others choose to live off-grid. In either case, no compromise on lifestyle is necessary. [Domain News]

Off-grid family home near Gunnedah, NSW. Photo: Supplied.

World:

¶ Solar system owners in regional Queensland will start receiving a more generous rate for their solar electricity exports from July. The Queensland Competition Authority announced the new feed-in tariff for regional customers in 2016-17 is 7.448¢/kWh, 17.3% higher than 2015-16. [Energy Matters]

¶ A community hydropower scheme on the Thames at Teddington lock and weirs won planning permission and defeated a judicial review from the Lensbury club, but the club is now seeking to appeal against the judicial review decision. The Lensbury club is owned by oil giant Shell. [The Guardian]

Computer simulation of the Teddington & Ham hydro project, which could produce electricity for 600 homes. Image courtesy of THH.

¶ Australia’s prime minister pledged to create a program offering grants to community groups for the installation solar and battery systems, if he is re-elected. The program would build on the Solar Towns program as part of the $30 million Coalition parks and environment policy. [Energy Matters]

¶ A consortium of developers have made a positive final investment decision for the 588-MW Beatrice offshore wind farm in Scotland. SSE, Copenhagen Investment Partners and SDIC Power of China have committed to the 84-turbine, £2.6-billion project. Turbines will be installed in 2018. [reNews]

A Siemens offshore turbine. Siemens image.

¶ Britain is turning to a new way to make sure it doesn’t run out of power. So-called aggregator firms get commitments from businesses to reduce power usage. For example, supermarkets can turn down refrigerators by a few degrees for a short period without any impact. [euronews]

¶ Israel came one step closer to a clean-energy future on Sunday, when the country inaugurated a 50-MW solar in the northern Negev, through a partnership with a subsidiary of France’s national electric company. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls attended the inauguration. [Jerusalem Post Israel News]

¶ Proton Power Systems has sealed a deal to work on the Orkney Islands “Surf and Turf” green energy project. The Newcastle-founded firm’s fuel cells are used in vehicles and buildings; now the group’ expertise has been called upon for the Scottish renewables scheme. [ChronicleLive]

The AK-1000 tidal energy turbine about to be loaded on a barge.

¶ A US-Japanese consortium has been established to build the £14-billion Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant in North Wales. Horizon Nuclear Power has appointed Menter Newydd, a Hitachi-Bechtel-JGC consortium, to help deliver the company’s lead nuclear build project on Anglesey. [WalesOnline]

¶ GE signed an agreement with Vietnam’s government to develop renewable energy, as US President Barack Obama and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quangaims watched. GE will provide 1,000 MW of wind-power capacity for Vietnam by 2025, enough to power 1.8 million households. [Nasdaq]

US:

¶ Energy prices are to remain low and fuel supplies high this summer, according to federal energy experts. More than 18 GW of generating capacity will be added to the grid this summer, mostly from new wind and solar projects, though the first nuclear plant in 20 years is expected. [Electric Co-op Today]

Wind turbines. Credit: D. O’Keefe, Michigan Sea Grant.
 CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

¶ California ranks among the lowest states in per-capita energy consumption and per-capita energy spending, according to a new report from Beacon Economics. Nevertheless, with its large population the state is the second-largest energy consumer in the US, behind only Texas. [CleanTechnica]

¶ A Vermont solar facility developer is working with a Pittsfield, Vermont, property owner on a 1.9-MW power generating array, the second currently proposed in the town. Aegis Renewable Energy, of Waitsfield, Vt., proposes the facility on a 27.5-acre parcel off Cloverdale Street. [Berkshire Eagle]

Science and Technology:

¶ Solar Impulse has landed in Ohio following the 12th stage of its circumnavigation of the globe. The zero-fuel aircraft arrived in Dayton at 21:56 local time having flown from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 1,100-km journey took about 16 hours to complete, a relatively short hop for the plane. [BBC]

Solar Impulse’s flight from Tulsa was fairly short, compared to some earlier stages. EPA.

World:

¶ Leaders of political parties in Sri Lankan parliament agreed to convert the Parliamentary complex from using grid power to solar power, the Government Information Department says. A Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy study found the conversion cost-effective. [Colombo Page]

¶ This fall, New Energy Corp Inc of Calgary will install a 25-kW EnviroGen hydrokinetic power system in the Winnipeg River for the Sagkeeng First Nation. The equipment does not require a dam and is anchored in the river. Sagkeeng also looks to install 50 kW of solar PVs. [Winnipeg Free Press]

The hydrokinetic turbine is ideal for isolated communities that rely on diesel generators. New Energy Corp Inc.

¶ With major changes planned for Alberta’s electrical system as the government takes action on climate change, the Alberta Federation of Labour is fighting for thousands of workers impacted. At least 12 of the 18 coal-fired power plants are set to be closed by 2030. [Stony Plain Reporter]

¶ Doubling the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 could save the global economy between $1.2 and $4.2 trillion each year, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency. By comparison, the entire US federal budget in 2015 was $3.8 trillion dollars. [Jefferson Public Radio]

Solar panels on Cape Cod, in Harwich, Massachusetts.

¶ The sun will be contributing to the electricity in a number of homes as the Barbados Light & Power’s solar panel plant comes on line by the end of next month. The 42-acre, 44 000-panel site is projected to save the electricity company $10 million in fuel costs annually. [Nation News]

¶ Neighbouring countries also want to have their say about the situation regarding the Belgian nuclear plants near the borders. There will be a demonstration in Maastricht on Sunday, to protest against the continued use of the “cracked” Doel and Tihange centers. [The Brussels Times]

Doel nuclear plant in Belgium. ©Belga.

US:

¶ Authorities say misaligned mirrors caused a small fire that shut down a generating tower at the world’s largest solar power plant. San Bernardino County fire Captain Mike McClintock says a malfunction focused sunbeams wrong, causing electrical cables to catch fire. [KTNV Las Vegas]

¶ Solar energy in the region of California’s Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties is about to cross a major threshold: 1 GW of solar power installed. This is enough electricity to power more than a quarter million homes in the area. Solar power has become mainstream. [Ventura County Star]

Parking lot of the Ventura County Government Center. Photo contributed by the Ventura Public Works Agency.

¶ Last week the EPA finalized rules to cut methane leaks. Missouri environmentalists say the new federal rules are a step in the right direction, but more needs to happen. The Sierra Club says the rules will save around $100 million worth of natural gas that would otherwise be wasted. [KMAland]

¶ The fate of a long-debated solar project proposed for a site on 30 acres in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, could be decided at a Planning Board meeting Monday. Some people say the site includes Native American burial grounds, The board has until June 5 to decide whether to grant the permit. [The Recorder]

World:

¶ HeliosAltas Corp, of Roseville, California, and DA Green Power Consulting, of the Philippines, announced their partnership to deploy Helios PowerWheel™ riverine energy technology in the Philippines. Helios said the agreement during the first four years is for a minimum of $16.2 million. [HydroWorld]

Helios Powerwheel™

¶ Norway’s foremost institute for interdisciplinary climate research has launched a new initiative pairing scientists with leading investors to better explain climate risk. The Climate Finance Initiative will provide “a meeting place for climate scientists and leading global investors.” [CleanTechnica]

¶ Japanese companies Venti, Mitsubishi and C-Tech have agreed to develop a 66-MW wind farm in the north of the country. Construction on the 22-turbine plant is scheduled to start in September and finish in early 2019. It will supply electricity to Tohoku Electric Power Co. [reNews]

Mitsubishi image.

¶ According to GlobalData, the uptake of smart metering systems in the EU, where at least 80% of existing electricity meters are to be replaced by smart meters, could reduce EU emissions by up to 9%, and cutting annual household energy consumption by a similar amount. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Prince Edward Island’s legislative energy committee issued a report to the legislative assembly recommending a new energy strategy with an overarching goal of transitioning the province to 100% use of wind, solar and water power for all purposes by 2050. [The Guardian Charlottetown]

Committee says 100% renewable energy

¶ Britain’s Rugeley coal power plant will close by the end of June because of worsening conditions for coal generation, its operator said. The 1-GW plant provides enough electricity to power a million homes, but with renewable energy and cheap gas it has become uncompetitive. [euronews]

¶ Poland’s parliament approved a bill that introduces extra requirements for building wind parks as the country aims to curb the booming industry. The bill is intended to help prop up its declining coal industry. The country now has 5.6 GW of installed wind capacity. [Bloomberg]

US:

¶ Conservatives for Clean Energy commissioned a poll of 800 North Carolina voters on attitudes towards energy sources. It found deep support among both Democrats and Republicans for solar and wind energy, but less enthusiasm for nuclear power and offshore drilling. [Charlotte Observer]

Apple’s solar farm near Newton, North Carolina.
Mark Hames, mhames @ charlotteobserver.com.

¶ The Florida Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, ruled that the Florida Public Service Commission did not have legal authority to approve a Florida Power & Light request to invest ratepayer’s money in a controversial Oklahoma natural-gas project. [Tampa Bay Business Journal]

¶ Exelon said it will shut down the Clinton nuclear plant next year unless it gets financial support from the Illinois legislative session, which is scheduled to end May 31. The chair of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee said it won’t get to the Senate floor for a vote anytime soon. [Herald & Review]

The Clinton nuclear plant in Illinois.

¶ New analysis of the Clean Power Plan shows average US electricity demand growth would decline from 0.61% to 0.31% annually, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corp. Combined wind and solar capacity would rise by an additional 10 to 20 GW over the next 15 years. [Utility Dive]

¶ Twenty New York state senators, led by Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman, are urging Governor Andrew M Cuomo, and Audrey Zibelman, chair of the state’s Public Service Commission, to include an offshore wind tier in the state’s clean energy standard. [North American Windpower]

World:

¶ While Australian network operators are usually keen to underline the importance of the grid, a survey by Western Power of regional consumers has shown that an overwhelming majority, four out of five, are either very keen or are open to the idea of cutting the line altogether. [RenewEconomy]

Most customers want to leave the grid.

¶ The latest inventory of national greenhouse gas emissions, released by the government, indicates that Australian emissions increased 1% over the 2015 calendar year, growing to 3% above 2000 levels, and forecast to be above of Australia’s target of -5% on 2000 levels by 2020. [CleanTechnica]

¶ According to a new report from GlobalData, China was responsible for nearly half of all new wind installations globally during 2015. Only a few weeks ago, GlobalData predicted China’s installed wind capacity would triple by 2030, reaching 495 GW, up from 149 GW in 2015. [CleanTechnica]

Windpower in Xinjiang China.

¶ South Australia Power Networks announced the biggest trial of rooftop solar and energy storage of its type in the country, in a bid to prove that the new “distributed generation” technologies can avoid the need to build additional network infrastructure, and so save customers money. [RenewEconomy]

¶ Ontario has enshrined its carbon-cutting targets in law, along with emissions trading and green investment plans. Canada’s most populous province, home to 14 million people, aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 37% from 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050. [Climate Home]

Toronto. (Flickr/Rick Harris)

¶ In Germany, windpower production is now expected to exceed that of nuclear. Research institute IWR expects total German wind power production to rise to 100 TWh this year from 88 TWh in 2015. With a plant closing, nuclear power production declined to around 87.1 TWh. [Argus Media]

¶ Australia’s Coalition government has commissioned a “technology neutral” roadmap for a “low emissions” future by the end of the year, but indicated it is still struggling with the idea of a high renewables-penetration grid. It has troubles with the idea of intermittent power. [RenewEconomy]

Australian solar and wind.

¶ Europe’s biggest oil companies, reeling from losing billions in the two-year oil market rout, are intensifying their push into renewable energy as they hunt for new sources of future revenue. Shell, Eni, Total and Statoil have announced green energy investments totaling $2.5 billion. [Daily Times]

US:

¶ The DOE is advancing another $3.7 million to the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp to continue engineering work on a proposed wind turbine project in Lake Erie about seven to 10 miles northwest of downtown Cleveland. DOE grants to LEEDCo now total $10.7 million. [cleveland.com]

LEEDCo wind turbine and barge.
Howard Tucker, Grossi Public Relations.

¶ New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that Fortune 500 retailers Best Buy and Nordstrom have agreed to the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s request that they increase the use of renewable energy in their operations and supply chain. [RealEstateRama]

¶ Hawaiian Electric signed an agreement with Fortis, operator of a liquified natural gas facility in British Columbia, to supply fuel, starting in 2021. The 20-year deal depends on approvals for Fortis to expand its facility and for Hawaiian Electric to merge with NextEra Energy Resources. [ithaca.com]

Tilbury LNG illustration (courtesy Fortis)

¶ Green energy advocates are aghast at the North Carolina legislature’s latest proposal to regulate wind farms and solar farms. It would impose financial and safety hurdles stricter, in some ways , than those for coal-burning power plants and nuclear power plants. [Asheboro Courier Tribune]

¶ Microsoft is kicking up its targets for environmentally sustainable cloud computing by pledging that half of the electricity to power its data centers will come from renewable sources by 2018. The announcement came at a summit of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance. [GeekWire]

Dedicated wind farms are an increasingly
important source of energy for data centers.

¶ Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission unanimously rejected the state’s Public Utility Commission’s controversial rules that would have capped surplus sales to utilities through a net metering system at 200% of a customer’s annual consumption. [Tribune-Review]

¶ In separate hearings, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved two bills that would create a new licensing framework at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the review of advanced reactors. [Bloomberg BNA]