Opinion:
¶ “‘Experts’ Have Been Misleading People About Renewable Energy” one of the striking patterns of behaviour in the energy industry over the last decade has been the ability of the “established” energy experts to underestimate growth of renewable energy and to overplay fossil fuels. [CleanTechnica]
Science and Technology:
¶ Morgan Stanley’s report on Solar Power and Energy Storage contains a fascinating comment about the potential ramifications of Tesla’s focus on developing large numbers of electric batteries, indicating that the batteries could be a grid defection tipping point in the US and Europe. [CleanTechnica]
World:
¶ A Western Australian government review has revealed the full catastrophe of the state’s electricity market, highlighting the extraordinary waste and misdirected subsidies that are costing it billions of dollars, much of this spent on fossil fuel plants that have never been used. [RenewEconomy]
¶ RWE, Germany’s second-biggest utility by market value, posted a 62% drop in profit on Thursday and announced plans to shut down more power stations. The utility blamed the expansion of renewable energy in Germany. [Financial Times]
¶ The UK solar power industry accused the government of undermining the development of renewable technologies, after it emerged that a total of £205 million a year will be available for major forms of renewable energy, including wind, solar farms, and biomass power plants. [The Northern Echo]
¶ A British Columbian First Nation Tribal Council signed a partnership agreement this week with the independent power firm Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. with respect to six separate run-of-river power projects, worth up to $720 million, on streams within their territory. [Vancouver Sun]
¶ New Zealand gentailer Contact Energy unveiled its most advanced geothermal power station at the “world-class” Wairākei geothermal resource. The 159 MW Te Mihi station boasts two 83 MW steam turbines. [Business Spectator]
US:
¶ If the controversial northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline is approved and built, the resulting amount of carbon emitted into earth’s atmosphere could be up to four times greater than the US State Department estimated, a new scientific paper shows. [Resilience]
¶ A grass-roots group based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire is working to “responsibly retire” the Schiller Station power plant in Newington and is increasing pressure on state legislators to force divestiture of the plant. The coal-burning plant is owned by Public Service of New Hampshire. [Seacoastonline.com]
¶ Ford Motor Company is teaming with DTE Energy to build Michigan’s largest solar array at Ford World Headquarters. The project will provide employees with 360 covered parking spaces and 30 charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles. [Stockhouse]
¶ Oklahoma Gas and Electric was ultimately unsuccessful when it took the US EPA to court over the regional haze, mercury, and air toxics rules. Now, the time to start complying with the regulations has come, which the utility says will mean higher electricity bills for customers. [KGOU]
¶ Hoosier Energy has entered into a 15-year power purchase agreement with EDP Renewables North America that will add 25 MW of wind energy from an Illinois wind farm beginning in December of 2014. [Inside Indiana Business]
¶ Former President Jimmy Carter is back, this time proposing a carbon tax to fight global warming and calling out skeptics. Carter said that such a tax was “the only reasonable approach” to fighting global warming. [Daily Caller]
¶ The US DOE issued the final Environmental Impact Statement for the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line, clearing it for final permitting. It is expected to bring New York up to 1,000 MW of renewable power, reducing dependency on the Indian Point nuclear plant. [POWER magazine]
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