geoharvey

Opinion:

¶   “How Smart Grid Technology Can Build a Better Utility Industry Future: Part 2” Each of IDC’s 10 total predictions bears some significant relevance to smart grids and smart grid technology. Here are the smart grid implications of IDC’s final five predictions: [Energy Collective] (Part 1 is in yesterday’s blog.)

Science and Technology:

¶   It may sound far-fetched to some people, but the US DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reports in the new study Active Power Controls from Wind Power: Bridging the Gaps, that wind turbines actually improve grid reliability. [CleanTechnica]

¶   While Americans deal with a wintery January and try to understand what a polar vortex is, one thing is clear: 2013 was the fourth hottest year since records began in 1880. For the 37th consecutive year, global temperatures were higher than average. [CleanTechnica]

World:

¶   China’s National Energy Administration has reportedly increased the 2014 target for new solar PV capacity installations to 14 GW – up from its previous target of 12 GW. The target represents a near 50% increase on the actual capacity installation. [CleanTechnica]

¶   India added just over 1 GW of solar energy to its electrical grid last year, a major milestone that nearly doubles the country’s cumulative solar energy capacity to 2.18 GW. India hopes to install 10 GW of solar by 2017 and 20 GW by 2022. [CleanTechnica]

¶   China’s solar panel industry is showing signs of booming again after a prolonged downturn. Chinese firms are racing to develop multi-billion dollar solar generating projects in the Gobi desert and barren hills of China’s vast north and northwest. [Oman Daily Observer]

¶   Hungary’s development minister said on Sunday the government should soon complete talks with Russia on a multi-billion dollar sovereign loan that would enable it to start work on two new nuclear reactors. [newsdaily.com]

US:

¶   Oil has begun flowing on the southern segment of North America’s most controversial pipeline project: the Keystone XL. TransCanada announced that it had begun operations to send crude from Cushing, Oklahoma to the refining center of the U.S. Gulf Coast. [Energy Collective]

¶   U.S. trains spilled 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013 — more than was spilled in the nearly 40 years since officials began tracking such accidents, federal data show. The majority of that volume came from two major derailments. [CleanTechies]

¶   As the issue of environmentalism pops up, fissures are forming among conservatives, with some, like Barry Goldwater, Jr, joining forces with environmental groups. In Georgia, a Tea Party activist and the Sierra Club formed a “Green Tea Coalition.” [New York Times]

¶   Utility-sized concentrating solar plants are beginning to appear across the United States, with 232 under construction, in testing or granted permits. Many of them in the Southwest and California, according to the Edison Electric Institute. [Yakima Herald-Republic]

Opinion:

¶   “Why EIA, IEA, and Randers’ 2052 Energy Forecasts are Wrong” With different approaches, researchers can obtain vastly different indications. I will show that the real issue is most researchers are modeling the wrong limit. [Resilience]

Science and Technology:

¶   A US renewable energy start-up says it has developed effective scaled-up production methods for spray-on solar PV technology. New Energy Technologies developed the technology in collaboration with NREL and the University of South Florida. [Sourceable]

World:

¶   UN climate chief Christiana Figueres called on big firms that manage trillions of dollars of investments to dump fossil fuel stocks in favor of greener alternatives, arguing that such a shift would help the firms’ clients as well as the climate. [Grist]

¶   According to a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, unsubsidized renewable energy in Australia is now cheaper to produce than electricity from unsubsidized fossil fuels. The cost of wind is $80/MWh, for new coal is $143, and for new gas is $116. [The9Billion]

¶   UK Quakers, churches and charities have the chance to purchase 100% clean energy for their buildings through a new scheme launched on Thursday. Members of the scheme will benefit from an annual joint contract and from a group discount. [Blue & Green Tomorrow]

¶   The European Commission has decided to call a proposed European Union renewable energy target for 2030 ‘binding’, switching course from an earlier plan for an indicative goal, according to EU sources. [European Voice]

¶   The campaign to phase out coal-fuelled power plants in Alberta picked up steam Thursday at a panel discussion hosted by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. [Edmonton Journal]

¶   E.ON is expanding its renewables business with the construction of a €1 billion Amrumbank West windfarm in the North Sea, 37 km northwest of the German island of Helgoland. [Maritime Journal]

¶   Japan should have declined hosting the 2020 Olympics because the country has to focus on what to do about nuclear power, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who is set to run for Tokyo governor, says in a recently published book. [The Japan Times]

¶   The construction of the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam is likely to be delayed until 2020 instead of its previous schedule in 2014. The purpose of the delay is to ensure safety and efficient exploitation of the power. [Xinhua]

US:

¶   The number of renewable energy projects at US military bases rose from 454 in 2010 to 700 in 2012, an increase of 43%, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Of this 45% is geothermal at a single installation, and 33% is from solar. [National Defense Magazine]

¶   NPD Solarbuzz, a solar energy market research and analysis firm, recently ranked North Carolina the second-highest state in terms of solar capacity in the country, losing only to California. [Duke Chronicle]

¶   Utility-scale concentrating solar plants are beginning to appear across the United States, with 232 under construction, in testing or granted permits, many in the Southwest and California, according to the Edison Electric Institute. [Washington Post]

¶   Republican Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas, an ultra-conservative at odds with environmental activists on virtually all issues, has been honored as a “hero” in the promotion of renewable energy. [Huffington Post]

¶   New Hampshire’s Executive Council approved a $1.2 million grant from the state’s renewable energy fund for a solar project in Peterborough. Councilor Chris Sununu’s tough questioning of project proponents prompted a mild rebuke from the governor. [RenewablesBiz]

¶   The Democrat-controlled Colorado Senate on Jan. 15 blocked a bill that would have reversed the state’s controversial renewable energy mandate for rural electric cooperatives. [POWER magazine]

¶   Both chambers of the Iowa legislature unanimously approved a resolution calling on the federal Environmental Protection Agency to abandon a proposed rule that would reduce a mandate for the production of fuel from renewable sources. [DesMoinesRegister.com]