A proposal to tighten up the U.S.’s mess of 42 different energy incentives – more than two dozen of them short-term measures that frequently roil the markets as they expire or near expiration – is drawing a split reaction from the nation’s two largest renewable energy sectors. The American Wind Energy Association commended Sen. Max… Keep reading →
Last year, the US wind industry Production Tax Credit was scheduled to expire at the end of December and the news media was all over it. The PTC is also scheduled to expire that the end of this year, but the issue is getting much less attention, why is that? Senator Don Nickles, who served… Keep reading →
The Audubon Society is upset with a US Department of Interior decision to allow wind farm operators to obtain permit extensions allowing accidental bird death or injury for up to 30 years. Interior says the permit extensions provide regulatory certainty to wind developers, but Audubon thinks the move fails to balance “the need for conservation… Keep reading →
The March 2011 Fukushima accident destroyed four and shuttered most (currently all) of Japan’s 54 nuclear plants. Japan replaced nuclear energy with discomfort, sacrifice, and costly fossil fuels, because utility oligopolies suppressed renewable competitors and national energy efficiency languished. Two and a half years later, power reserves, though easing, remain tight, fuel bills exorbitant, and… Keep reading →
In what has to be seen as a discouraging sign for offshore wind power – a key component of the United Kingdom’s scheme to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions – RWE said it is abandoning the planned 1,200-megawatt Atlantic Array, in the Bristol Channel. The company said unspecified technological challenges of the project made it “uneconomic for RWE at this… Keep reading →
More efficient technology combined with low costs and good wind resources are making wind cost-competitive with some of the cheapest forms of fossil energy in the Midwest. “In the Midwest, we’re now seeing power agreements being signed with wind farms at as low as $25 per megawatt hour,” said Stephen Byrd, Morgan Stanley’s Head of… Keep reading →
ExxonMobil is the one of the world’s largest energy companies. But while the firm identifies its two primary priorities as producing energy and “reducing our emissions profile while we do it” – according to vice-president of government affairs Ken Cohen – energy, in this case, refers almost exclusively to oil and gas. ExxonMobil does have… Keep reading →
It’s just one energy sector watcher weighing in, but Lux Research does have pretty good credentials, so we’ll run with it, leading with their headline: “Solar to Become Competitive with Natural Gas by 2025.” So says the Boston-based consultancy in an eyebrow-raising analysis that adopts the view that, for now, cheap natural gas can be a… Keep reading →
The solar industry has been very hot. Record amounts of new solar capacity have been installed over the past two years. The accelerating pace of adoption of solar panels for distributed generation (installed at the point of use, rather than sold into the power grid) and the downward trend of module prices have created exuberance… Keep reading →
Obama Touts Solar in SOTU: “We’re Becoming a Global Leader in Solar Too.”
By Roman KilisekPresident Obama proclaimed in his 2014 State of the Union address that his “all the above” energy strategy is working. He then directed the focus to one specific renewable energy source, stating the following: “Now, it’s not just oil and natural gas production that’s booming; we’re becoming a global leader in solar too. Every four… Keep reading →