“Distributed, point-of-use solar should prove to be the most disruptive renewable technology.” The financial services firm UBS is predicting a “difficult year ahead” for global investor-owned utilities. In a recent research paper, UBS equities analysts outlined a combination of challenges for utilities: rising interest rates that will likely push investors toward higher-risk stocks and away… Keep reading →
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 →
Federal oversight of wind energy’s adverse impacts to birds, bats and other wildlife will increase due to two recent developments: the pending first programmatic take permit under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (“BGEPA”) and the first criminal enforcement action for avian fatalities under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”). Wind farms face a… Keep reading →
Canadian government negations with energy industry representatives regarding a carbon emissions mitigation strategy have reportedly been underway for the past two years with little to show for the effort. A climate plan could improve the Keystone XL pipeline’s chances of being approved by the US government. [Reuters] The boom and bust cycle that characterizes PTC-dependent… Keep reading →
President Obama today signed a Memorandum directing the Federal Government to consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 – more than double the current level. This comes as the latest move in the president’s Climate Action Plan announced in June 2013. “As part of the President’s commitment to expanding renewable energy production… Keep reading →
Modernizing the US power grid while incorporating increasing volumes of intermittent renewable energy is the electrical engineering challenge of our time. And there’s a lot at stake from costly blackouts to highly profitable energy storage solutions. Fragmented and often outdated regulations enforced by competing government agencies from local to national levels compound the problem. These… Keep reading →
The oil production targets agreed to in Iraq’s service contracts with international oil companies in 2009 were unrealistic from the start for technical and political reasons, and it now appears output thresholds at several of the country’s largest fields will be scaled back. [Wall Street Journal] A small bankrupt energy company is seeking to force… Keep reading →
Two state-of-the-art wind turbine drivetrain test facilities are now open for business: the Clemson University Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility in South Carolina and a National Renewable Energy Laboratory dynamometer at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado. The two test facilities will be used to evaluate in a controlled environment the mechanical systems that convert the aerodynamic forces… Keep reading →
Much has been made about natural gas serving as a bridge fuel until more renewable energy can be fed into the US power grid. While that’s a somewhat controversial concept – with hard-core environmentalists preaching zero fossil fuels and hydrocarbon industry folks pooh-poohing renewables for multiple reasons – this National Journal piece explains the wind-to-gas… Keep reading →
