http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/13/wind-solar-natural-gas-up-in-europe-coal-nuclear-down/

Following up on the report I just published regarding EPIA’s 2012–2017 European and global solar PV report, below are some really interesting charts I wanted to highlight. Basically, they show that solar PV, wind power, and natural gas capacity has grown substantially in the EU while coal, nuclear, and oil capacity has fallen.

In other words, despite what some may have you think, increasing of solar and wind power in the EU has not been leading to a surge in coal power capacity due to the nuclear phaseouts taking place in several countries. Rather, coal power capacity has also declined. The only fossil fuel that saw an increase in capacity in 2012 was natural gas.

If you look at 2011 statistics, you can see that coal power capacity also increased (along with solar, wind, and natural gas) as nuclear power capacity dropped. However, with such power plants taking a long time to permit, build, and connect to the grid, this was really due to years of work preceding Fukushima and the strong nuclear phaseout plans that resulted from that.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/01/british-gangs-use-flare-guns-now-because-they-cant-find-real-ones/

After the U.K. endured a series of mass shootings, including one that targeted children, it passed some very tough gun control legislation in 1997. The effect, reported on today by The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola, has been staggering. Here are eight of the big takeaways, possible learning opportunities as the U.S. considers its own gun law changes:

1) Bad guys have a hard time getting guns: Criminals have resorted to using “archaic flintlock pistols” and “retrofitted flare guns.” There’s been one mass shooting in 15 years. This despite the adage, “When guns are illegal, only criminals will possess them.”

2) Fewer illegal guns: Faiola reports that, according to ballistics studies, “Most gun crime in Britain can be traced back to less than 1,000 illegal weapons still in circulation.”

3) Fewer gun deaths: Someone in England or Wales is about 3 percent as likely to be killed by a gun as an American. There were 59 gun deaths there last year. The U.S. annual gun death rate has hovered around 10,000 for years.

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and bookmarked for future reference.

yup

and bookmarked

http://www.windpowermonthly.com/news/1158013/wind-farm-withstood-Hurricane-Sandy/

Three of the Jersey Atlantic project’s five 1.5MW GE SLE turbines were operating again by Friday, said a spokeswoman for Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA).

"The remaining two turbines should be up and running in the next few days," ACUA’s Amy Cook-Menzel told Windpower Monthly. The project, operated by Infigen Energy, is at ACUA’s wastewater treatment plant a few miles from the shore.

Matthew McGowan, Infigen’s asset management and development director, described the turbines as in "good shape".

High water levels may have caused some difficulties with data relay from the substations on site and with the electrical connections, said Infigen.

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http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/19/business/first-wind-satisfied-with-electricity-output-in-2011-spokesman-says/

Maine’s four First Wind industrial wind sites generated about 27 to 37 percent of their capacity in 2011 — and thereby performed within wind industry standards for projects of their size, a company spokesman said Saturday


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According to the figures Lamontagne released, the 57-megawatt Stetson I facility generated about 154,000 megawatts in 2011, or about 421 megawatts per 24-hour day. First Wind’s Mars Hill site generated about 127,500 megawatts of electricity, or an average of 349 megawatts per day. The Stetson II site produced 59,700 megawatts.

Full-year figures for the largest single First Wind site in Maine, the 60-megawatt Rollins Mountain project on ridgelines in Burlington, Lee, Lincoln and Winn, are not yet available. The project came online in July 2011. It generated 59,000 megawatts, the First Wind report states.

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According to First Wind estimates, the four projects powered roughly the equivalent of 64,000 Maine homes and helped prevent the creation or burning of close to a million tons of pollutants and oil in 2011. Those estimates are based on U.S. Department of Energy data and standards, Lamontagne said.

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http://www.kpho.com/story/17998000/progress-energy-florida-files-annual-nuclear-cost-recovery-clause-projections-with-the-florida-public-service-commission

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If approved in its entirety, Progress Energy's total 2013 NCRC charge would be $5.09 on a 1,000-kilowatt-hour (kWh) residential bill beginning with January 2013 billing (compared to $2.86 in 2012). As a result of the previously announced, FPSC-approved rate settlement agreement between Progress Energy and consumer advocates, the portion of the NCRC charge related to the Levy County nuclear project will increase to $3.45 on a 1,000-kWh residential bill in 2013 (compared to the 2012 rate of $2.67) and will remain fixed through 2017. In addition, the utility has requested to adjust the Crystal River Nuclear Plant upgrade-related portion of the NCRC charge to $1.64 on a 1,000-kWh residential bill in 2013 (compared to $0.19 in 2012).

The Crystal River Nuclear Plant has been safely shut down since a delamination – or separation – was discovered within the wall of the plant's containment building during a scheduled maintenance outage in the fall of 2009. The company and outside experts are conducting a thorough and systematic engineering analysis and review and are assessing options to repair the containment building and return the plant to service in 2014.

Also included in the utility's filing are updates to the Levy County nuclear project schedule and cost. Due to lower-than-projected customer demand, the lingering economic slowdown, uncertainty regarding potential carbon regulation and current, low natural gas prices, the company is shifting the in-service date for the first Levy unit to 2024, with the second unit following 18 months later. The revised schedule is consistent with the approach the utility publicly discussed after announcing the recent rate settlement agreement. Although the scope and overnight cost for the Levy County nuclear project – including land acquisition, related transmission work and other required investments – remain essentially unchanged, the shift in schedule will increase escalation and carrying costs and raise the total estimated project cost to between $19 and $24 billion.

On April 27, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the project. Based on its comprehensive review, the NRC has determined that there are no environmental impacts that would prevent the agency from issuing the combined operating license for the construction and operation of the proposed reactors. This is an important milestone for the project.

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http://energy.aol.com/2012/05/01/wind-a-winner-in-developing-nations/

Researchers at a Swiss science and technology university testing out which is the most cost-effective renewable energy source in developing countries have made a surprising discovery.

The team calculated the cost of generating a tenth of the electricity demand for each of six countries using either wind turbines or photovoltaic cells. The countries were: Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, Nicaragua and Thailand.

Although the six countries selected in the research by ETH Zurich were all in hot climates, researchers found that wind rather than solar power represented the best value for money.

In Kenya and Nicaragua, the results were even more counterintuitive. In both those countries they found that because of the current high oil price, producing electricity with wind power was cheaper in real terms than the present energy model, which relies mainly on electricity generated from fossil fuels.

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http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/15/renewables-driving-electricity-prices-to-negative-some-afternoons-cutting-into-baseload-power-plants-market-share/

Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind have been outstripping the electricity supply of traditional baseload (coal, nuclear, and some natural gas) power plants during daytime, especially afternoons, in some renewable-leading countries of late. One reason for this is: electricity demand tends to increase during the sunniest (the hottest) hours, and solar power plants generate more electricity when it is sunnier, which is right on cue.

Not perfectly, but solar power production tends to follow electricity demand. This is especially true in the warmer temperatures, since air conditioners (which consume a lot of electricity) are turned up to compensate for the hot afternoon weather.

Importantly, as solar power plants outstrip the power production of baseload power plants, electricity is sold for a lower price than baseload power on the spot market. On April 1 of this year, not even that hot of a day, the price of electricity on the European Electricity Index (ELIX) actually dropped to -0.01.

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http://www.nbr.co.nz/node/117958

BUSINESSDESK: NZ Windfarms third-quarter revenue tripled, reflecting the completion of its 97-turbine Te Rere Hau wind farm and higher electricity prices offset by lower electricity output caused by a wind speed drop.

Revenue from electricity sales jumped to $2.5 million in the three months ended March 31, from $749,000 in the same quarter last year, the company said.

The wind farm, located near Palmerston North, was completed in July last year.

Its performance “is strongly influenced by wind conditions and electricity prices which are both subject to natural variability and are beyond NZ Windfarm's control”, it said.

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http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_20552266/end-line-minnesotas-coal-plants

Sherburne County Generating Station, better known as Sherco, is a power-producing workhorse.

But even good workhorses head to the glue factory eventually.

The 2,400 megawatt coal-fired plant in Becker, 45 miles northwest of the Twin Cities, has generated the bulk of Xcel Energy's electricity for Minnesota for more than three decades.

In the next year, Xcel will have to decide what to do about Sherco as it takes what regional vice president Laura McCarten calls "a deep dive analysis" of its power needs. As part of the analysis required of all regulated utilities by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Minneapolis-based Xcel will look at all its alternatives for the next 20 years, making decisions on which plants it will upgrade and keep and which it may retire or replace in the coming years.

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