Renewables

On the energy front, Australia seemingly has it all. It is endowed with significant reserves of coal, natural gas, uranium, and thorium—as well as resources that excel by world standards for wind, solar

The changing generation mix and recent extreme weather throughout the U.S. have led the power sector to evaluate and begin making changes to address their increased dependence on natural gas and the integration of renewables, staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in the 2013 State of the Markets report. Gas Price Hikes […]

In the past week, as the Cape Wind project planned for offshore Massachusetts saw crucial legal victories, New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on Wednesday rejected a  $188 million offshore wind farm that was planned along the Atlantic City coast.  Federal Court Upholds DOI Approval of Cape Wind Issuing rulings in four lawsuits challenging […]

U.S. energy infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to acute weather events and long-term changes in the climate, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report. Options to help reduce those risks include measures to improve its durability and resiliency. The Mar. 4–released report titled “Energy Infrastructure Risks and Adaption Efforts,” cites data from the National Research […]

Brazil’s electricity market is vast: the largest in Latin America and 10th largest in the world, with an installed capacity of 121,000 MW. Download the report.

Norwegian power company Statkraft has shelved its much-watched effort to harness energy from pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO). It said in a rare industry admission that the technology could not be sufficiently

In 2009, when the first borehole in a series of wells was drilled as part of the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) in Krafla, northeast Iceland (Figure 5), it unexpectedly penetrated into magma with a

California leads the nation in installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, with almost 150,000 systems large and small in operation and more than 2 GW of total capacity. Worldwide, California would rank 7th in installed solar capacity (PV and thermal) were it a separate country. All that activity is leading to some major changes in the […]

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station, the world’s largest concentrating solar power (CSP) facility, was dedicated Thursday afternoon at a ceremony keynoted by U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. In his remarks, Moniz hailed the Obama administration’s leadership on supporting renewable energy projects. “President Obama and the Department of Energy [DOE] are committed to ensuring […]

A natural gas shortage triggered by extreme cold weather in much of the U.S. and Canada has affected supplies to power plants in drought-stricken California and forced the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) on Thursday to issue a conservation alert.  CAISO said the natural gas shortage was only affecting Southern California but appealed to customers […]