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Decentralised solar energy boom taking off in India

 solar technology presents an elegant and immediate solution to powering everything from light bulbs and heaters to water purifiers and pumps…….most new grid capacity will be sucked up by industry, leaving little for the poor who live in off-grid desert outcrops, mountain hamlets and jungle villages like Nada. For them, the surest way to get electricity anytime soon may be to get a solar panel and make it themselves.

Fuel for solar boom could come from rural India, where thousands give up on grid, buy panels, Washington Post, 2 July 11 “……….Across India, thousands of homes are receiving their first light through small companies and aid programs that are bypassing the central electricity grid to deliver solar panels to the rural poor. Those customers could provide the human energy that advocates of solar power have been looking for to fuel a boom in the next decade.

With 40 percent of India’s rural households lacking electricity and nearly a third of its 30 million agricultural water pumps running on subsidized diesel, “there is a huge market and a lot of potential,” said Santosh Kamath, executive director of consulting firm KPMG in India. “Decentralized solar installations are going to take off in a very big way and will probably be larger than the grid-connected segment.”…… Continue reading →

July 3, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, India | Leave a comment

Future global energy winners: gas and renewables, nuclear the loser

Analysis: Gas, renewables to be future energy sources of choice, By Henning Gloystein and Barbara Lewis, LONDON | Jul 1, 2011  (Reuters) – Natural gas will fast become the fossil fuel of choice to complement renewable energy for the foreseeable future, after long being regarded as merely a step on the way to a greener energy mix.

Especially in electricity generation, natural gas has so far stood in competition with coal-fired and nuclear production.

But coal’s high carbon emission levels have reduced its market allure, while the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant following an earthquake in March has put a serious dent in the prospects for global nuclear power generation…..http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/01/us-gas-future-idUSTRE7603BN20110701

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July 3, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, ENERGY | Leave a comment

USA Senate Bill to set up temporary nuclear waste storage sites

Senators float bill to create interim storage sites for spent nuclear fuel, THE HILL By Andrew Restuccia – 07/01/11, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) floated legislation Friday that would require the Energy Department to establish two temporary repositories for spent fuel from the country’s nuclear power plants.

The legislation comes amid increased frustration by Republicans and some Democrats over the Obama administration’s decision to abandon Yucca Mountain, a proposed nuclear waste repository designated by Congress that has been mired by years of delay.

“This proposal addresses one of the most glaring failures of our national nuclear policy — what to do with the used nuclear fuel currently that is currently being stored at over 100 sites across the country,” Murkowski said in a statement Friday.

The lawmakers say the legislation is intended to end a series of lawsuits filed by utilities because the federal government has yet to establish a permanent waste repository. The lawsuits could cost the federal government billions of dollars. ….

The storage of spent nuclear fuel has come under increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has raised questions about the way spent fuel is stored in light of issues at the spent fuel pools at the Japanese plant. In the United States, spent fuel rods are placed in pools for several years and then moved into dry cask storage.

“It is clear that we lack a comprehensive national policy to address the nuclear fuel cycle,” Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water subcommittee, said earlier this year.

A recent NRC inspector general report said the commission does not have an adequate system in place for the inspection of nuclear spent fuel storage sites…..

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/169411-senators-float-bill-to-create-interim-nuclear-spent-fuel-storage-sites

July 3, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission rubber stamps Salem Nuclear plants’ license renewal

Salem Nuclear Power Plants Sail Through Relicensing Process, NJSP Spotlight,  By Tom Johnson, July 1  The federal government yesterday approved a 20-year extension of the operating licenses for the two Salem nuclear power plants in Lower Alloways Creek Township in South Jersey. The extension from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was not unexpected, since the its staff had signed off on the extension earlier this month and the regulatory agency has never failed to approve a relicensing request…….

Safety Concerns, Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, expressed disappointment in the decision. “The NRC believes in license first, inspect and regulate later. They have it backward,” Tittel said. “We believe outside independent experts need to review the plants and their different design features to ensure safety.”

In the relicensing process, the NRC failed to address sizable tritium leaks causing contamination of groundwater near the plant, Tittel said. He also argued that the Salem plant is old, saying the federal agency failed to look at metal fatigue and other issues that come up as these facilities age……http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/11/0701/0058/

July 3, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Opposition in Japan to restarting Genkai nuclear reactors

Saga governor comes under fire over Genkai restart, Japan Times, July 2, 2011, KYODO, Saga — Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa came under fire at the prefectural assembly Friday over his apparent willingness to approve the restart of two reactors at the Genkai nuclear power station. …

During a session of the assembly’s committee on nuclear power safety, Yasushige Miyazaki, an independent, said a possible future crisis cannot be ruled out at the plant in the town of Genkai, Saga Prefecture.

He also expressed doubts about the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency’s explanation that the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was triggered by the March 11 tsunami rather than the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

Miyazaki urged the governor to seek more data from the central government to confirm that no serious damage was caused to the crippled Fukushima plant by the initial quake. But the governor rejected the request, saying the government has provided sufficient data.

…..many of the assembly’s 38 members oppose a resumption of operations, citing local residents’ safety concerns.

Furukawa said he will make a final decision after meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan on whether to restart the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors of the Genkai plant, which are currently shut down for regular checks. Their restart has been delayed due to the Fukushima crisis……..http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110702a3.html

July 3, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

UK Liberal Democrat slams windfall funding to nuclear power operators

(UK) New £1bn nuclear windfall must be avoided, John Leech, MP, JULY 2, 2011 On Monday, MPs will be asked to vote through £1 billion in windfall profits to existing nuclear operators for doing absolutely nothing new. The Lib Dems fought the last general election on the promise of opposing new nuclear power and certainly reject public subsidies for nuclear power. Whatever your take on nuclear power though, surely it’s unjustifiable and politically untenable to hand out £1 billion to EDF and Centrica directly from consumer purses, when people are already feeling the squeeze. Continue reading →

July 3, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

India’s North Eastern States call for renewable energy funding

North Eastern ministers call for 90% funding The Assam Tribune Spl Correspondent  NEW DELHI, July 2 – The Power Ministers of the NE States have called for 90 per cent funding from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the renewable energyprojects in the region.

The Power Ministers also sought help for preparing the State-specific action plans forrenewable energy. They were participating in a meeting convened by New andRenewable Energy Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah to review the implementation of renewable energy policies and programmes in the NE States, here in Delhi today. The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister of Meghalaya and the Power Ministers of other NE States, senior officials from the ministry and the State governments.

Official sources said that Dr Abdullah agreed for getting the resource mapping of solar, wind and micro and small hydro projects prepared for these States. The States in the region have also been advised to put in more efforts for popularization of renewable energy for maximizing use of these technologies. The ministers of NE States would be given opportunities to visit showcase projects within and outside the country…..

It was informed during the meeting that out of 4,965 remote villages to be electrified and illuminated through renewable energy systems in the region, 3,841 villages have been provided solar lights. There are over 160 small and micro hydel projects installed in the NE States with 275 MW aggregate capacities… http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=jul0311/at07

July 3, 2011 Posted by | India, politics | 1 Comment