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America’s mayors speak out in support of Obama’s Clean Power Plan

climate-changeCities Speak Up to Save Obama’s Clean Power Plan, City Lab, A large coalition of U.S. mayors and local governments is coming to the EPA’s defense in the legal battle to cut carbon emissions from power plants.  JULIAN SPECTOR  @JulianSpector Mar 31, 2016 

President Barack Obama’s flagship plan to fight climate change is getting a boost from city leaders across the country.

The National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and a coalition of 54 local governments are filing arguments in federal court Friday morning in support of the Clean Power Plan, imploring the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases emitted from existing power plants.

The amicus brief, provided in advance to CityLab, argues that the EPA has a duty to protect the public from harmful pollution in ways laid out by the Clean Power Plan. Cities, meanwhile, are uniquely vulnerable to climate change and are already paying for its effects, they say.

These comments come days after the EPAoutlined its own arguments in defense of the plan, which is being challenged by 27 states and an assortment of coal and power industry groups. The rule would force changes in the power sector with a goal of cutting its emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. At stake is the scope of the EPA’s regulatory powers, but also the ability of the U.S. government to meet its commitments to fighting climate change, as agreed to in the Paris negotiations last December………

“President Obama’s Clean Power Plan is essential to reduce our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti writes to CityLab. “The Supreme Court must choose between helping cities fight climate change or standing squarely in their way.” http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/03/epa-clean-power-plan-cities-supreme-court/476127/

April 4, 2016 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Terrorists could target nuclear arsenals of Pakistan and India

Pakistan’s mini nuclear weapons easy targets for terrorists: US President Barack Obama  By Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | 3 Apr, 2016, WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Friday counselled India and Pakistan to contain aggressive military doctrines and nuclear arsenals as he wrapped up the fourth Nuclear Security Summit, his signature international effort to curtail the spread of nuclear weapons and source material.

At a press conference towards the end of the summit that attracted leaders from all major powers save Russia, Obama sought to “see progress in Pakistan and India…making sure that as they develop  ..  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/pakistans-mini-nuclear-weapons-easy-targets-for-terrorists-us-president-barack-obama/articleshow/51668359.cms

April 4, 2016 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Transition to renewable energy sector: the goal of these North American Oil and Gas Workers

Amid Price Plunge, North American Oil and Gas Workers Seek Transition to Renewable Sector  TruthOut, 03 April 2016 00:00By Candice Bernd,  “…….after years of working in an industry that one top climate scientist has called “the biggest carbon bomb on the planet,” Hildebrand came to realize that he was not the only oil worker in Alberta who felt “guilty about developing the infrastructure that is creating climate change.”

Opportunity in the Oil Plunge

Last spring, when oil prices began to fall, Hildebrand banded together with like-minded coworkers and began building an oil and gas worker-led nonprofit called “Iron & Earth,” which officially launched this month during a press conference in Edmonton. Through the nonprofit, the oil sands workers hope to help others who have been laid off diversify their skill sets and facilitate the necessary training to transition them to the renewable energy sector. They also want to help incorporate renewable energy projects into oil sands workers’ current scope of work…….

“We are a group of workers who not only want to diversify our work scope based on job need, but also based on a values-based mission, to ensure that we’re creating and building a future that’s going to be sustainable,” Hildebrand told Truthout. “The drop in oil prices was certainly a catalyst to help amplify these conversations, and created the pressure to … create a catch-all organization that’s going to make projects happen and get workers’ hands on some renewable energy projects.”

Moreover, not every oil worker with experience in Alberta’s oil sands needs to retrain in order to transition to the renewable sector, according to Hildebrand, who says a lot of trades are “directly transferable.” Hildebrand has worked on several renewable energy projects himself, including a biomass plant and the wind farm weather station that inspired him during his apprenticeship. “I didn’t require any retraining for that. All I required was the blueprints and the steel, and the facility to build it,” he said.

From Oil Sands to “Solar Skills”

Iron & Earth’s first project is its “Solar Skills” campaign to facilitate the retraining of 1,000 laid-off electricians from Alberta’s oil industry, to help build 100 solar installations on public buildings throughout the province beginning this fall. In the future, as the group takes on different campaigns focused on geothermal, biomass, biofuel and wind energy, they hope to attract other kinds of oil and gas workers, such as pipefitters and iron workers, as well as workers from other building trades, to retrain in those sectors………http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35477-amid-price-plunge-north-american-oil-and-gas-workers-seek-transition-to-renewable-sector

April 4, 2016 Posted by | Canada, climate change, ENERGY | Leave a comment

New arms race makes nuclear catastrophe more likely

The new nuclear arms race , LA Times, 3 Apr 16 Doyle McManus Contact Reporter    Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry, one of the nation’s wise men on national security, delivered an arresting message last week: We’re about to find ourselves in a new nuclear arms race.

“The danger of a nuclear catastrophe today is greater than during the Cold War,” Perry said.

The danger stems not only from terrorist groups like Islamic State, which would gladly steal or buy nuclear material on the black market, but also from the huge nuclear arsenals the United States, Russia and other big powers maintain more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War. Those nuclear forces are bigger than they need to be — almost 16,000 warheads in all. And they still include hundreds of missiles on hair-trigger alert.

If an apparent attack against U.S. missile bases is detected, officials will have only a few minutes to decide whether to launch the missiles in response, or lose them.

“We’ve avoided a catastrophe more by good luck than by good management,” Perry told a meeting at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank.

 In 2007, Perry joined with former Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger and George P. Shultz — two Democrats, two Republicans — to urge that the U.S. make the abolition of nuclear weapons a formal goal. President Obama embraced the idea, negotiating a treaty with Russia to cut both countries’ arsenals.

But since that 2010 pact, progress toward nuclear disarmament has virtually stopped. Both Russia and the U.S. have launched expensive plans to modernize their nuclear forces, reaffirming the weapons’ central role in national security. In Obama’s case, the modernization program, which will cost an estimated $355 billion over 10 years, was the price of winning Republican votes in the Senate to ratify the 2010 treaty.

As Russia builds new weapons, Perry said, “I have no doubt that the United States will follow suit.”

So Perry is trying to revive a proposal that a handful of arms control advocates have floated in previous years: The U.S. should eliminate all of its 400-plus land-based nuclear missiles.

For decades, U.S. nuclear strategy has relied on a “triad” of weapons platforms: land-based missiles or ICBMs, manned bombers and submarines.

The basic idea was redundancy: If one system was knocked out by an enemy, the others would still be available.

Over the years, however, U.S. nuclear submarines have become virtually undetectable. Stealth bombers are difficult for opponents to find, as well.

The land-based missiles, by contrast, are more vulnerable. They’re stuck in one place. Their locations are known to the Russians and other potential enemies.

That means they face a dilemma known as “use it or lose it.” If an apparent attack against U.S. missile bases is detected, officials will have only a few minutes to decide whether to launch the missiles in response, or lose them.

And that makes them susceptible to false alarms — which actually occurred several times in both the U.S. and Russia during the Cold War. (Luckily, officers realized that their radar was malfunctioning.)

That vulnerability is still there. “The way to solve it is simply to eliminate the ICBMs,” Perry said……….http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0403-mcmanus-nuclear-danger-20160403-column.html

April 4, 2016 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Chinese President Xi Jinping urges international co-operation on nuclear security

Chinese president charts course for strengthening global nuclear security system, New China WASHINGTON, April 1 (Xinhua) –– Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday urged countries around the world to increase national input and expand international cooperation so as to further firm up the global nuclear security architecture.

He made the appeal in a speech delivered here at the opening plenary of the fourth Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) and titled “Strengthen Global Nuclear Security Architecture and Promote Global Nuclear Security Governance.”

A FOUR-PRONGED PROPOSAL

In his speech, Xi noted that the NSS process has provided a major boost to international nuclear security, including developing common goals, establishing key priorities and mapping out the blueprint for the future.

However, he pointed out, new threats and challenges keep emerging in the security field, the root causes of terrorism are far from being removed, and nuclear terrorism remains a grave threat to international security.

“A more robust global nuclear security architecture is the prerequisite for the sound development of nuclear energy,” he said.

Recalling that he envisioned the building of a global nuclear security system featuring fairness and win-win cooperation at the third NSS in The Hague in 2014, Xi laid out a four-pronged proposal for the international community to make fresh efforts.

Countries across the world need first to step up political input and stick to the direction of addressing both symptoms and root causes, said the Chinese president.

“As national leaders, we have the responsibility to ensure that nuclear security gets adequate attention,” he said, adding that only with a solution that addresses both symptoms and root causes can the world “remove the breeding ground of nuclear terrorism at an early date.”……..http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/02/c_135245822.htm

April 4, 2016 Posted by | China, politics international | Leave a comment

Obama expresses the widely held concerns of national leaders, about Donald Trump’s nuclear comments

Obama Rebukes Donald Trump’s Comments on Nuclear Weapons, NYT, By MARK LANDLER APRIL 1, 2016 WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday questioned Donald J. Trump’s fitness for office after statements from the Republican front-runner that the United States and its allies should move away from decades of constraints on the use of nuclear weapons. “We don’t want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn’t recognize how important that is,” Mr. Obama said.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit meeting devoted to nuclear security, the president said the comments by Mr. Trump reflected a person who “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world in general.”

Mr. Obama has not hesitated to criticize Mr. Trump for contributing to a coarse tone and circuslike atmosphere on the campaign trail. But his criticism of the candidate’s comments on nuclear proliferation was not about public language or personal style, but about one of the gravest responsibilities of an American president. It carried an extra edge because it involved an issue that Mr. Obama has made a central goal of his presidency.

He said world leaders and other participants at the conference had expressed concerns about Mr. Trump’s comments during private conversations with him at the summit meeting, which gathered more than 50 world leaders to discuss ways to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack, whether from the leakage of nuclear fuel or the theft of a bomb by a terrorist group………http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/middleeast/obama-nuclear-security-summit-iran.html?_r=0

April 4, 2016 Posted by | USA elections 2016 | Leave a comment

Warns of persistent threat of nuclear terrorism

US President Barack Obama holds nuclear summit, focusing on Islamic State and North Korea APRIL 2, 2016 Anna Caldwell in Washington DC news.com.au News Corp Australia Network US President Barack Obama has warned of a persistent threat of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear materials despite progress in reducing such risks, and called on world leaders to do more to safeguard nuclear facilities.

Obama cited concerns about groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State trying to obtain nuclear materials, saying this was no time for the international community to be complacent.

Obama was hosting more than 50 world leaders for his fourth and final summit focused on efforts to lock down vulnerable atomic materials to prevent nuclear terrorism……

US President Barack Obama has warned of a persistent threat of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear materials despite progress in reducing such risks, and called on world leaders to do more to safeguard nuclear facilities.

“There is no doubt that if these madmen ever got their hands on a nuclear bomb or nuclear material, they would certainly use it to kill as many people as possible,” he told a global nuclear security summit in Washington DC.

Obama cited concerns about groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State trying to obtain nuclear materials, saying this was no time for the international community to be complacent.

Obama was hosting more than 50 world leaders for his fourth and final summit focused on efforts to lock down vulnerable atomic materials to prevent nuclear terrorism…….http://www.news.com.au/world/us-president-barack-obama-tells-world-leaders-to-stand-against-north-koreas-nuclear-strength/news-story/80c17b166c9c1974b042b04d9af7eda8

April 4, 2016 Posted by | politics, safety, USA | Leave a comment

EPA will clean up thorium pollution adjacent to West Lake Landfill.

EPA says it will remove radioactive dirt on private property adjacent to landfill, St Louis Post Dispatch, By Jacob Barker St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2 Apr 16 

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to clean up spots of dirt on private property just outside the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill.

Testing from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources identified radioactive contamination on property beyond the landfill’s perimeter, according to a report released Friday. The agency said the findings were “consistent” with prior EPA studies.

Levels of thorium were above Environmental Protection Agency limits for unrestricted use in two locations on the edge of property now used as a service and repair facility for AAA Trailer Services.

The contamination is to the west of the northernmost part of the West Lake Landfill known as “Area 2,” which is not adjacent to thesmoldering Bridgeton Landfill……..

EPA limits thorium levels to 7.9 pico Curies per gram for unrestricted use (a pico Curie represents 2.2 atomic disintegrations per minute). ……. Thorium mostly emits radiation that can’t pierce the skin, so radiation exposure is mostly through ingestion or inhalation.

West Lake was contaminated with byproducts from uranium processing for the nation’s early nuclear weapons program. Thorium was the only uranium decay product found at levels above EPA guidelines in the DNR tests. The DNR report recommended further investigation around the areas where the contamination was detected. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/epa-says-it-will-remove-radioactive-dirt-on-private-property/article_3732051c-ea91-5ba2-9120-88fe8e0cc5b8.html

April 4, 2016 Posted by | environment, thorium, USA | Leave a comment

April 3 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

World:

¶ Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited recently floated tenders for the preparation of detailed project reports for setting up solar power projects over water bodies in the state. The company plans to share revenues with government agencies that own the water bodies. [CleanTechnica]

Solar PVs over a canal in India. SunEdison image Solar PVs over a canal in India. SunEdison image

¶ The southern Indian state of Kerala has finally joined the bandwagon of Indian states launching massive solar power tenders. The Kerala State Electricity Board has floated a tender for 200 MW solar power capacity. Bidders shall be able to submit bids for project capacity between 10 MW and 200 MW. [Cleantechies]

¶ A study from two research organizations at the London School of Economics concluded, as China finalizes its 13th Five Year Plan for economic development for 2016 to 2020, that the country is moving toward a new development mode, focused…

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April 3, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

April 2 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

Opinion:

EDF shows that wind makes better sense than nuclear • EDF in the UK may be propelled by its disastrous nuclear ambitions, but in the US it is selling its power, profitably, for under 40% of the price it has been promised for Hinkley C, including federal tax credits. [The Ecologist]

Turbine at EDF Renewable Energy's Bobcat Bluff Wind Project, Texas. Photo: EDF Renewable Energy. Turbine at EDF Renewable Energy’s Bobcat Bluff Wind Project, Texas. Photo: EDF Renewable Energy.

What a SunEdison Bankruptcy Could Mean for Renewable
Energy
• SunEdison’s apparently looming downfall may become a black eye for the renewable energy industry, but longer term, it may be good for the solar developers left standing – and for investors. [Motley Fool]

Science and Technology:

¶ Demand for the lower-priced electric Tesla Model 3 surprised even the company’s CEO Friday as 198,000 people plunked down $1,000 deposits. Tesla had secured about 135,000 reservations on Thursday, the first…

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April 3, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Madmen HAVE Gotten Their Hands on Nuclear Materials: Burying Foreign Nuclear Waste at WIPP and Elsewhere, USA; Lethal Poison “Gift” Basket Diplomacy; Terrorists Within the US Government

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

[Note that this is April 2nd and this is still dead serious, as documented below and easy to verify online. However, Obama holding his “Nuclear Security Summit” on April Fool’s Day does appear telling.]
Madmen within the American government-Obama Administration with their poison “gift” basket diplomacy are planning to bury old foreign plutonium, from terrorist countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan, at WIPP in New Mexico, and old foreign uranium waste in Utah, Texas, or elsewhere, USA. Switzerland had their plutonium in vaults at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) behind heavy gates and probably in a bunker. Meanwhile, US commercial nuclear waste sits dangerously on nuclear reactor sites throughout America and the US government (read taxpayer) is being sued because it has not been removed from the sites, as promised. WIPP is for US defense related transuranic waste. WIPP is dangerously unfit for purpose. Only madmen-terrorists would add foreign nuclear…

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April 3, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The past week in nuclear and climate news

a-cat-CAN

It’s getting harder, and more ridiculous, to separate nuclear issues from fossil fuel issues. Nuclear and coal power are really intertwined, indeed depending on each other, and both contributing to global warming.

And now there’s the global oil corruption scandal, which really can’t be ignored.

NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT Four dangers overlooked . Absence of Russia at nuclear security summit. US and UK to do cyber attack tests on a nuclear power plant.

CLIMATE and ENERGY   By 2018 world must shift to zero carbon, to avoid extra dangerous global warming.  USA and China – joint statement: both will sign Paris climate deal. Rockefeller to ditch oil, gas, holdings on ethical and economic grounds: criticises Exxon Mobil    Clean coal” technology is not working.   Renewable energy taking overthe world- already.   Report: Clean Energy Economy Employs More than 2.5 Million Americans, Poised for More Growth.

Global Marketing frenzy to sell nuclear reactors to the Middle East.

UK.

USA.  

Donald Trump would contemplate dropping nuclear bomb on Europe.  White House says Donald Trump’s nuclear policy is ‘catastrophic’.  Donald Trump and Ted Cruz agree on undoing Obama’s climate action work.

The coming wave of shutdowns of old nuclear reactors in America. Troubled history of New York’s Indian Point nuclear power station. Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station desperate for money: call for taxpayer funding.

North Dakota rejects plan for experimental deep borehole (preliminary test for nuclear waste disposal)  Radiation in seafood. Is that why California bans commercial crab fishing?

Community solar power now getting the backing of energy utilities.

BELGIUM. All about the terrorists’ plan to attack Belgium’s nuclear power station

CHINA is building a national electricity grid. And “China pushes for mandatory integration of renewable power. Co-operation on super grid – China, Pakistan, South Korea. Global electricity network – China’s plan.

RUSSIA building new multiple-warhead nuclear missiles.

JAPAN  journalists under pressure from government.  “

AFRICA. New proof that South Africa planned a binding nuclear deal with Russia.

INDIA. Rural Indians’ lawsuit against coal power plant is dismissed by USA judge.

April 2, 2016 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Chinese nuclear corporation decides not to get involved in UK’s dubious Hinkley nuclear project

text Hinkley cancelledflag-ChinaCGN Power’s dropped nuke deal in UK is a “sensible move”: analyst. Asian Power,  28 Mar 16   It would’ve locked up a bulk of capital in the long-term.

Last October, China signed a deal with the UK to participate in three UK nuclear power projects, with CGNPC, the parent of CGN Power, owning a 20.0%-66.5% stake in each of the projects.

Under a non-competition deed granted by CGNPC, CGN Power has the option of investing in any UK nuclear project that is either being planned or constructed by the parent group. Thus far, the independent non-executive directors of CGN Power have elected not to pursue the UK projects.

According to CCB International’s Cathy Chan and Felix Lam, the decision by CGN Power’s independent non-executive directors not to get involved in the construction of the UK nuclear projects did not come as a surprise given the company’s strategy of refraining from involving itself in nuclear power projects that do not have at least one unit already in commercial operation.

The UK project does not yet meet this criterion as it is still at the initial stage of development and has several major hurdles to negotiate, not least of which is insufficient funding from other stakeholders, in particular Électricité de France (EDF FP, NR), a French power  company…….. analyst http://asian-power.com/power-utility/news/cgn-powers-dropped-nuke-deal-in-uk-sensible-move-analyst

 

April 1, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Further doubt on future of Hinkley Point nuclear project, as costs rise again

text Hinkley cancelledHinkley, No2NuclearPower, 31 March 2016

The cost of building a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset could rise by nearly £2 billion, piling more pressure on the over-stretched finances of the French energy giant EDF, according to a report seen by The Times. An independent analysis of the £18 billion project claims that Areva, the French company that developed the EPR reactor earmarked for Hinkley, is repricing the technology before a final investment decision, which it expects to be signed by EDF and its Chinese partners in May.
Michel Degryck, managing partner of the Paris-based corporate finance company Capitalmind and an expert on EDF who produced the report, said that Areva had in recent weeks been asking suppliers to resubmit detailed offers for key components of the Hinkley station. Mr Degryck said: “We understand that a number of costs were probably underestimated when they did their last pricing [of the reactor] in 2013. They will have to take into account new costs . . .
The cost of the project could rise by 10 per cent.” The updated price of the station could be as high as 25.3 billion euros (£19.8 billion), according to the research. The development casts further doubt on the future of the project, under which two new reactors to be built at Hinkley are set to generate 7 per cent of UK electricity once operational, probably in the late 2020s……….http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/news/31-march-2016/

April 1, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

By 2018 world must shift to zero carbon, to avoid extra dangerous global warming

fossil-fuels-Germany
Shift to zero-carbon power must start by 2018 to avoid extra warming: study http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/shift-to-zerocarbon-power-must-start-by-2018-to-avoid-extra-warming-study-20160331-gnuy7x.html 
April 1, 2016  Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald  The world must begin the shift to zero-carbon sources of electricity as soon as 2018 to avoid adding new fossil-fuel power plants that will lock in dangerous climate change, according to a team of Oxford University researchers.

Taking the average operating life of coal or gas-fired plants as 40 years, the world’s fleet of carbon-emitting power stations had already committed by 2014 a total of 87 per cent of the emissions required to ensure a 50-50 chance of reaching two degrees of warming compared with pre-industrial levels.

By 2017, the remaining stock of potential emissions will have been locked in, necessitating a transition to renewable or zero-emissions electricity from then on. Alternatively, radical technologies will be needed to sequester carbon dioxide or extract it from the atmosphere, the researchers including Australian Cameron Hepburn wrote in a paper published in Applied Energy journal.

“For policymakers who think of climate change as a long-term future issue, this should be a wake-up call,” the authors said in a statement. “Whether we succeed or fail in containing warming to 2 degrees is being determined by actions we are taking right now.”

The papers come in a week when environmental groups warned as many as 1500 coal-fired power plants are being planned or being built worldwide, scientists found coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef to be worse than first thought, and Antarctic ice sheets were declared to be melting faster than expected.

Electricity generation accounts for about one quarter of man-made greenhouse gas emissions and about one third of Australia’s total. The researchers assumed other emission sources, such as transport and agriculture, would track towards a 2-degree warming limit, an assumption “which may well be optimistic”, the paper notes.

Australia was one of almost 200 nations to sign up to limiting warming to a 1.5-2 degree range at the Paris climate summit late last year.

The lower end of that target has been well exceeded, the researchers argue: “Meeting a 1.5-degree target without [carbon capture and storage] or asset stranding would have required all additions to the electricity sector were zero carbon from 2006 onwards, at the latest”.

Malte Meinshausen, director of Melbourne University’s Climate & Energy College, said the research confirmed work by the International Energy Agency and others “that we now have enough fossil fuel infrastructure globally in place to emit a detrimental amount of carbon”.

“With the correct market signals in place – such as a price on carbon emissions – it will be more economical even for the utilities to abandon fossil fuel [plants] and switch to renewable investments instead,” Associate Professor Meinshausen said. “If the time for halting investments into new fossil fuel infrastructure is 2017 for the world, that time has been 10 years ago for Australia – the highest per-capita emitter in the developed world.”

As it happens, the combination of Australia’s flat or declining demand for grid-supplied electricity and the need to meet the mandated 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET) means there is little likelihood of new coal or gas-fired power plants being built in this country for at least the next decade, said Dylan McConnell, a research fellow at Melbourne University’s Melbourne Energy Institute.

While there are several proposed gas projects and one black coal project in NSW at AGL’s Bayswater site, renewable energy ventures are likely to meet any near-term need for additional large-scale capacity, Mr McConnell said.

Some 14,000 megawatts (MW) of wind or solar plants are seeking approval, a tally that is “certainly much more than needed for the RET”, he said. “The cost curve for fossil fuel [plants] is going in the other direction.”

This week, Origin Energy  signed up for its first power purchase agreement for large-scale solar, taking output from a 56 MW solar farm in Moree in northern NSW.

“Ten years ago, 15 years ago the prospectors were in Queensland looking for [coal seam gas] resources,” Grant King, Origin’s chief executive, said last year. “I would think the next great round of investment in Queensland will be utility scale solar.”

Origin is among the prospectors, applying to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency for funding to support a 106 MW solar farm of its own to be built on the Darling Downs next to its existing gas-fired plant.

April 1, 2016 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment