Investment banks downgrading centralised energy, as decentralised solar and wind get cheaper
Nuclear damages attempts to tackle climate change nuClear News Dec 14
Nuclear power – a very poor investment to address climate change, a waste of money
Recommended renewable energy stocks for investment in 2015
3 Best Renewable Energy Stocks for 2015 Nasdaq By Motley Fool, December 14, 2014 We’re halfway through the 2010’s and renewable energy is no longer an uneconomical pipe dream conjured up by wishful thinkers. Wind energy, solar energy, and first-generation biofuels for blendstock applications are all competitive with incumbents in their respective markets — and the economics will only improve throughout the remainder of the decade. It may take
another several decades for each technology group to steal a substantial market share, but advances in wind turbines, rooftop solar, and efficient fuel production processes promise to add competition to fossil fuel projects. We’ve asked some of our top energy analysts which renewable energy stocks they’re eying for 2015. Here’s what they’re focusing on……..http://www.nasdaq.com/article/3-best-renewable-energy-stocks-for-2015-cm423026
Japan’s Fukushima Plant Cleanup Workers -their harsh and dangerous life
Japanese Nation Forgetting Fukushima Plant Cleanup Workers http://sputniknews.com/asia/20141210/1015704138.html As snap elections are nearing, the Fukushima Nuclear power plant workers are urging people to understand the harsh circumstances they work under, risking their life by exposing themselves to radiation every single day. MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) – As elections are nearing in Japan, many of the people working toward the decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant say they want voters to know about their harsh working conditions, insufficient pay and worries of radiation exposure, reports The Japan Times.
There are around 6,000 people a day working in the decommissioning process at the plant and it is expected to take 30 to 40 years to complete.
“I’m single, so I can somehow manage with the pay if I don’t go out to amuse myself, but I don’t think you can make a living if you have a family,” said a man in his fifties who has worked in the plant for three years. He has been eradicating debris and setting up tanks to store radioactive water, and is now in charge of removing contaminated water from the reactor building basements. He works for a third-tier subcontractor and makes a monthly salary of less than ¥200,000 ($1650 USD).
As The Japan Times reports, due to high radiation exposure, workers must wear heavy protective clothing and a mask that covers the whole face. It is difficult for them to work more than an hour and a half at a time. The workers start at around 5 a.m. because of the time it takes to get to the plant which is about 40 kilometers away, pass entrance checks and change clothing.
According to one worker his most recent monthly radiation dosage was 1.8 millisieverts. The law states that a nuclear worker’s radiation dosage should not exceed 100 millisieverts in five years and 50 millisieverts in a year. Since the reference mark in the plant is 20 millisieverts a year, the man’s dosage is nearing its limit.
“I feel that people are gradually forgetting about the nuclear accident,” he said. “From now, our work will become even harsher because we will have to go inside the reactor buildings, where the radiation level is even higher. I want people to recognize that there are such workplaces,” he told The Japan Times.
Malaysia now a world leader in producing solar energy equipment
Solar Rises in Malaysia During Trade Wars Over Panels, NYT, By KEITH BRADSHERDEC. 11, 2014 KULIM, Malaysia — Tucked away in this former tin-mining town, past the small farms of banana trees and oil palms, is one of the solar industry’s best-kept secrets.
The six factories here with cavernous rooms up to one-third of a mile long constitute the production backbone of First Solar. Working alongside minivan-size robots adapted from car assembly plants and other industries, 3,700 employees produce five-sixths of the American company’s solar panels. Workers in Ohio make the rest.
The list of manufacturers is long. Panasonic of Japan has a solar panel factory a mile down the road. SunEdison makes wafers 60 miles away in Chemor. Hanwha Q Cells and SunPower have giant factories even farther south, while Solexel, a Silicon Valley start-up, is preparing to build an $810 million solar panel factory in stages.
Malaysia, a Southeast Asian nation with just 30 million people, is the biggest winner in the trade wars that have embroiled the solar sector. As Chinese companies have been hit with American tariffs and European quotas, Malaysia has increasingly attracted multinationals with its relatively low labor costs, lucrative tax breaks, warm relations with the West and abundance of English-speaking engineering talent.
Malaysia is now the world’s third-largest producer of solar equipment, trailing China by a wide margin but catching up rapidly with the European Union. And Malaysia’s role in the global solar trade is only likely to increase in the coming months if the American government broadens tariffs on panels made in China next Tuesday as expected……
The solar manufacturing boom in Malaysia has been almost invisible, a rarity in an industry known for heavily promoting even the smallest factory opening or new solar panel farm as progress toward cleaner energy……..
Trade wars have helped some American companies. SolarWorld, a big manufacturer that has led trade litigation against China, recently said that it was expanding capacity by 150 megawatts and adding 200 jobs at its main solar panel factory in Hillsboro, Ore. It partly pointed to the trade actions that had slowed the flood of Chinese imports.
But production in Malaysia, already triple the United States’ output, is rising faster. The latest project underway in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, is an 800-megawatt solar module factory for Hanwha Q Cells. First Solar is putting the finishing touches on a 100-megawatt factory here to supply the Japanese market.
Malaysia is a beneficiary of the complex interaction of global trade rules, economic competitiveness and environmental policies in the solar industry. Tariffs have had the most immediate effect………. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/business/energy-environment/solar-rises-in-malaysia-during-trade-wars-over-panels.html
Iran and other countries look forward to business boom when nuclear deal is achieved
Anticipating Nuclear Deal and End to Sanctions, Iran Awaits a Business Boom, NYT By THOMAS ERDBRINK DEC. 12, 2014 “……….it is almost an article of faith in business circles that the latest extension is only the postponement of an inevitable thaw between Iran and the rest of the world…………
“The world needs this deal, we need this deal,” Ms. Moghimi said. “It will happen.”
Both moderates and conservatives have expressed concerns about the unchecked rise in expectations, among the public as well as elite business classes, that a deal will be cinched. They have been warning that the enthusiasm could turn to bitter disappointment if the negotiations, set to resume in Geneva next week, should fail, possibly touching off unrest or what some clerics call “another sedition,” a reference to the revolt that followed disputed presidential elections in 2009…….
The wave of optimism began with the election of a moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, who promised to mend Iran’s ties with the world. Mr. Rouhani continues to encourage that thinking, saying just last week that the “nuclear issue would be brought to its destination.” His foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif, promised after the most recent extension that a nuclear deal can happen “within weeks.”
The heightened expectations are not solely to be found among Iranians. The flow of foreign delegations to Iran continues at a steady pace, bringing eager businessmen who in conferences laud Iran’s unique geographical position, its stability and largely untapped market of middle-class consumers………http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/world/middleeast/anticipating-nuclear-deal-and-end-to-sanctions-iran-awaits-a-business-boom.html
Putin determined to market nuclear reactors to India
Putin’s India visit: New nuclear plants high on agenda , Live Mint 9 Dec 14 Vladimir Putin dispels concerns about military cooperation between Russia and Pakistan, says India is a ‘reliable and time-tested partner’ Moscow: Terming the ties with India as a “privileged strategic partnership”, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday disclosed that construction of new nuclear plants besides military and technical cooperation was high on the agenda during his visit to New Delhi…………France keen to sell nuclear reactors to Czech Republic (or indeed, anybody)
French Companies Interestedin Expanding Czech Nuclear Program Sputnik News 9 Dec 14 During his visit to Prague, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said French state-controlled companies such as Electricite de France and Areva are interested in expdanding the Czech Republic’s nuclear program.MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) — French energy companies are interested in developing the Czech’s nuclear program, according to country’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
Dyring his visit to Prague on Tuesday, Valls told a Czech-French business forum that state-controlled companies such as utility Electricite de France and nuclear engineering giant Areva “are ready to react to the decision” to expand the country’s nuclear energy output, according to Associated Press……..http://sputniknews.com/business/20141209/1015660406.html
Uranium prices will stay low : glut of uranium
Despite rebound, uranium spot price still too low to encourage new mines, South China Morning Post, 08 December, 2014 The spot-market price of uranium has rebounded almost 40 per cent from a nine-year low in May, but miners and analysts say prices are still too low to encourage the development of new mines to meet higher long-term demand for the nuclear power fuel, largely from the mainland.
Given ample supply, prices will remain depressed for some more time yet in the wake of the bear market induced by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, they say……..
it is a bit early to celebrate … in the near term, price gains will be held back by the existence of large inventory held by uranium consumers,” miner Rio Tinto Uranium’s managing director Clark Beyer said.
Mainland imports had been quite high in the past five years, and power producers in the United States were sitting on enough stock to last two years according to US government statistics, Beyer said.
Jonathan Hinze, a senior vice-president at US-based Ux Consulting, estimated this year’s combined mined uranium oxide supply and supply from inventories at 190 million pounds (86.18 tonnes), above demand of around 170 million pounds.
Even in 2020, the consultancy expects supply of 220 million pounds – including that from major new mines under development in Canada and Namibia – to be greater than the 200 million pounds of demand……
Worrying questions on the real costs of Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear power plant
State monitor warns on Ga. nuclear plant costs, seattle pi By RAY HENRY, Associated Press, December 7, 2014 TLANTA (AP) — Public watchdogs are giving Southern Co. a between-the-lines warning that building a multibillion-dollar nuclear plant in Georgia without a detailed construction schedule could trigger financial penalties.
That warning came in a report filed by a nuclear engineer and an analyst who work for state regulators and monitor the construction of two new reactors at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia.
The Public Service Commission has warned for at least two years that Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power is relying on an outdated project schedule that contains almost no detail after December 2015, even though construction will continue for several more years.
Nuclear engineer William Jacobs Jr. and financial analyst Steven Roetger said building a complex, first-of-its-kind project without a schedule was unreasonable. “In fact it runs counter to any prudent project management, nuclear or otherwise,” goes against the project’s construction agreement and an industry group’s own recommendations for construction, Jacobs and Roetger wrote in a semi-annual report.
That keyword — “prudent” — was meant to catch the ears of Southern Co. executives.
By law, the Public Service Commission can prevent Georgia Power, a regulated monopoly, from billing its customers for any construction costs the commission decides are the result of “imprudence.”
The state’s elected utility regulators have agreed to delay any final decisions on construction costs until after the first reactor is finished, likely in late 2017 at the earliest. However, the latest filing shows the commission’s staffers are laying the legal groundwork that could be used in future arguments to prevent customers from paying some of Georgia Power’s costs……….
Georgia Power’s budget estimate does not reflect the potential costs of resolving a roughly $1 billion lawsuit between the plant’s builders and its owners over previous delays and design changes. While Georgia Power has denied any responsibility for those extra costs, company leaders have said they would consider a settlement if it made financial sense.
Follow Ray Henry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rhenryAP. http://www.seattlepi.com/business/energy/article/State-monitor-warns-on-Ga-nuclear-plant-costs-5941198.php
VOX charts the rise and fall of nuclear power
The rise and fall of nuclear power, in 6 charts, Vox Brad Plumer on August 1, 2014, @bradplumer brad@vox.com Nuclear power is slowly going out of style. Back in 1996, atomic energy supplied 17.6 percent of the world’s electricity. Today that’s down to just 10.8 percent — and it could drop even further in the years ahead.MANY REACTORS ARE CLOSING — AND NEW REACTORS HAVE BEEN BOGGED DOWN BY DELAYSThat’s according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2014, which charts the rise and fall of nuclear power over time.
The upshot is that significantly fewer nuclear reactors are in operation today than was the case in 2010 — in large part due to the shutdown of 48 reactors in Japan after the Fukushima disaster. On the flip side, only China currently has plans to massively ramp up reactor construction. And new reactors in many countries, from Finland to Vietnam, are falling victim to delays and cost overruns.
That’s not encouraging news for efforts to tackle global warming. The proportion of energy that the world gets from carbon-free sources has stagnated since 1999 — in part because of the nuclear industry’s struggles. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that reducing emissions will be significantly more expensive if nuclear power’s not available.
Here are six key charts from the report:
1) Nuclear energy production has been falling since 2006……..
2) There are 388 nuclear reactors in operation — down from 438 a decade ago…….
4) There were 67 reactors “under construction” in 2014 — but delays are a problem……..
All told, the report notes that 49 of those reactors under construction have met with significant delays, ranging from several months to several years. Nuclear reactors are expensive and take a long time to build. They can face all sorts of obstacles in the meantime — from cost overruns to complex licensing processes to regulatory hurdles to popular opposition (the latter recently blocked construction of two reactors in Taiwan).
“Past experience shows that simply having an order for a reactor, or even having a nuclear plant at an advanced stage of construction, is no guarantee for grid connection and power production,” the report notes.
5) Just 14 countries have plans to build new nuclear reactors……..
6) Without further action, nuclear power could vanish in 50 years……..
Green energy now big business in Canada, bigger employer than tar sands is
Canada’s Green Energy Sector Now Employs More People Than Its Tar Sands, Climate Progress BY JEFF SPROSS DECEMBER 2, 2014 BETWEEN 2009 AND 2013, EMPLOYMENT IN CANADA’S CLEAN ENERGY SECTOR INCREASED BY 37 PERCENT — MEANING IT NOW SUPPLIES MORE JOBS THAN THE COUNTRY’S INFAMOUS TAR SANDS, ACCORDING TO A NEW REPORT.
“Clean energy has moved from being a small niche or boutique industry to really big business in Canada,” said Merran Smith, the director of Clean Energy Canada.
Green energy tends to be more labor intensive than energy from fossil fuels, meaning that every unit of energy produced by green sources tends to employ more people than those sources that come along with carbon emissions. In America, research suggests green jobs are more accessible to workers without a college education, that green sectors grow a bit faster than the economy as a whole, and that they more successfully weathered the 2008 recession.
The report also noted that Canada’s energy generation capacity in wind, solar, and other renewable sources has grown 93 percent over the past five years, and investors have pumped $25 billion into green energy in the country over that same time period………..http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/02/3598312/canada-green-energy-tar-sands/
Europe’s largest utility goes for renewables, dumps coal and nuclear
EU’s biggest utility dumps conventional generation to focus on renewables, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 2 December 2014 Out with the old, in with the new. That’s the dramatic new strategy of E.ON, Europe’s largest utility, which on Monday announced it was dumping conventional energy generation and would focus instead on renewables, distributed generation, and customer solutions.
The stunning divestment – coinciding with the first day of the annual climate change talks in Lima, Peru – is the most dramatic in a series of announcements by major utilities in the EU and the US in recent months, flagging a move towards wind and solar, decentralised generation, and a move away from the centralised model and conventional generation that has dominated the energy market for more than a century.
E.ON says it will focus exclusively on renewable energy, energy efficiency, digitising the distribution network and enabling customer-sited energy sources like storage paired with solar. Its main markets will be Europe and North America, and CEO Johannes Teyssen said the split was necessary because the new energy system required a compete change of culture, and it was impossible to grow two businesses in the same organisation………..
This is how E.ON sees the future of energy generation. There is the conventional energy world, based around large scale, centralised generation (coal, gas, nuclear), and the new energy world, focused on the customer, on sustainability, on distributed energy models (local generation and storage), and renewable energy.
What they are doing is splitting into listed companies. The new E.ON will consist of renewables, networks and customers, while the “old utility” will own all thermal and hydro plants and the global commodities business, and the remaining nuclear assets. E.ON shareholders will receive a majority stake in the “old utility”, but E.ON itself intends to sell its stake in the old utility.
Like any company or bank with dud assets – they are splitting their business into two, good and bad, old and new.
As UBS analysts noted: “This is the most radical transformation E.ON could have chosen, but we think it makes strategic sense and could create more value and growth than the traditional integrated business model.” It noted that E.ON clearly thought there would be no renaissance of conventional generation, and recognised that “green utilities” would get a higher rating by investors.
This is how Teyssen explained the new system:………….
The question for other utilities, including in Australia, is how long they can continue to marry the “old and the new” in the same organisation. As we have seen in recent months, all the three vertically integrated utilities – Origin Energy, AGL Energy, and EnergyAustralia – have recognised the threat of the “new energy” system, but downplayed its impact on their business.
They still act as though it is a threat rather than an opportunity, and the very fact of their vertical integration means that their policy position is to protect their incumbent businesses. Part of the problem is that unlike E.ON, they do not own network assets. That is for whom distributed generation makes most sense. The big assets for the Australian utilities are generators – who stand to lose from local solar and storage – and retailing, essentially packing bills for consumers.
Contrast the approach from Australian utilities with that of NRG, which could see the way that technology was changing, and decided to act before it was forced to by policy makers and regulators,
“We got sick of waiting around to see what was going to happen on the policy end,” Leah Seligmann, NRG Energy’s chief sustainability officer, told ThinkProgress last month.. “Frankly if the industry does not follow us and start moving, people are not going to have much patience with it. We can either become extinct or we can become involved.” http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/eus-biggest-utility-dumps-conventional-generation-to-focus-on-renewables-41244
UK government provides financial guarantee for giant Moorside nuclear project
UK agrees finance guarantee deal for nuclear project http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/uk-britain-politics-nuclear-idUKKCN0JG00320141202 LONDON Tue Dec 2, 2014 (Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it had agreed a preliminary deal to provide a financial guarantee to help fund the development of Europe’s largest nuclear power project, in northwest England.
The 3.4-gigawatt Moorside project, a joint venture between Japan’s Toshiba and France‘s GDF Suez, could provide nearly 7 percent of Britain’s projected electricity needs and create up to 21,000 jobs, the companies
say.
“The Guarantee Scheme is another way in which we can help companies to make the huge investment that building new nuclear power involves,” Finance Minister George Osborne said in a statement.
The scheme, which was introduced in 2012, is set to help the Moorside developers gain external project finance to cover the upfront costs of building a nuclear plant.
NuGen, the name of the Toshiba/GDF Suez joint venture, welcomed the agreement. he Moorside plant will be powered by three nuclear reactors by the end of 2026 to be provided by Toshiba’s Westinghouse unit, with the first reactor expected to start operating by the end of 2024.
NuGen said it plans to make a final investment decision for the Moorside project in 2018.
Britain is counting on replacing its ageing fleet of nuclear reactors with new stations. The government is already providing loan guarantees to France’s EDF for a 16 billion-pound nuclear plant due to be built in southern England.
(Reporting by William James and Karolin Schaps; editing by Robin Pomeroy and Jason Neely)
Murky labor conditions at crippled Fukuhsima nuclear facility
Fukushima workers still in murky labor contracts: Tepco survey, Chicago Tribune, 27 Nov 14 The number of workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant on false contracts has increased in the last year, the station operator said, highlighting murky labor conditions at the site despite a pledge to improve the work environment. The survey results released by Tokyo Electric Power Co <9501.T> (Tepco) late on Thursday showed that around 30 percent of plant workers polled said that they were paid by a different company from the contractor that normally directs them at the worksite, which is illegal under Japan’s labor laws.
Many workers asked Tepco in the survey forms whether they were supposed to receive an equivalent of about $180 a day in hazard pay, the company said, adding that it did not mean each worker would necessarily see a pay increase of that amount.
Tepco said last November it would double the allocation for hazard pay to workers at Fukushima……..http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/technology/sns-rt-us-fukushima-workers-20141127-story.html
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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