Recently, Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted that the cost of new wind and solar would soon beat the cost of refurbished coal plants. Now BNEF predicts that solar will beat the cost of existing, fully depreciated and unrefurbished coal plants by 2032. And wind will follow soon after.
Major transmission company Transgrid says 100% renewable energy is both feasible and affordable, and is urging policy makers to “step out in large ways” because incremental change will not deliver climate goals or potential cost savings.
Consider these two propositions: The top reason cited by Australian business for using more renewables it that it costs less. The top reason cited by Australian business for not using renewables it that it costs more.
On January the 1st of 2017, Dutch National Railway company NS made a monumental step towards a world in which we no longer compromise the wellbeing of future generations for the sake of our own livelihood. NS is switching to wind energy from newly erected wind farms for transporting all of its 600,000 daily passengers, which is leading to the company cutting carbon emissions equivalent to the electricity consumption of the entire population of Amsterdam — 1.2 billion kWh a year! This bold move worked out great for the company’s public image, as it was featured in news outlets around the globe. NS found itself being widely lauded as exemplary for how companies can contribute to reducing a country’s carbon footprint.
The new 252 MW Deutsche Bucht Offshore Wind Farm set to be developed in the German North Sea has hit two major milestones, with developer Northland Power reaching financial close, and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind being chosen to supply wind turbines.
The top 20 articles of the week didn’t include a single Tesla article, and especially not a Tesla Model 3 article! (Just kidding.)
As Tesla races to deliver its grid and wind farm-connected 129MWh lithium-ion battery in time for South Australia’s coming summer, a much smaller-scale version of some of the same technology is set to be switched on at a salt manufacturing facility across the Tasman, on New Zealand’s South Island.
Originally published on RenewEconomy. By Sophie Vorrath An Australia-first trial to demonstrate the ability of wind farms to provide crucial grid stabilising services traditionally supplied by “baseload” coal and gas plants, is now set to begin in October. The South Australia-based trial, first flagged in February, and originally scheduled for June, … [continued]
AGL Energy has continued to rubbish suggestions from members of the Coalition, as well as the Murdoch media and the ABC, that Australia should invest in new baseload generation, particularly in coal plants.
Originally published on The Conversation. By Hartmut Winkler, Professor of Physics, University of Johannesburg South African power utility Eskom recently repeated that it will not conclude supply contracts with the developers of new renewable energy power stations. These developers were selected under a programme to facilitate private sector involvement in the building of medium-sized … [continued]
