QUICK NEWS, 4-12: FUKUSHIMA OFFICIALLY AS BAD AS CHERNOBYL; CHINA BUYS, EATS U.S. NEW ENERGY LUNCH; SOLAR POWER SITE-SNAG; OF WIND AND BIRDS

FUKUSHIMA OFFICIALLY AS BAD AS CHERNOBYL
Japan May Raise Nuclear Accident Rating as Radiation Increases
Tsuyoshi Inajima, April 11, 2011 (Bloomberg News)

"Japan’s nuclear crisis may be raised to the highest level of severity, matching Chernobyl’s rating, as increasing radiation prompts the government to widen the evacuation zone…

"Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency lifted the rating level to 7…The accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s station is currently rated 5 on the global scale, the same as the 1979 partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania."

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"The stricken nuclear plant, located about 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of Tokyo, is leaking radiation in Japan’s worst civilian nuclear disaster after a magnitude-9 quake and tsunami on March 11. The plant has withstood hundreds of aftershocks, and the government widened the surrounding evacuation zone…

"A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Chiba, the prefecture east of Tokyo, at 8:08 a.m. local time [Monday]…This followed a 6.6-magnitude temblor [Sunday] and a magnitude 7.1 aftershock…[Thursday]…A fire at the sampling building near the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station was [discovered and] extinguished [Monday, unrelated to the earthquake]…"


CHINA BUYS, EATS U.S. NEW ENERGY LUNCH
China Buries Obama’s ‘Sputnik’ Goal for Clean-Energy Use
Ben Sills (w/Alex Morales, Reed Landberg, Feifei Shen, Christopher Martin and Todd White), April 4, 2011 (Bloomberg Businesssweek)

"China is beating the U.S. in the race to supply clean-energy technologies to the world…China Development Bank Corp., which listed [former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kisdsinger] as an advisory board member…agreed last year to lend 232 billion yuan ($35.4 billion) to Chinese wind and solar power companies. The U.S. gave about $4 billion to their American competitors in grants and offered about $16 billion of loan guarantees. Adding in private investment, China also led.

"CDB, which has almost twice the assets of the World Bank, is matching U.S. expertise with Chinese financing and manufacturing prowess to dominate a market both nations say is critical to their future. Chinese solar-panel makers such as LDK Solar Co. Ltd. were the biggest loan recipients and for the first time last year supplied more than half the global market…"

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"President Barack Obama said in January his country needs another “Sputnik moment” to wean itself off of foreign oil. The U.S. had just slipped to third place behind China and Germany in a ranking of nations funding renewable power in 2010 as Republicans in Congress blocked the White House’s energy spending plans…

"In addition to the $35.4 billion CDB pledged in corporate loans, state and private interests sank $54.4 billion into Chinese equity and project debt for clean-energy companies last year, up from $39.1 billion in 2009…In the U.S., which led the ranking in 2008, $34 billion was invested, trailing Germany’s $41.2 billion…Clean-energy loans constituted about 28 percent of all [CDB] lending…China’s state-driven investment hasn’t always paid off…Barclays Plc fell as much as 93 percent following [CDB’s] 2.2 billion-euro investment in July 2007…Still, CDB’s 35.3 billion-yuan profit in 2010 exceeded Morgan Stanley’s and its own 30.2 billion-yuan net in 2009…"

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"Obama is struggling to win support for his energy policy. The Republican-controlled House passed a budget proposal in February that will cut 2012 funds for the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs by 35 percent to $1.5 billion…The president proposed almost twice that amount…China will invest about [$75 billion] in clean-energy projects each year for a decade in a 5 trillion-yuan program aimed at steering the economy away from fossil fuels, under a five-year plan announced last month. CDB loans are expanding the manufacturing base, driving down the cost of the renewable- energy equipment it exports…

"CDB’s lending to the clean-energy industry rose 32 percent last year as it granted a five-year credit line to LDK Solar, the world’s largest maker of solar wafers, for the equivalent of $9.1 billion. The bank also loaned $7.6 billion to Suntech Power Holdings Co. and $5.5. billion to Yingli Green Energy Holding Co…Baoding-based Yingli, which this year began building new plants in Tianjin and Hengshui, Hebei province, will supplement its CDB credit with syndicated loans as it expands…The loans will allow China’s solar companies to sell more cheaply than global competitors by developing less-expensive panels and will protect them from hedge funds that are shorting their shares…"


SOLAR POWER SITE-SNAG
BLM fast track: CSP siting highway hits bumps in the road
Bob Moser, 8 April 2011 (CSP Today)

"The US Bureau of Land Management is intent on opening up public land and clearing the way for renewable energy development. But public pressure groups are digging in their heels…With a list of 19 priority projects published in March, the [BLM] has opened federal land to renewable power developers at a brisk pace. But with some projects being slowed by litigation, developers still have cause to weigh whether public or private land is the smarter route…

"Developing solar and wind resources on federal land will be key, Brady says, to meeting the goals US Congress has set for added renewable capacity – 10 MW by 2015 on public lands – as well as renewable portfolio standards now in place for most western states…Of the 19 priority projects…nine are solar…four of those are CSP…[T]he BLM [offerings fit] the large-scale acreage needs for CSP [of about 8 acres per megawatt], says Brett Prior, senior analyst at GTM Research, the market research arm of GreenTech Media…"

A solar power tower installation (click to enlarge)

"While no additional projects will make the priority list in 2011, there are several projects that the BLM's energy policy team is currently to working on, some of which will begin the NEPA process this year. Those won't reach completion until 2012, at the earliest…For 2012, there are currently 25 renewable energy projects in the fast-track pipeline…[ expected to] begin the process in 2011…

"The environmental review process typically takes two years to complete, so companies that begin in 2011…[hope to finish] in 2012…Of those 25 in line for 2012, about half are solar and half wind, with a small number of geothermal. [BLM’s draft solar programmatic EIS is currently in the public review. Once available, it will assist interested developers in identifying the best available sites for solar projects on public land]…"

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"…[O]nly one federal land solar project…[t]he 709 MW Imperial Valley Solar project, formerly known as SES Solar Two, had an injunction issued against further construction in 2010…[A]Native American group filed suit against it. Solar company Tessera recently sold the project to AES Solar…While some other renewable energy projects that BLM has been involved with do have litigation pending, no other injunctions have been granted. Those projects have moved ahead…with some already starting construction…

"One example of injunction efforts failing is the 150-megawatt Spring Valley wind project…It had been on the BLM's fast track list, but environmentalists asked to stop the project in the name of protecting local bat populations. A judge recently denied the injunction request, and while litigation can continue, so can progress on the project…"


OF WIND AND BIRDS
Environmentalism needs dose of common sense
Editorial, April 11, 2011 (Rochester Post-Bulletin)

"…[B]ird enthusiasts have been successful in throwing up roadblocks to wind development…On April 4, Xcel Energy abandoned its plan for a $400 million, 150-megawatt wind farm in southeast North Dakota, a project that would have helped the utility company meet Minnesota's requirement that by 2020, it will generate 30 percent of its power from renewable sources. In announcing its change in plans, Xcel cited…the project's [potential] impact on birds.

"…The American Bird Conservancy, which reports with great gravity and mournfulness that wind turbines kill 400,000 birds per year, actually wants federal regulators to consider requiring radar systems at wind farms…[to shut the turbines down automatically when] a flock of birds approaches…Is 400,000 a lot of birds? …[T]he same American Bird Conservancy also contends that free-ranging cats kill a half-billion birds each year in the United States. Perhaps we should ban felines…"

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"…[ Dr. Daniel Klem, zoology professor] at Muhlenburg College in Allentown, Pa…studied bird mortality for more than 20 years…[and] found that one culprit is to blame for nearly 1 billion avian deaths per year — more than cats, hunters, automobiles and wind turbines combined…[Y]ou probably have contributed to this carnage…The culprit? Glass windows. The average bird is far more likely to meet its demise against a patio door or picture window than a wind turbine blade. Yet…no one has introduced any legislation that would require us to replace our window panes…

"We're not suggesting that wind farms should be set up with complete disregard for the flight patterns of birds. Wind-swept bluffs along the Mississippi River might be great places to produce electricity, but they would take a higher-than-acceptable toll on waterfowl and eagles. Common sense should prevail."

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"But let's try to keep things in perspective. What would cause more environmental impact: A new wind farm or a new coal-fired power plant that requires coal to be mined, transported via diesel-powered trains, then burned (causing carbon emissions, release of mercury and other pollution). Then something has to be done with the ash.

"Wind energy is still in its infancy in the United States, and the jury is still out as to whether it will someday be able to stand on its own financially and play a major role in weaning us off of fossil fuels. But if developers and utility companies have to waste time and money fighting unnecessary and often frivolous legal battles, then we better start building more nuclear plants and coal-burners…"