THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT THURSDAY, September 26: WIND OPPONENTS ‘IN THE STONE AGE’; NEW ENERGY BEATS THE COSTS OF COAL; SOLAR POWER TOWER PASSES TEST

WIND OPPONENTS ‘LIVING IN THE STONE AGE’ – UK LEADER Opponents of wind farms are living in the “Stone Age”, Ed Davey has said, as he declared war on Tory Cabinet colleagues over turbines.

Peter Dominiczak, 15 September 2013 (UK Telegraph)

“…[Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey] accused Conservatives of attempting to ‘destroy’ the UK’s renewables industry…He singled out Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, warning that he is trying to ‘cull’ wind turbines…Mr Davey warned that [a report commissioned by Mr Paterson on the impact of wind farms on the countryside] would be ‘partial’ and potentially inaccurate…His aides said Mr Davey is fighting "trench warfare" with Tory colleagues over green energy…He said that Tories opposing wind farms and other green energy policies are ‘irresponsible’…” click here for more

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NEW ENERGY CHEAPER THAN THE COSTS OF COAL New Study: Clean Energy Least Costly to Power America's Electricity Needs

Laurie Johnson, September 17, 2013 (Natural Resources Defense Council)

“…[O]nce estimates of climate change costs and other health impacts are taken into account, it would be cheaper to build new power plants from wind turbines or solar panels than from coal. It would also be cheaper to replace some of our dirtiest coal plants with these cleaner sources…In other words, transitioning to cleaner energy won’t just help protect us and our children and grand-children from climate change, it’s also good economics…The social cost of carbon: implications for modernizing our electricity system…[shows] that our electricity system, which generates fully 40 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide pollution, is costly…[E]xtreme weather caused more than $140 billion in damages in 2012. American taxpayers picked up nearly $100 billion of those costs…” click here for more

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SOLAR POWER TOWER PASSES BIG TEST Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Reaches ‘First Sync’ Milestone; Testing confirms operational readiness of world’s largest solar thermal project

September 24, 2013 (BusinessWire)

“…NRG Solar, today announced that the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System produced its first output of energy when the Unit 1 station was synced to the power grid for the first time. Achieving this critical ‘first sync’ is a major milestone…[It] demonstrates the effectiveness of the station’s power tower technology, which includes large heliostats that track the sun throughout the day, solar field integration software and a solar receiver steam generator…Power generated from Ivanpah’s initial sync testing will go to [PG&E], which has a power purchase agreement (PPA) for energy produced out of the plant’s Unit 1 station. Power generated from Ivanpah’s Unit 3 station is also sold under a PPA with PG&E, while Unit 2 is under a PPA with [SCE]…Proof-of-concept testing will also be conducted at Unit 2 and 3 in the coming months…” click here for more

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