QUICK NEWS, January 14: THE FIGHT FOR WIND IN NORTH CAROLINA; TOO MUCH SOLAR IN HAWAII; NAT GAS TRUCK AND BUS MARKET TO JUMP

THE FIGHT FOR WIND IN NORTH CAROLINA Two sides to North Carolina's wind-energy debate

Dawn Kurry, January 9, 2014 (Triangle Business Journal)

"Despite being poised with resources along the coast, 2014 won’t be the year for wind energy to take off in North Carolina. In fact, it may be at least another five years…[Some believe] residential wind energy for North Carolinians is a pipe dream [because the resource is inadequate]…[Others say the resource is strong enough but] North Carolina has been wise to wait before jumping into expensive wind energy developments, and with the prices of solar panels dropping, there hasn’t been any big need for wind power…One of the biggest challenges for North Carolina is that places like the Outer Banks are not densely populated, therefore it lacks in infrastructure…” click here for more

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TOO MUCH SOLAR IN HAWAII System overload slows Hawaii’s solar energy boom; Energy collected by homeowners’ panels taxed the state’s power grid, and the local utility has stopped connecting them

Jennifer London, January 10, 2014 (AlJazeera America)

"…Today 10 percent of households in the Aloha State have rooftop solar systems to generate electricity, compared with no more than 3 percent in California. But now Hawaii is facing a problem: the increase of privately installed solar panels has overloaded the power grid…[Hawaiian Electric Co.] has seen such an increase in private solar panels, prompted in part by federal and state tax incentives, that it stopped connecting them this fall…[T]he company expects to have a short-term solution for customers in the spring…” click here for more

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NAT GAS TRUCK AND BUS MARKET TO JUMP Natural Gas Trucks and Buses; Medium and Heavy Duty Natural Gas Trucks and Buses, Natural Gas Supply, Refueling Infrastructure, CNG, and LNG: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts

Q4 2013 (Navigant Research)

“Two main issues are driving the increased usage of natural gas as a fuel for trucks and buses: the lower cost of natural gas and the lower emissions of natural gas engines…North America and Asia Pacific stand out as regions with strong growth. In North America, where natural gas costs remain low, the growth of the vehicle market has gotten ahead of the refueling station development. In Asia Pacific, China and developing markets are looking to natural gas to help solve environmental woes in large cities. Navigant Research forecasts that the total number of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) on the road across the world will reach nearly 1.9 million trucks and a similar 1.8 million buses by 2022…” click here for more

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