QUICK NEWS, January 15: PERIOD OF RE-EVALUATION FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS; WIND STABILIZED TEXAS GRID IN BIG FREEZE; $16MIL TO $3BIL BY 2035 FOR EV BATTERY RECYLCING

PERIOD OF RE-EVALUATION FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS After a building boom, solar energy's prospects now aren't as sunny; The pace of solar development has slowed to a crawl, with a number of companies going out of business and major projects canceled.

Julie Cart, January 11, 2014 (LA Times)

“…[T]he pace of development [of large-scale solar power plants across the desert Southwest] has slowed to a crawl, with a number of companies going out of business and major projects canceled for lack of financing...Of the 365 federal solar applications since 2009, just 20 plants are on track to be built. Only three large-scale solar facilities have gone online, two in California and one in Nevada…Several factors are responsible, industry analysts say. The tight economy has made financing difficult to obtain, and the federal government has not said whether it will continue to offer tax credits…Another, somewhat unexpected issue is the difficulty solar developers are having negotiating agreements to sell their power to large utilities…[because] utilities in many states are on track to meet [renewables mandates], giving them less incentive to buy higher-priced solar energy —especially as a steep decline in natural gas prices has cut the cost of power…” click here for more

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WIND STABILIZED TEXAS GRID IN BIG FREEZE Cold pushes Texas power use to winter record

Eileen O’Grady, January 7, 2014 (Reuters)

“Below-freezing temperatures across Texas pushed power use to a new winter record…but the state avoided a…power emergency as generating supplies improved…Sufficient generation and higher wind output from West Texas wind farms boosted the state's electric supply…when the grid operator declared an emergency as power plants shut unexpectedly…Prices ranged from $25 to $600 per megawatt-hour as demand peaked, down from [the previous day] when prices hit the $5,000 price cap for about one hour…ERCOT was able to avert rolling outages Monday by importing power and implementing demand response programs to curb rising demand…One of the state's largest power plants, Luminant's Comanche Peak 1 nuclear reactor, is operating at 72 percent of capacity…[M]ore than 3,700 megawatts of generation was forced to shut...on top of nearly 10,000 MW of generation that was already shut for the season or for planned maintenance…” click here for more

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$16MIL TO $3BIL BY 2035 FOR EV BATTERY RECYLCING Second-Life Batteries: From PEVs to Stationary Applications

1Q 2014 (Navigant Research)

“The first lithium ion (Li-ion) battery-powered plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were launched in 2010 with the emergence of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF, soon to be followed by dozens of other car launches. More than 100,000 PEVs have been sold thus far, and sales volumes are rising fast. The battery packs in these vehicles are usually warrantied for 8 to 10 years and, after that period, most will have reduced energy storage capacity. Battery manufacturers expect that those batteries will retain 80% of the original capacity, on average…Reusing salvaged batteries for stationary applications solves a significant problem: new batteries cost too much to allow for their profitable use on the grid…Navigant Research forecasts that the global second-life battery business will grow from $16 million in 2014 to $3 billion in 2035…” click here for more

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