QUICK NEWS, September 3: ARIZONA NEW ENERGY ADDS 3,060 JOBS IN Q2; EXELON-PEPCO MERGER COULD STILL WIND; U.S. GEOTHERMAL TEARS AT RED TAPE
ARIZONA NEW ENERGY ADDS 3,060 JOBS IN Q2 Renewable-energy project gives state fastest clean-energy job growth
Brittany Bade, August 28, 2014 (Cronkite News)
"…[With more than new 3,000 workers in clean-energy industries, Arizona claimed] the biggest growth in renewable-energy jobs in the nation for the second quarter of 2014…[ Clean Energy Works For Us: Second Quarter 2014 Report] from Environmental Entrepreneurs said the bulk of the new Arizona jobs – and a large share of the total planned for the nation – could be attributed to the proposed Solar Wind Energy Tower project in San Luis. Developers of that project said they plan to add 2,350 workers, with most of those being construction jobs at the $1.5 billion plant…[That knocked] California out of first place for the quarter…Between April and June, [New Energy industries] said they planned to add 12,582 such jobs nationally. Solar-power firms announced the highest number of hires for the fifth consecutive quarter, with 5,895 jobs, while wind-power businesses were second with a planned 2,750 hires]…” click here for more
EXELON-PEPCO MERGER COULD STILL WIND Exelon opposes renewal of wind subsidy
Aaron Nathans, August 29, 2014 (The News Journal)
“…Exelon owns such distribution utilities as PECO in Pennsylvania and BGE in Baltimore. It has filed papers to merge with Pepco Holdings Inc., owner of Delmarva Power in Delaware and Maryland, Pepco in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and Atlantic City Electric in New Jersey…[T]he largest operator of nuclear power plants in the United States, [Exelon] has been vocal in opposition to the Production Tax Credit, a subsidy to wind farm developers that drives down the cost of construction, and thus the cost of the power…The tax credit expired at the end of 2013, causing a flurry of wind development to beat the deadline. Wind industry supporters say there’s still a chance it will be belatedly renewed, and are lobbying to make it so…Exelon is the country’s 11th largest wind producer, with 1,300 megawatts of wind generation in 10 states. Still, this remains a small percentage of the company’s overall portfolio…[I]ts opposition to the tax credit made Exelon the first member to be expelled from AWEA…” click here for more
U.S. GEOTHERMAL TEARS AT RED TAPE Geothermal Power Gathering Steam in U.S.
September 2, 2014 (OilPrice via NASDAQ)
“…[F]or various reasons -- including logistics, economics and permitting issues -- geothermal has not even come close to reaching its potential. That could be changing…[ U.S. House and Senate subcommittees discussed permitting needs and took up] geothermal bills that may hasten its development and remove some bureaucratic obstacles…[A] House subcommittee heard that…the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires geothermal developers to submit over 175 “document sets” for each project, which could mean hundreds of thousands of pages…[and] that geothermal power projects [which are not limited by the variability of solar and wind] can take as many as seven years to develop, compared to three to five years for oil and gas projects, and just 18 months for solar or wind start-ups…The Geothermal Energy on Federal Lands Act would streamline the process…[A]nother proposed bill would promote the development of renewable energy on public lands…Geothermal legislation is also moving forward at the state level [in California and Nevada]…The economics of geothermal exploration can also be [a riskier proposition than building a solar installation or wind farm, and the payouts are obviously much less than drilling for oil or natural gas but]…geothermal appears set to finally take off in the U.S.” click here for more
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