QUICK NEWS, May 13: ANOTHER UTILITY GOES AFTER SOLAR; HAWAII’S NEW GEOTHERMAL POSSIBILITIES; BIOFUELS CAN BEAT CHEAP OIL
ANOTHER UTILITY GOES AFTER SOLAR Proposed surcharge on Utahns with solar panels is back for Rocky Mountain Power customers
Brian Maffly, May 12, 2015 (The Salt Lake Tribune)
“…[S]ome Salt Lake City students are weighing in with a petition asking the Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) to protect Rocky Mountain Power customers who harvest sunbeams from the utility company's plan to impose new fees on them…[They are insisting the Utah Public Service Commission] take a broader view of solar's benefits…Residential power generation has become so widespread that utilities in Utah and other states say such customers are unfairly off-loading their share of maintaining the power grid. Utah's largest utility wants state permission to impose a monthly surcharge on solar-equipped [net metered] customers…” click here for more
HAWAII’S NEW GEOTHERMAL POSSIBILITIES awaii Geothermal Solution Mining Possibility
May 11, 2015 (Big Island Video News)
“…[A presentation to the Hawaii County Council] is likely to spark a state-wide discussion on the use of Hawaii’s mineral resources…RJ Hampton and Sativa Sultan revealed their detailed research on the possibilities of geothermal solution mining…In Hawaii, the geothermal resource is used as a power source…[O]nly one company – Ormat, based out of Israel – has the right to tap that resource in order to produce energy. But Hampton and Sultan believe there is another, lucrative aspect to the resource…[Drilling into the magma chamber can recover abundant lithium and there is a machine that turns the geothermal brine from the power plant, in 90 minutes, into silicon wafers with] many applications, from thin film to solar panels…” click here for more
BIOFUELS CAN BEAT CHEAP OIL Biofuel Developers like Neste Oil, Diamond Green Can Thrive Despite Cheap Oil; Oil prices' precipitous drop could undermine alternative fuel developers, but Lux Research evaluated 25 companies to see which can overcome the challenge from cheap oil
May 13, 2015 (Lux Research) “While alternative fuels like biofuels had obvious appeal when oil prices were well over $100 a barrel, the plummet in oil prices to $50 levels can threaten the cost-competitiveness of alternative fuels. However, many developers have planned for low oil prices and some will still be able to achieve cost reductions needed to thrive, according to [a Lux Research analysis of 400 alternative fuel producers and a closer study of 25 companies from seven technology families, four feedstock types and three stages of development]…Neste Oil, Diamond Green are benefiting from cost cuts…Solena Biofuels and Joule Unlimited were among the laggards…Amid low oil prices, high-profile companies such as Solazyme, [Sapphire Energy,] Amyris, and Gevo have shifted decisively toward specialty chemicals and nutraceuticals…Oil majors [like Total] remain a pillar of support…” click here for more
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