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Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure, Desjardins acquire Regional Power hydroelectric plants

Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure (CC&L Infrastructure) and Regime de Rentes du Mouvement Desjardins, Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company, and Certas Home and Auto Insurance Company (together, Desjardins) have acquired Regional Power Inc. from The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife).




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Shell makes aggressive move into U.K. retail power market

Royal Dutch Shell Plc took a step forward in its aim to become the world’s biggest power company with an aggressive move into the U.K. retail market by offering one of the cheapest tariffs available.




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Ameren, Opus One Solutions partner on DER, transactive energy markets

Illinois microgrid to test transactive energy markets as a part of the company's commitment to innovation and clean energy




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Duke Energy seeks approval for a $76M EV charging infrastructure pilot program

On Monday, Duke Energy announced a proposal to make what it says is the largest investment in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure ever in the Southeast – a $76 million initiative to spur EV adoption across the state.





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Investment group says solar energy could see “popularity boost” in UK due to Brexit

Solar energy companies could fill the void created by the lack of secure energy transfer between UK and EU, the group says.




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ArcelorMittal Energy signs landmark PPA for Spanish solar farms

Infrastructure and private equity investment manager Foresight Group has agreed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement with the energy arm of global steel and mining giant ArcelorMittal for two solar farms in Spain.




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UK power grid to be 'zero-carbon-capable' says operator

Two years after Britain had its first coal-free day since the Industrial Revolution, the nation’s network operator is readying itself for life without any fossil fuels.




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Genex Power receives final environmental approval for 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro

Genex Power Limited has secured all environmental approvals required to develop the 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro).




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Get ‘renewable therapy’ during next week’s Solar Education Week

The Redford Center, a California-based non-profit co-founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son, James, announced that every morning, from April 15-22, 2019, the organization will post an episode a day of "Renewable Therapy for Climate Anxiety," a conversational mini-series featuring Filmmaker, James Redford, and Matthew Nordan, clean energy investor and managing partner at MNL Partners. In each two-minute installment, the pair explores questions that nag environmentalists when it comes to renewable energy. Watch the first episode below.




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DTECH asks experts to share what they know about the future of energy delivery

Utilities and other energy experts convene each year at DISTRIBUTECH International (DTECH) to discuss the future of energy and this week Clarion Energy, organizer of the event, announced that the call for abstracts for the 2020 event is open.





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New residential loan options make paying for solar easier

In 2018, more than 300,000 residential solar systems were installed and that number is expected to grow in 2019. To make it easier for these green-minded consumers to go solar, last week, two companies, EnerBank USA and Mosaic, each announced offerings that will help solar installers and homeowners gain access to the capital needed to pay for solar PV systems.




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AES Gener to build battery backup for run-of-river hydropower

AES Gener is moving forward with the Virtual Dam project, which is being built next to the 178-MW Alfalfal I hydropower plant in the San Jose de Maipo district of the Metropolitan Region in Chile.




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Climate experts tell UK to set zero carbon target for 2050

Developing carbon capture and storage technology and low-carbon hydrogen is “a necessity not an option” for the UK to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2050.





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U.K. has been using coal-free energy since May 1

The U.K. has now gone more than a week without using any of its coal-fired power stations, yet another record, and a sign that life without the dirtiest fossil fuel might not be that far away.




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Hydrogen: key to a zero-carbon future, or a costly distraction?

The U.K.’s push for a low-carbon economy has some notable successes, but the hardest part of the battle has barely started.




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EU corporates want renewable energy but bureaucracy and regulations are holding them back

This week energy developer BayWa r.e. published its Energy Report 2019, which surveyed 1,200 European corporations about their attitudes toward renewable energy.




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Ameren tests software that could unlock future ‘transactive energy marketplace’

Ameren is preparing to test a Canadian company’s software that could someday help usher in a radically different business model for the utility.





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Duke Energy gets approval for solar + battery microgrid and standalone battery system

This week, Duke Energy announced that regulators have approved two projects involving energy storage worth about $30 million.




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U.S. set to overtake South Korea in 2019 as world’s largest grid-connected battery energy-storage market

The United States in 2019 will become the world’s largest market for grid-connected battery energy storage, as solar-plus-storage and peaking capacity requirements drive increased procurement, according to IHS Markit.




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Companies explore how to make your home smart and 100% renewable-powered

Big Oil wants to put a box in your hall closet that works like a human brain, can cut the lights, stop the refrigerator and will know how you move about in the privacy of your home better than you do.




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The bursting of the Tesla stock bubble

For Elon Musk and Tesla Inc., the blows from Wall Street came one after another this week -- a relentless barrage that left the stock so beat up that some now wonder if it can ever regain its status as the ultimate 21st century disrupter.





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EV charging sites now outnumber petrol stations in UK

Newly released figures from Zap-Map, a charging point platform, reveal that the number of public charging locations in the country has now surpassed the number of petrol stations.




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PJM looks to plug ‘leaks’ sprouting from patchwork of state carbon policies

The nation’s largest electric grid operator is grappling with how to prevent state climate policies from merely pushing emissions — and costs — across state lines.




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Aggreko delivers 2 MW/3.8 MWh energy storage system for National Grid US

The energy storage resource is expected to help lower energy costs for National Grid’s customers in upstate New York




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Duke Energy Florida to build 22 MW of electricity storage

Duke Energy Florida (DEF) announced three battery storage projects, totaling 22 megawatts, that will improve overall reliability and support critical services during power outages, according to the company.




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J-POWER invests to help fund 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Australia

Genex Power Limited has signed a share subscription agreement (SSA) with Electric Power Development Co Ltd, trading as J-POWER, for a conditional investment of up to AUD$25 million (US$17.5 million).




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Renewable energy market employs 11 million in 2018 – IRENA

Eleven million people were employed in renewable energy worldwide in 2018 according to the latest analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).




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New York to pass 'one of the most aggressive clean energy mandates in the country'

New York is poised to pass its own version of the Green New Deal with a climate bill that would more than triple the state’s solar capacity and aggressively promote development of wind farms off the state’s coast.





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EWF launches world’s first open source blockchain for the energy industry

The Energy Web Foundation (EWF) this week announced that it has launched the world’s first public, open-source, enterprise-grade blockchain tailored to the energy sector: the Energy Web Chain (EW Chain). As a refresher, blockchain allows for peer-to-peer energy market transactions.




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Power companies in New England tapping residential batteries to reduce peak demand

Here’s the latest wrinkle in the battery boom: National Grid Plc is paying consumers to tap electricity from their power-storage systems.




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Clearway Energy sets up blockchain test to trade renewable energy credits

Clearway Energy Group, one of the U.S.’s largest clean power developers, is launching a pilot electronic marketplace for renewable energy credits as more states push for solar and wind projects.




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AI-powered storage company enters Northeast market with “front-of-the-meter” solution

This week artificial intelligence (AI)-driven energy storage services provider Stem said that it had formed a partnership with New York-based private equity company Syncarpha Capital to build 28.2 megawatt-hours (MWh) of large-scale storage projects co-sited with solar in Massachusetts.




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Minnesota utilities weigh energy storage as substitute for peaker plants

Gas peaker plants may be among the first casualties of a new Minnesota law requiring utilities to include energy storage as part of their long-range plans.




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Fantasy Energy League Draft follow-up: breaking down the first round

In late 2018, I put out the call to see how many fellow energy nerds I could gather to indulge me in combining my passion for energy analysis and clean power policy with my love of fantasy sports. By the end of January 2019, I had my cast of characters who somehow thought this idea was as fun as I did (isn’t the Internet the greatest tool for finding people who share your interests?) and I released my Draft Preview. Coordinating this draft among 14 different teams with different time zones and schedules chock-full of actually helping to save the planet proved no easy task, but by the end of March we had conducted 5 rounds of picks for a total of 70 selections in this Inaugural Fantasy Energy League!




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HydroVision International kicks off in Portland, Ore., U.S.

The HydroVision International event is now under way in the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, with more than 3,000 hydropower professionals from around the world coming together for four days of learning and networking.




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Energy CEOs extol virtues of hydropower while bemoaning its lack of public support

Last week at the HydroVision International plenary session, a panel of three CEOs — Darrel T. Anderson, President and CEO IDACORP and Idaho Power, Mitch Davidson, CEO and Managing Partner, Brookfield Renewable Power, and Paul Jacob, President and CEO, Rye Development — along with moderator Elizabeth Ingram, Content Director, Clarion Energy, discussed both the merits and the challenges of hydropower development in the United States and Canada.




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Democratic debate 2019 takeaways

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders stuck together, Pete Buttigieg took the middle path, Marianne Williamson took on racism and Beto O’Rourke faded into the background.




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Energy storage sites provide unique wholesale market participation

ENGIE Storage has announced it will supply and operate a 19 MW/38 MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target Program and participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets.





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London finds no easy answers after once-in-a-decade blackout

When two U.K. power plants shut down almost simultaneously in London’s first major blackout for a decade, it triggered a storm of questions about how to avoid another failure.




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Net zero carbon emissions ‘impossible’ without hydrogen says UK energy alliance

The UK’s North West Hydrogen Alliance (NWHA) is calling for government investment in hydrogen projects to meet ambitious carbon reductions targets in Britain.




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Softbank invests $110M in new energy storage system

Energy Vault, the creator of a new way to perform utility-scale energy storage, announced that SoftBank Vision Fund (Vision Fund) invested $110 million in its Series B funding round. Energy Vault will use the funds to accelerate global deployment of its technology, which enables renewables to deliver baseload power for less than the cost of fossil fuels 24 hours a day, said the company. As part of the investment, Andreas Hansson, Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join the Energy Vault board of directors.




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New study shows benefits of local renewable energy marketplaces

The financial benefits of buying and selling locally produced energy from rooftop solar, wind turbines and batteries within communities have been revealed in a test case run by energy tech firm LO3 Energy.




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Hydrogen is expected to account for 10% of China’s energy network by 2050

The Chinese government recently issued a whitepaper on the status and prospects of the hydrogen fuel and fuel cell sectors, indicating that energy derived from hydrogen will become an important part of the Chinese energy network.