U.S. electricity markets face years of higher prices as clean-air regulations shut more coal-fired power plants than earlier forecast, cutting supply and forcing producers to rely more on natural gas.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects, wind power provided over two-thirds (68.41 percent) of new U.S. electrical generating capacity in October 2014. Specifically, five wind farms in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas came on line last month, accounting for 574 MW of new capacity.

Ending a year-long race that had been nip-and tuck every month, renewable energy sources cumulatively provided more new electric generating capacity in 2014 than did natural gas.

The recent dramatic plunge in oil and natural gas prices, to their lowest level since the global recession in 2009, has some observers worried about the effect on clean tech. Conventional wisdom has it that renewables have a tougher time competing when fossil fuels are cheap, making grid parity (in the case of natural gas-fired electricity) more elusive for solar and wind power.

In a previous article, I had a conversation with former-CIA chief Jim Woolsey to discuss one of America’s greatest national security vulnerabilities, its power grid. The issues that Woolsey has been concerned with for over a decade has been the ease in which a terrorist group or other actor (think North Korea for example) could attack the grid and plunge the country into darkness for months, if not years. And if that seems far-fetched, just recall how a tree limb fell in Ohio in 2003 and blacked out the entire Northeast and part of Canada for several days.

The renewable energy industry has come a long way in relatively little time. The costs of renewable technologies continue to go down, while renewable capacities at many utilities continue to go up. Although, in many cases, renewable technology is mature and ready for utility-scale deployment, state and federal production and investment tax policies appear less evolved.

Europe’s utilities are re-evaluating their business models due to the energy transition. Members of POWER-GEN Europe’s Advisory Board consider how a reliance on fossil fuels is no longer politically desirable, forcing utilities to transform their portfolios to adapt to radical change.

Just over a decade ago, the state of California faced serious concerns about whether its utilities could generate and/or buy enough power to assure that the world’s seventh-largest economy could keep the lights on. The infamous California energy crisis, which affected several other western states as well, was a complex tangle of poorly structured deregulation, significant market manipulation (remember Enron?), and other causes. Along with rolling blackouts, California endured an official state of emergency that lasted 34 months, led to the recall and replacement of Gov. Gray Davis, and cost the state and its ratepayers billions of dollars — a cautionary tale for all states of electricity supply unable to meet demand.

By Kelly Scanlon, director, environment, health and safety policy and research, IPC The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released “scoping documents” for its upcoming reviews of certain high-priority chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 6(b). Your review of these documents is important because scoping is the foundation of the risk evaluation […]

By Kelly Scanlon, director, environment, health and safety policy and research, IPC The U.S. Environmental Protection Associations (EPA) is seeking public comment on a proposed 2020 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for stormwater discharges from industrial activity. This proposed permit would replace the 2015 MSGP upon finalization. This proposed permit […]

The US defence market remains the world’s largest and can be a lucrative export market for Australian industry.

While it’s well known that corporations were some of the earliest trailblazers of large-scale renewable energy purchasing — they’ve closed over 14 gigawatts of deals in the past six years, according to tracking by Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewables Center — higher education has also made impressive strides. In fact, a report released last fall showed that the top 30 renewable energy-buying universities are using around 3 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. That’s enough to power 276,000 homes.

GE Renewable Energy and Future Wind said this week that they have signed an agreement to install the first Haliade-X 12-MW wind turbine prototype in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam this summer. The deal includes five years of testing and a 15-year full service Operation and Maintenance agreement.

Analysts at Huajin Securities in China said they expect newly installed capacity nationwide for 2018 to be somewhere between 21 and 22 GW, and that the wind power curtailment rate would continue to drop. Newly installed capacity for wind power is expected to continue to grow steadily over the next two years, while the proportion of the country’s total power sourced from wind is expected to continue to increase as well.

This week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that rather than investing in the Haynes, Harbor and Scattergood natural gas power plants to meet the requirements of a 2010 law related to a practice known as once through cooling, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will phase them out in favor of renewable energy.

A new paper is being launched today at the House of Lords in London that challenges government, regulators and companies working on clean energy to make gender diversity a key priority. The paper has been produced by the EWiRE network, set up by Regen to provide a vibrant network for women working in clean energy.

As of the end of 2018, China’s renewable energy installation capacity had reached 728 GW, an increase of 12 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics released by China’s National Energy Administration. This breaks down into 352 GW (up 2.5 percent) for hydro, 184 GW (up 12.4 percent) for wind, 174 GW (up 34 percent) for photovoltaic (PV) and 17.8 GW (up 20.7 percent) for biomass. Renewable energy accounted for 38.3 percent of the country’s total installed power capacity, a rise of 1.7 percentage points.

What happens when a famously left-leaning city dives into the buttoned-down business of electric utilities? San Francisco may soon find out.

RenewableUK highlighted last week that Great Britain’s onshore and offshore wind farms generated more electricity than any other source of power last week.

In a first for the country, Germany generated 54.5 percent of electricity from renewable energy in March 2019. This is according to data collected by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.

Yesterday, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) unveiled the 14th edition of its Global Wind Report, which it says has been completely revamped.

This weekend at its “Earth Day Every Day Fair,” Green Mountain Power announced an energy vision to have a 100 percent carbon free energy supply by 2025 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. The utility said the move is among the most aggressive carbon targets for a utility of GMP’s size in the country.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed wants to use PG&E Corp.’s bankruptcy to take over some of the company’s assets for the city’s power needs, a move that would shake up California’s largest utility and remake the state’s energy landscape.

Last year was the first time since 2001 that growth in renewable power capacity failed to increase year on year.

As of 2018, the city of Los Angeles boasted close to 350 MW of installed local solar power, according to reports. Its solar capacity increased some 44 percent year over year.

EIA data forecasts that U.S. wind capacity added this year should total 12.7 GW, by far the best since 2012’s record of 13.3 GW. That was the year the production tax credit (PTC) was originally supposed to phase out, although it was extended.

The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the PPA with utility National Grid for 400 MW in wind power capacity from the Revolution Wind project. Project developer DWW Rev 1 LLC is a joint venture of New England utility Eversource and Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind.

According to an analysis by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. electrical generating capacity by renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) has now - for the first time - surpassed that of coal.

GE Renewable Energy announced the shipment of the four tower sections that will be part of GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW prototype to be installed later this summer in Maasvlakte-Rotterdam (NL). The four segments at tower manufacturer GRI’s site in Seville, will be arriving in the Netherlands before the end of the month.

This week the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) launched the first edition of its Global Offshore Wind Report, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for the global offshore wind market, including forecast data, market-level analysis and review of efforts to lower costs.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (the NDRC) issued a Circular on Policies of Improving the Electricity Price for On-Grid Wind Power (the Circular) at the end of May 2019. According to the Circular, the price of electricity from offshore wind power projects is cut to 0.8 yuan per kWh [US $0.12 per kWh] in 2019 and will further drop to 0.75 yuan [US $0.11] per kWh in 2020.

Community stakeholders and climate experts from the University of Arizona are helping Tucson Electric Power to build an energy portfolio that supports reliable, affordable and increasingly sustainable service over the next 15 years.

Missouri’s smallest investor-owned utility is charting a dramatically different course two years after being acquired by new owners.

In a region of the world where coal is still king, there is room for renewables. This was a takeaway from the Ministerial Address and Joint Opening Keynote at POWERGEN Asia and Asian Utility Week. The two annual events kicked off Tuesday, Sept. 3, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

TL;DR: Get trained in cybersecurity with The Ultimate 2020 White Hat Hacker Certification Bundle for $39.90, a 97% as of May 9.

When you think of superheroes, you probably picture capes and some sort of otherworldly powers. But in the digital world, superheroes are actually normal people like you and me. They just happen to know a thing or two about stopping cybercriminals in their tracks.

These superheroes are in short supply across the world. In fact, there are over half a million cybersecurity job openings in the U.S. alone. That just means this could be your chance to swoop in, superhero style, and save the day. But first things first, you need to learn the ropes and the Ultimate 2020 White Hat Hacker Certification Bundle is a great place to start. Read more...

Work(out) From Home is a weekly column where we review smart fitness machines and apps in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to technology, there are still plenty of ways to exercise if your gym is closed. Read more...

Perceptions of political uncertainty and community opposition continue to weigh heavily on Mexico’s mining sector.

India’s consumers have embraced online retail, creating a market worth A$52 billion that is expected to reach over A$100 billion by 2026. With a fast-growing ecommerce sector, India is creating major new market opportunities for Australian companies.

Kangaroo Island sits in cool water of the Southern Ocean that wells up from Antarctica. Crystal clear, the sea appears azure blue as it laps the golden sandy beaches and pounds the rugged rocky cliffs. Surrounded by water KI, as the island is known, enjoys a mild microclimate perfect for holiday making and growing superb food.

The European Network and Information Security Agency has released a new guide on building effective IT security public private partnerships.

The European Network and Information Security Agency [ENISA] has launched information security awareness videos in 23 European languages.

ENISA has issued guidance to national telecom regulatory authorities about the implementation of Article 13a, in particular about the security measures that providers of public communications networks must take to ensure security and integrity of these networks.

Meanwhile, Video Conferencing Firm Acquires Start-Up Encryption Company
Zoom has reached a settlement with the N.Y. attorney general's office to provide better security and privacy controls for its video conferencing platform. Meanwhile, the company announced it's acquiring a start-up encryption company.

A university in St Petersburg seeks partners in Australia for the university’s fellowship and professorship program. Researchers and lecturers interested in establishing research collaboration in IT, mechanics, optics, robotics, chemistry, lasers, arts, science, science communication and food biotechnologies are invited to send expressions of interest.

An Indian university in Mysuru, Karnataka seeks research collaborations across pharmacy, medicine, dental and life sciences. Opportunities also exist for short term training programs and fellowships abroad.

India is modifying its 2020 National Cybersecurity Policy to take into account the shift to teleworking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Lt. Gen. (Retd) Rajesh Pant, national cybersecurity coordinator.

As manufacturers - including companies such as automakers that do not typically produce healthcare devices - race to help fill medical equipment shortages during the COVID-19 crisis, steps must be taken to ensure adequate security testing, says Fairuz Rafique of cybersecurity services firm EmberSec.