Industry responds to challenge from Government to provide solutions to 'green the grid'

CALGARY, May 22, 2013 /CNW/ - Alberta can once again be a leader in renewable energy development and address global concern about the province's environmental record by meeting rising electricity demand with new clean wind energy. WindVision 2025: A Strategy For Alberta, released today by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), makes the case for the strategic deployment of more wind energy in Alberta in a direct response to a challenge by Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes for the renewable industry to put forth policy solutions to help "green the grid".

Since the country's first wind farm was constructed in southern Alberta in 1993, the province has installed 1,100 MW of wind energy - but this represents just a small fraction of the available resource. Alberta currently sits in third place for total installed wind energy capacity - behind Ontario and Quebec. WindVision 2025 makes the case that Alberta is well positioned to take strategic advantage of its significant wind resource, access to skilled trades, and interest by independent power producers.

Japanese regulators are in the process of deciding which nuclear reactors are not safe enough to operate because of the existence of active faults, but the task has proved tough with clear room for improvement.

Assessments of suspicious faults at three nuclear power plants have been proceeding in parallel so far, and the first evaluation finalized by a panel of experts was accepted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday.

At a press conference, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka gave full support to an assessment that a fault beneath the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga plant in western Japan is active.

The following information was released by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt:

In a letter to President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) joined five of his Missouri Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to express their continued concerns surrounding the Obama Administrations proposed regulations, which would effectively ban the construction of new coal fired power plants.

The proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would establish unprecedented Greenhouse Gas (GHG) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for power plants. In the letter, the Missouri lawmakers called on President Obama and his administration to amend the proposed rule and utilize a technology-based approach to reduce carbon dioxide emissions an option that would not harm the economy or endanger the nations electricity supply.

The following information was released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA):

On April 15, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance clarifying the eligibility for the recently extended renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC). Congress passed the extension on January 1, 2013 as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). EIA expects this extension could result in significant wind capacity additions over the next three years, leading to higher generation from wind.

The following information was released by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce:

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved H.R. 271, the Resolving Environmental and Grid Reliability Conflicts Act by voice vote. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), will ensure America's power companies are able to comply with Department of Energy emergency orders to maintain grid reliability without facing penalties for violating potentially conflicting environmental laws.

(600401) "Hareon Solar Technology Co., Ltd." (the Company) -- Announcement on Outward Investment of Establishing Gucheng Hareon Photovoltaic Power Generation Co., Ltd. and Building 50 MW Photovoltaic Grid-connection Power Generation Project

The abstract is for reference only. Please refer to the full text of the announcement on the very day.

Hyderabad, home to several information technology, pharmaceutical and construction companies, goes without power for more than eight hours every day, making the state capital akin to a very large and crowded furnace in these days of summer. The crowds may not stay quiet about this when elections to the state assembly come around next summer.

Paris, May 23 -- The controversial Jaitapur nuclear power project, against which local residents and activist groups have been protesting, may only be commissioned by 2021 at the earliest. That's if the contract for the two European pressurized reactors (EPRs) between state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd(NPCIL) and France's Areva SAis inked in the current calendar year. This looks ambitious, given that the two companies still need to iron out critical issues such as India's Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, credit arrangements for the construction and the final cost of the project located in Maharashtra. The Euro7 billion general framework agreement signed in December 2010 during former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India deals with the supply of two EPRs, each with a capacity to produce 1,650MW of electricity, and uranium supply for a period of 25 years for the Jaitapur project.

Good morning. My name is Joe Pyne, and I am the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kirby Corporation, the nation's largest inland and coastal tank barge operator. Kirby has revenues of approximately $2.5 billion per year and has a market capitalization of approximately $4.5 billion. We employ some 4,600 Americans and operate over 1,300 Jones Act vessels. Kirby has been in the marine transportation business since 1969. I am pleased to appear before you today on behalf of the American Maritime Partnership (AMP) to stress the importance of the domestic U.S.-flag fleet and the coastwise laws to our U.S. transportation system and the role that they play in meeting the economic, homeland, and national security needs of the United States.

Background on the American Maritime Partnership and Kirby Corporation

Salt Lake City, Utah (PRWEB) May 20, 2013

The demand for alternative energy is becoming increasingly more prominent and production companies are responding by turning their focus onto mobile power and back up generators. With emergency situationsin mind, Intermountain Wind and Solar are introducing a line of highfunctioning mobile energy generators. These compact trailers combinethe efficiency achieved through Utah solar panels with a mobile platform, creating a compact and functional alternative to expensive homegenerators or Idaho backup power systems.

The state government's approval for Western Australia's first waste-to-energy plant has ticked another box on New Energy Corporation's checklist, but it's yet to overcome significant funding, waste supply, and energy off-take hurdles.

Minister for Environment Albert Jacob has today announced the government will support New Energy's proposal to build a plant at Boodarie in Port Hedland.

At the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, water treated at Arizona's largest wastewater sewage plant is piped 36 miles to a treatment plant and then into on-site reservoirs. From there, it feeds the plant's tertiary cooling loop that runs through condensers under the turbogenerator, through cooling towers, and back again, until it is super-concentrated and diverted to evaporation ponds.

There are many factors that need to be considered with such a novel method of cooling, including: the size of the water source and its effluent chemistry, materials for construction of the waste water treatment plant and the pipeline, the property required for huge storage reservoirs, as well as numerous environmental and permitting considerations.

"What with the water quality sent to the evaporation ponds, how many acres you need, the rate of evaporation, which changes with the water concentration, so as the total dissolved solids builds evaporation slows, and mapping that with liner issues ... This isn't for the faint of heart. You have to know that this is something that you'll deal with for the length of the plant," says Robert Lotts, director of Arizona Public Services' water resources plan, and a 27-year veteran of Palo Verde's Water Reclamation Facility (WRF).

 Juhl Energy, Inc. (OTCQB: JUHL), the leader in Community Wind Power, today announced the recent acquisition of two wind energy projects located in western New Brunswick, Canada from Canadian developer Terravis Wind. The projects are being developed under NB Power's "Embedded Generation" program, which is designed to allow Independent Power Producers to sell electricity to the NB Power distribution system at a fixed, stable price and under a long-term contract. 

"The acquisition of the TerraRidge and TerraVista projects, each of which are 1.65 MW in size, represents our first two renewable energy projects that will be located outside of the United States," stated Corey Juhl, Vice President of Development for Juhl Energy, Inc.  "As we expand our reach throughout North America, Juhl is actively seeking to partner with and/or acquire mid-stage wind project developments that fit our current growth strategy."

ANILA, May 21 -- Mindanao-focused holding firm Alcantara Group on Tuesday said it is on track to produce an additional 282 megawatts (MW) and raise its total electricity generation capacity to 436 MW by 2016 to meet growing demand in the power-starved southern Philippine island.

New Delhi, May 21 -- Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the largest producer of oil and gas in Oman, and GlassPoint Solar, the global leader in solar enhanced oil recovery, today announced the successful commissioning of the Middle East's first solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project. By harnessing the sun's energy with GlassPoint's Enclosed Trough technology, the solar EOR project produces a daily average of 50 tons of emissions-free steam that feeds directly into existing thermal EOR operations at PDO's Amal West field in Southern Oman. The 7MW system is in regular operation and recently passed its first performance acceptance test since coming online, exceeding contracted steam output by 10 percent.

New Delhi, May 22 -- As per the re-assessment studies carried out by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) during 1978-1987, the hydro power potential in terms of Installed Capacity (I.C.) is estimated at 148701 MW out of which 145320 MW of the potential consists of hydro electric schemes having I.C. above 25 MW.

All 10 major power companies and four gas suppliers in Japan will raise their rates for July due to rising costs for imported fuel reflecting the yen's sharp depreciation, informed sources told Jiji Press on Wednesday.

The reaction to the March 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan continued to dominate the nuclear industry throughout 2012. Upgrades to improve safety are underway or planned at many reactors around the world, and are typically expected to be completed in a few years. Despite this, so far the effect of Fukushima on nuclear plant performance remains largely confined to Japan.

For example, looking at the world as a whole, the 400 (373.9 GW) units listed in our table generated 2317 TWh of electricity in 2012, representing a decrease of over 7% on the 2500 TWh generated in 2011. If we exclude the data from Japan, where 42 of the 50 units generated no electricity at all in 2012, there was only a small drop in generation of 25 TWh (approx 1%) compared with 2011, and this is well within normal fluctuations.