Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Inside the Gigafactory That Will Decide Tesla’s Fate
May 6th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: The $5 billion Gigafactory was born of necessity. Tesla needs a hell of a lot of batteries, for both the forthcoming mass-market Model 3 sedan and the Tesla Energy product line. The timeline for getting those batteries made just became much shorter, too. On Wednesday, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk stunned investors by […]
The Price of Solar Power Just Fell 50% in 16 months – Dubai at $.0299/kWh
May 3rd, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: electrek: Dubai received bid of $.0299/kWh for 800MW of solar power. This price represents the lowest yet recorded for solar power (and might not represent the end of the price drops…). Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received 5 bids from international organisations […]
The Secretive, Billionaire-Backed Plans to Harness Fusion
May 1st, 2016Via: BBC: Inside a laboratory near Vancouver in British Columbia, an alarm is blaring. In the middle of the industrial warehouse stands what looks like a cannon from a spaceship, about five metres long and festooned in wires. None of the lab’s red-coat-wearing technicians seem fazed by the noise. The siren, which alerts workers to […]
Nevada: First-Of-Its-Kind Rail Energy Storage Project
April 29th, 2016Via: Utility Dive: The newest entrant into the energy storage market bears a passing resemblance to cutting edge 19th century technology. It is a rail car with no passengers or freight that goes nowhere. But if the California company working on this technology is right, its rail cars could make big inroads in the energy […]
German Nuclear Plant Infected with Computer Viruses, Operator Says
April 27th, 2016Via: Reuters: A nuclear power plant in Germany has been found to be infected with computer viruses, but they appear not to have posed a threat to the facility’s operations because it is isolated from the Internet, the station’s operator said on Tuesday. The Gundremmingen plant, located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Munich, […]
‘Scientists Can Now Make Lithium-Ion Batteries Last a Lifetime’ *
April 22nd, 2016* Using gold. (sigh) In, ARPA-E Batteries to Challenge Tesla?, I wrote: If you’re interested in energy generation and storage technologies that will actually be for sale in the near to medium term, you can safely ignore most press releases about new energy technologies working only in labs. That stuff might as well be on […]
Norway’s $860 Billion Fund Drops 52 Companies Linked to Coal
April 17th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Norway’s $860 billion sovereign wealth fund unveiled the first list of miners and power producers to be excluded from its portfolio following a ban on coal investments. The 52 companies being barred include American Electric Power Co. Inc., China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd., Whitehaven Coal Ltd., Tata Power Co. and Peabody Energy Corp., […]
Saudis Threaten to Sell $750 Billion in U.S. Treasuries Over 9/11 Bill
April 17th, 2016The word, “Bush” doesn’t appear in this piece even once. And what is Marvin up to these days? Via: New York Times: Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a […]
World’s Biggest Oil Producers Meet to Discuss Possible Freeze on Production
April 17th, 2016Via: Guardian: The world’s biggest oil producers will huddle in Doha on Sunday in a rare off-scheduled meeting where discussion about what they can do to staunch the continued global surplus of crude oil that’s weighed on prices for nearly two years. Hopes that members in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel and non-Opec […]
Why, Where & How to Do Wind Electricity
April 16th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — As New Zealand’s electricity cartel ramps up the war on solar power, I’m starting to take a more serious look at the end game: Disconnection from the grid. While I’m not sure how I want to handle this yet, one thing is certain: Wind power […]
