Archive for the 'Infrastructure' Category
California Adding Massive Battery Systems to Grid
January 31st, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Bloomberg: Tesla Motors Inc. is making a huge bet that millions of small batteries can be strung together to help kick fossil fuels off the grid. The idea is a powerful one—one that’s been used to help justify the company’s $5 billion factory near […]
Musk Apparently Not Joking About Tunnel Boring Venture
January 25th, 2017Is this real? Via: Electrek: If you weren’t convinced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was serious about launching a new company to start digging tunnels, maybe you will be now that he is putting a timeline on the project. He announced early this morning that they have made “exciting progress” and that he expects to […]
U.S. Solar Industry Passes Oil, Coal and Gas for Job Creation
January 24th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: ComputerWorld: Solar employment now accounts for the largest share of workers in the U.S. power generation field, surpassing coal, gas and oil, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In 2016, the solar workforce increased by 25% over the […]
South Korea Plans Near-Supersonic, ‘Hyper-Tube Train’
January 24th, 2017Via: South China Morning Post: South Korea is seeking to develop a train-like public transport concept that is almost as fast as the speed of sound reaching 1,000km/h, the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) said Tuesday. The state-run institute will join forces with other research groups and Hanyang University to build the near-supersonic “train”, which […]
Southern California Edison 80 MWh Tesla Powerpack Station Online
January 23rd, 2017Via: Electrek: After announcing the project back in September, we have now learned that Tesla and Southern California Edison (SCE) have completed the massive 80 MWh energy storage station using Tesla’s new Powerpack 2 at the Mira Loma substation. There are a few bigger projects in various phases of development, but it looks like this […]
The Mosul Dam Is Failing
December 27th, 2016Via: The New Yorker: The problem wasn’t structural: the dam had been built to survive an aerial bombardment. (In fact, during the Gulf War, American jets bombed its generator, but the dam remained intact.) The problem, according to Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi-American civil engineer who has served as an adviser on the dam, is that […]
Possible Sabotage on NZ Electricity Infrastructure
December 7th, 2016That’s twice in a row now that I was working on sales of off grid solar systems for people when the the power went out. My latest off grid customer went to the bank to try to transfer her money for her new system, and it was closed due to this outage. Absolutely true story, […]
Tesla Builds Advanced Microgrid on Ta’u, American Samoa
November 22nd, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. — Via: Wired: The island of Ta’u in American Samoa, more than 4,000 miles from the United States’ West Coast, now hosts a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid that can supply nearly 100 per cent of the island’s power needs from renewable energy. The microgrid is […]
Japanese Earthquake
November 21st, 2016Update: Tsunami Warnings Lifted Japan Meteorological Agency — UPDATE: COOLING AT FUKUSHIMA DAINI REACTOR 3 HAS RESUMED Via: NHK – Live — UPDATE: Miyagi Prefecture – Evacuate Immediately Via: NHK – Live — Update: One Week to Restore Power Before Dangerous Temperature Reached at Fukushima Daini Via: NHK – Live — UPDATE: COOLING AT FUKUSHIMA […]
SpaceX Plans Worldwide Satellite Internet with Low Latency, Gigabit Speed
November 17th, 2016Anyone remember Teledesic? Via: Ars Technica: SpaceX has detailed ambitious plans to bring fast Internet access to the entire world with a new satellite system that offers greater speeds and lower latency than existing satellite networks. The private spacecraft company founded by CEO Elon Musk filed an application Tuesday for satellite space station authorizations with […]
