Saturday, October 28, 2017

Puerto Rico contract controversy

Here's What's In That $300 Million Whitefish Contract  http://n.pr/2yPGy2B

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

FERC Proposes New Security Management Controls for Grid Cyber Systems

BBC News: Deutsche to pay $220m over Libor probe

Fines in lieu of criminal prosecutions still rolling in from the financial crash

Deutsche to pay $220m over Libor probe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41753288

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US smashing its clean energy forecasts

E.ON Texas wind battery gains point to expanding storage openings | New Energy Update

Note that even big wind, which needs and benefits more from time-shifting and frequency regulation than solar and an open market like Texas, the message on batteries is still "getting there" on the economics and needing regulatory help (good luck on that from Trump and Perry).


http://analysis.newenergyupdate.com/wind-energy-update/eon-texas-wind-battery-gains-point-expanding-storage-openings?utm_campaign=NEP%20WIN%2025OCT17%20Newsletter%20VersionB&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=bcd70e74dfb34eec8c5d39f36d74da6b&elq=a42f0e21547d4bde9b13d671897a04a4&elqaid=31862&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=15798

US solar boom set to make PV with storage cost competitive by 2020 | New Energy Update

The predictions referenced in this article are from NREL, so should be considered solid as far as market data and forecasts go. If you read between the lines and in the context of what we are doing with fuel cells, you will likely conclude that even when paired with a zero fuel/low-cost source of energy to charge them, and focus only on discharging them for maximum demand/rate arbitrage, batteries are still very much in early adoption phase, heading to a successful business and investment model, but they are no there today. The Cost/Benefit numbers show that IRRs actually degrade very substantially when batteries are added to a solar investment. For this and a number of other reasons in addition to their basic economics (reliability, manageability, bankability etc), if NY utilities are looking for immediate and proven demand relief solutions that they can implement at will, conform to NWA/REV/REC programs will still be viably operating over long contract periods, only FC’s and solar fit those criteria today. Let’s all hope their award decision is based on objective facts and not the sizzle and future potential of energy storage.

We will likely want to increasingly bring storage into market opportunity assessments, but for now, only if a battery developer/operator is capable of mitigating the risks and being financeable.

http://analysis.newenergyupdate.com/pv-insider/us-solar-boom-set-make-pv-storage-cost-competitive-2020?utm_campaign=NEP%20PV%2025OCT17%20Newsletter%202&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=fcabe699b40f47ec91e43b80a55eac25&elq=f8aa20cd48664c858cbe4617ccfcbd83&elqaid=31875&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=15806

US solar boom set to make PV with storage cost competitive by 2020 | New Energy Update

Fwd: Tesla and Vestas Partner in $160 Million Australian Project - Renewable Energy World


To: Monty ​ Bannerman​ <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>




Tesla and Vestas Partner in $160 Million Australian Project

October 19, 2017
file
    

novel $160 million renewable energy project combining wind, solar and storage technologies reached financial close.

Tesla Inc. will supply batteries and Vestas Wind Systems A/S will supply turbines for the first phase of the Kennedy Energy Park, according to a Thursday statement on the website of project co-developer WindLab Ltd. The project is located in Queensland Australia and will be financed by the Clean Energy Finance Corp. and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The 60.2 megawatt development will be the first to connect the three renewable power technologies to the Australian grid through a single connection point, once it is completed by the end of 2018, according to the statement. The combination will help provide reliable supplies of electricity, overcoming one of the biggest downsides to intermittent renewable energy generation technologies.

Don't Miss: Can Storage Expand Wind's Share of the Energy Mix?

"Hybrid solutions combining wind, solar and storage hold a huge potential for Australia," said Clive Turton, President of Vestas Asia Pacific. The first phase could lead to a larger 1.2-gigawatt energy park in the region.

The project in Flinders Shire, in north-central Queensland, will deploy 12 of Vestas's V136-3.6 MW wind turbines as well as 15 megawatts of solar panel capacity and a 4 megawatt-hour Tesla lithium ion battery, all managed by Vestas' control system.

SPONSORED CONTENT BY Solar Reviews ?

Pegging the All-In, Installed Cost of a Tesla Powerwall 2

Then Apple CEO Steve Jobs opened the doors to what has turned out to be a vast, new global retail market for smartphones and mobile/wireless telecommunications when he introduced the first touchscreen iPhone to the world in January 2007.
Brought To You By

Project equity will be provided equally by developers Windlab and Eurus Energy Holdings Corp, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will provide $93.5 million of debt finance on a long-tenured, non-recourse basis, according to the statement. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will also provide $18 million in the form of a subordinated refundable grant, it said.

© 2017 Bloomberg L.P

Lead image: Vestas Turbine. Credit Pixabay.


Sent from my BlackBerry - the most secure mobile device

Pegging the All-In, Installed Cost of a Tesla Powerwall 2

Should FPL customers pay to clean up Turkey Point's canals?

Monday, October 16, 2017

Hurricane Irma will be 'quite expensive' for FPL customers

Sonnen to deliver 3,000 storage systems for Arizona community | photon.info

First Solar to support trade case petitioners Suniva and Solarworld, GTM | photon.info

Uh Oh. FS breaks ranks with the rest of the industry. I will admit that they have been in a constant race with their supposedly lower cost thin film chasing PV to no margins. Since they are exempt, tarrifs would be an instant demand and margin creator, although at the expense of everyone else in the value chain.



https://www.photon.info/en/news/first-solar-support-trade-case-petitioners-suniva-and-solarworld-gtm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PHOTON%20Newsletter%20-%20International%20edition%20from%20October%2016%2C%202017&newsletter=PHOTON%20Newsletter%20-%20International%20edition%20from%20October%2016%2C%202017

Survey: Manufacturing In New York Accelerated In October

Fwd: Neutron star collision triggers worldwide discoveries

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Nature Briefing" <natureresearch@information.nature.com>
Date: Oct 16, 2017 12:11 PM
Subject: Neutron star collision triggers worldwide discoveries
To: <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Cc:

Multiple cosmic mysteries may be solved by the observation of a merger between two super-dense neutron stars. | 
Trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser
Monday 16 October 2017

Hello Nature readers,

Today we delight in the torrent of discoveries unleashed by gravitational wave, γ-ray, optical, X-ray and radio observations of a spectacular collision between two super-dense neutron stars.

Artist's impression of colliding neutron stars
A simulation of the merger of two neutron stars (W. Kastaun/T. Kawamura/B. Giacomazzo/R. Ciolfi/A. Endrizzi.)

Neutron-star merger is source of heavy elements, gamma ray bursts

An epic collision between two super-dense neutron stars has simultaneously solved multiple cosmic mysteries. Observations confirm that such explosive stellar encounters are a source of mysterious short γ-ray bursts. Also, that neutron-star collisions are where gold, platinum, uranium and many rare earth elements are formed. Researchers published several dozen papers in at least five journals today based on the event, which was detected on Earth on 17 August.

By the numbers

• Name of the neutron-star collision event: GW170817
• Distance from Earth: 40 million parsecs (130 million light years)
• Amount of gold flung into space: about 10 times Earth's mass
• Duration of the gravitational-wave signal: 100 seconds (the longest ever observed)
• Research teams involved in observations: over 70 on all seven continents
• Authors of the overview paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters: 3,566

How a stellar event ripples around the world

The neutron-star collision detected on 17 August kicked off the strongest and longest gravitational-wave signal ever seen on Earth, spotted first by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States and by its Italy-based counterpart Virgo. Discover how such an event triggers a worldwide network of smaller telescopes, often built on a shoestring budget, to spring into action to search for flares of light coming from the same spot.

"We could all use a nap. And a pizza."

Astrophysicist Shane Larson describes the life-changing experience of observing a neutron-star collision, why the part he's most excited about is measuring the expansion of the Universe, and the biggest thing we don't know about the discovery: what is the thing left over?

Artist's impression of colliding neutron stars
A simulation of the merger of two neutron stars (W. Kastaun/T. Kawamura/B. Giacomazzo/R. Ciolfi/A. Endrizzi.) Can't see the animation? Click to watch it in your browser.
FEATURES & OPINION

Prepare for larger, longer wildfires

The brutal, immediate effects of climate change have arrived in western North America in the form of wildfires. We need ambitious, flexible plans to adapt, says climate change researcher Kathie Dello.

How Congress derailed the DEA's war on opioids

The epidemic of opioid-related deaths in the US has been allowed to run rampant because drug distributors are lobbying Congress on an epic scale, says an investigation by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes. Congress has passed laws reducing the Drug Enforcement Administration's power to freeze suspicious narcotic shipments that may end up on the black market.

The particle pioneer

Fifty years ago, Steven Weinberg published the iconic paper that gave rise to the standard model and inspired the CERN experimental programme. He tells of the pleasure of seeing one of your 'squiggles' come to describe reality, how science is like sexing a chicken, and why finding the standard-model Higgs boson (and nothing else) is a "nightmare scenario".

Quote of the day

"You can afford rent! You can have a family! You can report sexual harassment!"

This newsletter is always evolving — tell us what you think! Please send feedback to briefing@nature.com.

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Thanks for reading!
Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing