Texans cranking up their air conditioners to battle a heat wave are spurring the highest electricity prices since the so-called polar vortex brought frigid arctic air into the U.S. 18 months ago.
A power plant operator in southern Japan has restarted a reactor - the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster. Kyushu Electric Power said it had restarted the No 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant in Satsumasendai, southern Japan, as planned. The restart marks Japan’s return to nuclear energy four and a half years after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in the north east following an earthquake and tsunami. National broadcaster NHK showed plant workers in the control room as they turned the reactor back on. Tomomitsu Sakata, a spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power, said the reactor was put back online as planned without any problems.
Amec Foster Wheeler has won a contract for the design, supply and construction of a new steam generating combined heat and power plant in Poland. The company said commercial operation of the plant is expected to start by the end of 2018 and has the potential to provide heat to around 70,000 households. The plant, which was commissioned by Fortum Zbarze will be built in southern Poland.
A new non-profit energy company has been set up to sell cheaper power to around 200,000 homes across Scotland.
The number of companies, farms and communities creating their own electricity has risen more than 50% in a year. Figures show 775 organisations have bought generating equipment in a bid to insulate themselves from rising energy costs and to reduce carbon emissions. The report by independent energy firm SmartestEnergy shows the number was just 509 in 2013.
Nearly half of Scotland’s energy consumption came from renewable sources last year, official figures show. Provisional renewable electricity generation 2014 national statistics show 49.6% of gross electricity consumption came from renewable sources in Scotland last year, an increase from 44.4% in 2013. Renewable electricity generation increased last year by 11.7% and is now estimated at 18,959 gigawatt-hours (GWh). This is approximately enough electricity to power the equivalent of an additional 430,000 Scottish households for a year, compared to 2013.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has called for reform of the UK’s “fundamentally flawed” transmission charging regime after it was announced that Longannet power station is likely to close early next year. Operator Scottish Power said yesterday that the coal-fired plant in Fife will “in all likelihood” close by March 2016 after losing out on a short-term National Grid contract. Neil Clitheroe, chief executive of Scottish Power retail and generation, said the current transmission charging regime was a “major barrier” to any future investment in thermal power generation in Scotland.
A US temporary power supply company has signed 106 megawatt of contract extensions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Florida-based APR Energy's Morro Bento plant, in Angola, has been operating since November 2012 and provides crucial base load power to the country's capital city, Luanda.
Just Energy Group has struck a deal with Clean Power Finance (CPF) to sell residential solar electricity. The agreement will provide CPF’s networks with a large solar sales pipeline as well as access to Just Energy’s 1.6million residential energy customers. The companies plan to roll out the solar program beginning in the first calendar quarter of 2015 in New York and California, before expanding the offering into key target solar markets across North America.
Highs winds over the weekend helped provide almost a quarter of the UK’s electricity supply, Industry body RenewableUK said. A new record of 24% was set for wind power as nuclear reactors remained offline and a large gas plant was hit by a fire.
A newly-designed subsea power grid will be ready for testing by next summer, with final preparations for the system currently underway. Siemens has invested in the power solution, which aims to provide energy at a lower cost.