Skip to main content

EGEB: Perry’s fake study, world’s largest wind turbines online, more

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Here’s what we know so far about Rick Perry’s fake power grid study – and it isn’t good – High level – study is too short, supposed grid reliability issues are non-existent, being led by fossil-fuel lobbyist, National Security language is red herring, already proposed 70% cuts to renewable programs, and of course the outspoken support for coal. #rickperryisfake

The World’s Largest Wind Turbines Have Started Generating Power in England – The video is enough. Short article that really just shows off some imagery and connects to other websites. The visuals of these huge systems are always so compelling. Living near Rhode Island, I get to see wind turbines on a regular basis – but until you stand next to one do you realize how large they are.

Tesla largest solar power asset owner after purchase of SolarCity – I’d love to see the full copy of this report so I can start reading about what these companies are doing and listen to what they’re thinking. The largest asset owners of solar are all greater than one gigawatt in portfolio size. The most interesting part about Tesla being at the top of this list is that it’s distributed – the majority of these asset owners are utility-scale focused.

Swiss vote to move toward renewables, lessening nuclear – Switzerland gets 56% of their electricity from hydroelectric and 37% from nuclear. They have four nuclear plants that can run for decades. Their goal will be to continue running the nuclear as long as it can, but build no more. While I’d prefer to see all green options built – at least they’re not shutting down their nuclear. This country probably has some of the cleanest electricity on the planet – it will stay that way.

Exxon Climate Fraud Investigation Widens Over Missing ‘Wayne Tracker’ Emails: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued additional subpoenas to determine whether the company may have destroyed evidence – Of course they destroyed evidence. They already chose to hide it and got busted. This is a company that even used the term ‘freedom of speech’ as a defense to allow them to lie over climate change. If you’d like to see how the oil companies fall, do research on the RICO charges against the tobacco companies.

India proposes tax on solar panels and cells at 18% – Let’s say a solar panel costs $.35/W – that means there is a tax of $0.063/W. A solar system in India might cost between $0.70-0.90/W to install. This will increase the price of an installation as much as 9.5%. In a tight market like India – where pricing matters so very much – this is not a trivial value. Coal will get an additional 5% added to its current tax.

The report linked to in the tweet looks at the USA since 2008 – monopoly electricity companies versus competitive markets. Below you can see the pricing disparity very clearly – the report shows two major driving factors: 1. Monopoly states build more power plants for the same output and the same population, and 2. Those power plants that were built operate more efficiently in competitive market states. Lesson of today – if you build extra things you don’t need, then you run them like crap – you’re going to have to charge more.

Neat headline – another note, the EIA predicts about about 10-15 GW of gas generation to be built in the USA in 2017. This 9GW of coal subtracted from the gas means 1-5GW of net new fossil fuels. This will more than be countered by renewables – 10-15GW of solar plus a lot of wind.

Header image from media section of Dong Energy

Considering residential solar?  will connect you with local contractors. Tweet me to pick apart quote.

For more electric vehicle, autonomous transport and clean technology news, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Newsletter, RSS or Facebook to get our latest articles.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Stay up to date with the latest content by subscribing to Electrek on Google News. You’re reading Electrek— experts who break news about Tesla, electric vehicles, and green energy, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow Electrek on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our YouTube channel for the latest reviews.