State owned Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest power producing companies, has found itself in the middle of a political storm since it became known they had plans to sell their part of the Swedish power grid. Accusations that CEO Lars G. Josefsson has ‘pledged’ the entire corporate group, in an agreement with German authorities, has made the Minister for Enterprise, Maud Olofsson, to put forward strong criticism. (more…)
Wind energy provided more than half of Spain’s total electricity needs for several hours over the weekend as the country set a new national record for wind-generated power.
With high winds gusting across much of the country, Spain’s huge network of windfarms jointly poured the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations’ worth of electricity into the national grid. (more…)
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — The lush green hills overlooking the dairy farms of Le Chefresne in Normandy have become a battleground in France’s efforts to boost power production.
In a corner of France known for Camembert cheese and apples, state-controlled Electricite de France SA plans to build 200 foot-tall steel pylons with high-voltage cables to carry electricity from a nuclear plant. The proposal would add to the 400,000 volts that pylons already carry from two existing reactors. (more…)
The notion that we need nuclear power to address climate change does not reflect the realities of the marketplace or rapid new developments in energy technology.
It is now generally understood that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning are at the centre of the climate crisis. In the electricity sector, that primarily means the burning of coal. China and the United States are the leading users, and Russia, Germany and India also use coal as a mainstay of power generation. Long-term assured carbon sequestration is not yet a proven technology, and it is unclear when it might become available on the required scale. In environmental terms, the world cannot afford new coal-fired power plants; indeed, even existing coal-fired power plants may have to be phased out before 2050. The nuclear-power industry, proclaiming a ‘nuclear renaissance’, has suggested itself as a saviour with a simple formula: if you don’t like coal, build nuclear plants. (more…)
The National Grid says fears of winter power blackouts are unfounded, and denied that surplus capacity is low.
The energy trader Inenco says the UK could face power blackouts “within weeks” if a sudden cold snap or unplanned power outage occurs. (more…)
