https://electrek.co/2017/05/01/egeb-carbon-capture-iullshit-bees-pension-funds-solar/
EGEB: ‘Carbon capture is total BS’, BEEEEESSS!!, Pension funds warming
on solar, more
John Fitzgerald Weaver
- May. 1st 2017 9:00 am ET
Global pension funds warm to India’s solar power ambitions – This is the
best possible money that solar power can have access to. Trillions of
investment dollars are available for long term time frames at agreeable
rates due to solar’s average relatively stable returns on investment
that pay cash (electricity). There is risk in the commodity price of
electricity – but outside of that, once the solar plant is built – it’s
going to be there pumping juice for a long time. Pensions and solar go
together well.
“Carbon capture is total bullshit” – I’m with Bloomberg on this one. My
logic – 1. We’ve been trying to clean coal for almost 200 years, and it
is still expensive and we’re still terrible at it. 2. The same
challenges that existed in the solar industry 15 years ago – the ability
to scale and developing global pipelines on viable technologies – would
exist in the carbon capture world. Why would we want to start over when
wind/solar/energy storage are coming along so well? 3. I do not trust
pumping carbon underground. Just like I am watching earthquakes occur
all over the USA due to pumping fluids – when we start needing to
maximize profits – we do dumb things. Human nature, let’s just keep the
carbon it in the ground, shall we?
BEEEESSSS!! – Solar power with fish, flowers, farms, grazing, buildings,
parking lots (above and below), and now with bee farming. A Minnesota
county has laws on the books supporting infrastructure integrated
phot0voltaics (IIPV) – specifically they want solar farms to plant
native flowers and grasses to support declining bee populations. These
builders figured out how to get two bee keepers and 15 hives in place –
and the revenue from selling honey. I soon expect to see solar powered
farming robots underneath solar farms.
Investors snapping up community energy projects, with some selling out
in minutes – A smaller project with solar panels on top of a Sydney
brewery sold out last year in just nine minutes, through community group
Pingala – A long time I tried to get a crowd source solar funding site
going, groups like Mosaic are still at it – and really – Community Solar
is fundamentally crowd sourcing solar on multiple levels. Any community
solar programs in your area?
NERC finds August solar eclipse not likely to affect bulk power system –
In case anyone needs evidence of what happened when a solar eclipse
marched across Europe – here’s some liveblogging of the event
specifically watching the German grid from 2015. The scientists here in
the US see no challenges either.
Suzlon Sees Wind Auctions Squeezing Margins as Indian Market Grows –
“Due to aggressive auction prices there will be some initial impact on
margins for a year but it will unlock a bigger market and I’m very much
interested in this opportunity,” Suzlon Chairman Tulsi Tanti – Wind
manufacturers see further price falls coming from scale in the Indian
market. With China and India scaling up in wind we’re gong to add a lot
of companies to the learning curve equation and the price falls that
come with it.
China calls Suniva’s trade case an ‘abuse’ of the rules – The US had
already put in place anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures and that
with this in mind, the launch of a safeguard investigation “will be [an]
abuse of trade remedy measures and over-protection of domestic
industries” – Still have no idea how this administration will act toward
these types of events, but I do find it interesting that we now China
speaking loudly about this action.
Live energy pricing in the tweet below coming from Germany (it was live
Saturday night) – predictions of high wind/solar on Sunday drove energy
prices below zero Saturday night. Please, in the comments below, give me
some suggestions of industries that can benefit from ‘negative’ energy
pricing so I know where to put some of my savings account.