Henry Harrell"s Blog: April 2 Green Energy News

Headline News:

In Australia, Labor will abandon the renewable energy target after 2020 because an emissions intensity scheme will be sufficient to reach the goal of 50% renewable energy by 2030. The shadow assistant treasurer firmed the opposition’s plan to reach the goal while possibly ruling out extending the existing renewable energy target. [The Guardian]

Australian renewable energy (Tim Phillips Photos / Getty Images)

National Grid is keeping quiet about a March 29 natural-gas leak in Providence, Rhode Island. But critics of the major expansion of natural-gas infrastructure taking place across the region are speaking up. There are other projects nearby, parts of joint natural-gas expansion by Spectra Energy, National Grid and Eversource Energy. [ecoRI news]
Mortenson Construction, based in Minneapolis, is perhaps best known for sports complexes. Less flashy, but keenly important to Mortenson’s bottom line, however, is work in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power projects. Mortenson began in 1995, erecting a single turbine, and now it is a national leader. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
The US Energy Information Administration has published data revealing that the country’s 2016 energy production dropped over year-over-year. This is the first such drop since 2009. Most of the decline was in coal, whose output fell 18% compared to 2015. Output from other energy sources also dipped, but solar and wind power grew. [Engadget]
Utilities in the European Union may have to offer more flexible prices from 2020 to encourage consumers to use electricity more when supplies are abundant and cheap, under newly proposed rules, a top EU official said. At present, most European utilities sell at fixed prices, regardless of wholesale market price swings. [Jakarta Globe]

Henry Harrell"s Blog