October 16 Green Energy News

Headline News:

• Wind technician is the fastest growing occupation in the US. As utilities rapidly increase the amount of power they get from wind farms, workers who climb hundreds of feet to keep turbines running smoothly are in high demand. Students in Minnesota’s wind power training programs sometimes get jobs before they graduate. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Inside the nacelle of a Vestas turbine (Glen Stubbe | Star Tribune)

• The news of Luminant closing coal-burning power plants in Texas boosts the expected capacity of 2018 power plant closures to over 13,600 MW, or a whopping 79% more than the known closures for this year. It is not a record high (nearly 18,000 MW went offline in 2015), but it is clear that Trump administration claims that it will save coal are foundering. [Engadget]
• The France-based energy giant Total, along with partner energy group Erg, is now looking to expedite the sale of its Italian gas/petrol station network, TotalErg, due to investor worries about the impact of the growing electric vehicle market. TotalErg operates around 2,600 gas/petrol service stations throughout Italy. [CleanTechnica]
• “The war on coal is over. Coal lost.” • According to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, many old American coal power plants are being retired or converted to natural gas, and new coal power plants aren’t being built because they’ve become more expensive than natural gas, wind, and solar energy. [The Guardian]
• Australia’s competition watchdog said the country’s residential electricity price rise, 63% over inflation during the past decade, was mainly due to higher network costs. Transmission “poles and wires” took up 48% of a household bill, 22% was wholesale costs, 16% was retail and other costs, 8% was retail margins, and 7% was Green schemes. [The Guardian]

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October 16 Green Energy News posted first on Green Energy Times