October 25 Green Energy News

Headline News:

• “‘Can You Say Corruption?’ Puerto Rico Contract for Trump-Connected Raises Concerns” • A $300 million no-bid contract to restore Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was awarded to a two-year-old company whose financiers have important connections to the Trump administration. It had two employees when the hurricane struck. [Common Dreams]

Downtown Whitefish, Montana, home of Whitefish Energy, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and a major donor to Trump campaign (Photo: WikiCapa, Wikimedia Commons)

• Entrepreneur Elon Musk has followed through on his plan to boost power resources in Puerto Rico after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria. Mr Musk’s firm, Tesla, has set up solar panels and energy storage batteries at Hospital del Niño, a children’s hospital in San Juan. He said on Twitter this was the “first of many” such projects. [BBC News]
• On Block Island, it used to be that electric clocks could not keep time and appliances that wore out years ahead of schedule because of Block Island’s poor “quality” electricity, running at anywhere from 59 to 61 hz. Now powered almost entirely by wind turbines, the electric grid is not only more reliable, but of higher quality. [Into the Wind]
• The government of Italy today announced its intention to phase out coal-fired electricity generation by 2025, and increase the deployment of renewable energy. Think tank E3G said that coal plants with as little as 15 years of operational life will need to be retired. Canada, France and the UK are also taking action to phase out coal power generation. [reNews]
• New Zealand’s next prime minister Jacinda Ardern has set ambitious environmental policies to confront a warming planet, including a “Zero Carbon Act.” Green initiatives include transitioning the country’s power grid to 100% renewable energy, a significant investment in regional rail, and a goal to plant 100 million trees a year. [EcoWatch]

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October 25 Green Energy News posted first on Green Energy Times